Human Suffering: A Challenge to Christian Faith in Igbo/African Christian Families (An Anthropological and Theological Study)

This book demonstrates how the Christian faith can be practiced more effectively in the midst of the challenges and crises of human suffering in the Igbo/African Christian families and how the Gospel message can elicit a new perspective in their understanding of this suffering situation. In spite of the enigmatic and paradoxical nature of the perennial problem of human suffering, Christ’s suffering and death have given it a positive meaning. While tensions and challenges are inevitable, authentic faith, dynamic hope, and fraternal charity sustain. It is against this backdrop that Obioma Des. Obi reconstructed a contextualized theology based on a pastoral theological response to the human suffering caused by childlessness, poverty, and premature death. The highest Christian optimism should be exercised in every suffering situation. Each community must strive to pursue its mission not in isolation but in solidarity, through the promotion of peace, justice, equality, and freedom.