Book Review: The Institution of the Seminary and the Training of Catholic Priests in South-Eastern Nigeria (1885-1970): A Historical Evaluation

Abstract

Prominent scholars like J.F. Ade Ajayi, Edmund Ilogu, Elizabeth Isichei, F.K. Ekechi, Kalu Ogbu and others have examined the shapes and contours of Christianity in Nigeria and Africa. Of these, only a few paid sufficient attention to church history in Igboland, and there is no updated, extensive study on the Catholic Church in this part of the world. Attempts in the 1980s by Rose Njoku, Frederick Nnabuife, Vincent Nwosu, Ikenga Ozigboh and Celestine Obi that focus on the Catholic Church in Igboland, have continued to serve as the primary sources, despite their limitations. In fact, the edited work by Obi, A Hundred Years of the Catholic Church in Eastern Nigeria 1885-1985, has not been updated till date. Admittedly, the book contains various interesting historical areas that are yet to be further explored despite being deficient in so many ways.