THE IGBO-AFRICAN KOLA NUT AS A „TYPE‟ OF HOLY COMMUNION: TOWARDS THE MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Abstract

This paper is a comparative study of two major elements of worship from two major religions: African traditional religion and Christianity. The comparative method of investigation is, therefore, employed to study the relationship between the Igbo kola nut and the Christian Holy Communion. It strongly asserts that the Igbo kola nut, having been studied alongside the Christian Holy communion, is the Igbo Holy Communion in Igbo traditional religion. While it does not in any way equate the Igbo kola nut with the Holy Communion, it believes that the Igbo kola nut can be understood within the parameters of a typology of the Christian Holy Communion given to Ndi‟gbo as a preparation for the gospel message. As already indicated, the method of research employed in this work is the comparative method of investigation, with an ascension theory, which heavily emphasizes that for evangelization to be fruitful, pastoral agents need to begin from what the people know to what they do not know. In this case, from the kola nut as a „type‟, a „copy‟, a „shadow‟ to the Holy Communion as its fullness.