The life and nature of the Church are better understood in terms of a self-identity that relies on the language and cultural framework of the stakeholders. Since theological reflections do not take place in a vacuum, the socio-cultural context gains importance. The question is: How much culture can the Church, as a whole, accommodate without losing its universal character? With a focus on the West African country of Ghana, this book analyzes the potential trade-offs and conflicts between the Church and culture in a pluri-religious and multi-cultural society. Further, it shows the dangers of exclusion within the Church and offers possible solutions. (Series: Studien zur systematischen Theologie und Ethik - Vol. 64)

This book describes the nature of trafficking in persons in West Africa, focusing on labor and sexual exploitation in the region, and recommends tailor-made solutions established by the Catholic Church in light of governmental authorities’ failure to effectively combat this scourge of humanity. While states’ efforts to fulfill their international obligations in developing anti-trafficking legislations are recognized, their failure to carry out prosecutions of offenders and ensure protection of the victims reveals that law alone is not a sufficient instrument for realizing human rights and improving people’s lives. Faced with the sobering background of less than successful efforts by governmental entities to end the trade in humans, this research study recommends adopting essential elements of Catholic social teaching, which rests on the inherent dignity of human beings allowing the development of political, socio-cultural, and religious reforms that will increase the effectiveness of existing legislation designed to combat trafficking. This faith-based approach highlights the role that religion may play in fulfilling the discretionary provisions of the Palermo Protocol by promoting the welfare and protecting the life and dignity of the victims. Additionally, religion is composed of sound moral ethics that determine people's behavior to refrain from the sinful conduct of trafficking. It also creates a sense of ethical responsibility that promotes supply chain transparency and ethical purchasing as well as advocating social reforms and anti-trafficking legislations initiatives. In fact, the author's approach, may be a model for other regions in the world and will be of interest to scholars, law and policy makers, human rights advocates and law enforcement agents working in the field of trafficking in persons.

The Vatican II was an event of a new facelift for the entire edifice of the Catholic ecclesiology. It called for the renewal in the universal Catholic Church. This book deals with the question: How can the Catholic Church in India accept the council's challenge for renewal and become truly Indian in its being and essence? Undertaking a systematic examination of the post-conciliar ecclesiological development in the Indian Catholic Church, in its existential multi-religious and multi-cultural context, the author attempts to develop an ecclesiological reflection for the Indian context.

This book highlights the emerging research and policy development efforts to address child and adolescent behavioral health in Sub-Saharan Africa, where mental health policy is at an early stage and in need of context-specific attention to its successes and shortcomings. A diverse range of researchers, with expertise on relevant policy in both the region as a whole and country-specific contexts, including Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda, outline theoretically informed, culturally appropriate, evidence-based, and youth- and family-focused service models. The first work of its kind with an exclusive focus on the understudied region of Sub-Saharan Africa, this text: Provides an overview of the current state of child and adolescent behavioral health in the region Evaluates empirical work on risk and protective factors influencing behavioral outcomes Highlights emerging intervention research and dialogue on what works to improve child and adolescent behavioral health Offers insight and strategies on how to advance child and adolescent behavioral health in policy, research, and practice Child Behavioral Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards Evidence Generation and Policy Development is a unique reference that offers guidance for current and future policy-makers, researchers, practitioners, and students as they seek to invest and engage in the healthy development of a future generation.

If there is no religion in the world, the world would more or less become a jungle. The world will be inhuman. Religion touches all aspects of human life. Identifying God's will in our world today has become a major problem for many religions of the world. In the past, in Igbo Traditional Religion, human sacrifice as well as the killing of twins were practised. For the Igbo traditionalists then, that was the will of the deities and equally not against God's will. But following the encounter of Igbo Traditional Religion with Christianity these are no longer practised. Misinterpretation of God's will by some religions of the world has given rise to religious violence, religious extremism, fanaticism and terrorism we are experiencing today in the world. For these problems to be resolved, it is pertinent that the study of various religions be taken seriously. This study should be aiming at better understanding, co-existence, respect for one another and frequent inter-religious dialogues among the various religions of the world. When this is achieved, the believers of various religions would realize that many are worshipping one God and their desire is to communicate with Him, although they may approach Him differently.

Theology has a rich tradition across the African continent, and has taken myriad directions since Christianity first arrived on its shores. This handbook charts both historical developments and contemporary issues in the formation and application of theologies across the member countries of the African Union. Written by a panel of expert international contributors, chapters firstly cover the various methodologies needed to carry out such a survey. Various theological movements and themes are then discussed, as well as biblical and doctrinal issues pertinent to African theology. Subjects addressed include: • Orality and theology • Indigenous religions and theology • Patristics • Pentecostalism • Liberation theology • Black theology • Social justice • Sexuality and theology • Environmental theology • Christology • Eschatology • The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament The Routledge Handbook of African Theology is an authoritative and comprehensive survey of the theological landscape of Africa. As such, it will be a hugely useful volume to any scholar interested in African religious dynamics, as well as academics of Theology or Biblical Studies in an African context.

In this book, Idara Otu, one of the new theological voices from Africa, rethinks ecclesiology in the changing context of a wounded and broken world. What does the Catholic Church in Africa look like post-Vatican II? This book creatively illuminates the intrinsic connections between ecclesial communion and social mission in the changing face of the church in Africa. The multiple levels of dialogue in African Catholicism, especially in the reception and contextualization of conciliar teachings, is redefining world Christianity. The author explores how dialogue, synodality, inculturation, leadership, human security, social issues, and social transformation are shaping the identity and mission of the church in Africa. This book also engages recent magisterial teachings and diverse theological voices in developing the praxis for the emergence of particular churches in Africa that are defined by the joys and sorrows of God's people. The book calls for a Triple-C church, revitalized through Conversion, Communality, and Conversation, as well as fostering integral and sustainable social transformation in Africa's contested march toward modernity.

This book offers a window into current realities regarding women's leadership in the global church and explores strategic recommendations to nurture this leadership in the twenty-first century. The essays in this volume were initially presented at an international conference organized by the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology (CWCIT) at DePaul University in 2018. The reference to "Daughters of Wisdom" in the title for this volume was aimed at capturing the diversity of ways which women have found to exercise their leadership in responding to the challenging and/or hopeful realities of their contextual locations and their faith and social communities. The authors address particularly different aspects of women's leadership in the Catholic Church, with a special emphasis on the global South. The contributors are lay and religious people from India, Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, the US, Singapore, and the Philippines. The topics explored in this volume include women's use of Scripture, the ecclesiological basis for women in church leadership, and the leadership roles that women have been exercising already in grassroots church communities, in Marian devotion, in faith-based social movements, and in theological education.