ABSTRACT

The Igbo traditional practice of seeking information from diviners is very much alive in the Church in Igboland. Diviners who identify with the Igbo ancestral religion exist side by side with Christian diviners. The latter claim being gifted by God with insights into future events. Can the prevalence of this phenomenon of Christian diviners be accounted for as inculturation from below? This is the problematic of this write-up. Using a hermeneutical approach, effort is made to situate the divination by Christians within the socio-historical and cultural development in the Bible of the understanding and practice of prophecy and to explore the circumstances that reckon this practice in the 21st century life-context of Igbo Christians. The recommendation is to live by faith rather than by sight where faith implies trust in God while exercising due diligence in judgement and decision-making rather than relying on private revelation.