Title: Marriage and Life after Death: A Model of Regenerative Inculturation
Author: Anthony Onyekwe
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 978-1499093346
Pages: 520
Genre: History / World / Non-fiction
Reviewed by: Christina Avina

Read Book Review

While not everyone has this goal in mind, many couples out there have a desire to extend their family and begin the process of trying to have children of their own. Whether that happens naturally, through in vitro fertilization, adoption or something else altogether, many people work to grow their family and find fulfillment through that path. Yet the sad reality is that not everyone is going to be able to fulfill that desire. There are so many couples around the world who hold onto that hope for starting a family of their own, and yet through one circumstance or another find themselves childless. While this can impact a person’s mentality and relationship with the other person, not everyone thinks about the impact this can have on a person’s beliefs or place within their faith as well.

In author Anthony Onyekwe’s Marriage and Life After Death: A Model of Regenerative Inculturation, the author explores the impact that a couple’s struggle to have children of their own can have on those couples who live or come from Africa. Examining this concept from both a Christian and Igbo belief system’s point of view, the author explores the quest many couples take on to find salvation in their faith and immortality through the conception of children, and how the inability to do this can take a toll on a person emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually as well.

The author did an incredible job of highlighting and showcasing the amount of research and expertise which went into this subject. The detailed way the author explored not only the Igbo and Christian faiths and belief systems, but how they connect and contrast from one another and how it impacts or is impacted by a couple’s ability to become parents was so fascinating and heartbreaking to read all at once. The balance the author found with the more clinical analysis of the sociological, cultural, and religious aspects of this topic with the more emotional and psychological impact this tragic event has on a couple was carefully done.

This is the perfect read for those who enjoy non-fiction reads, especially those that deal with parenting, families, relationships, world history, mythology, faith, and cultures as a whole. I found the author’s work to be quite moving and thought-provoking, and even the author’s way of writing made readers feel connected and educated to the lessons being taught all at once.

Thoughtful, insightful, and engaging, author Anthony Onyekwe’s Marriage and Life After Death: A Model of Regenerative Inculturation is a must-read book for fans of non-fiction and readers of historical, cultural, and parental significance. The heart and care which went into this topic and the importance placed on the impact this has on the couples themselves within the context of these belief systems, especially the women who are blamed needlessly for this tragic turn of events, make this such a profound read and an important book to pick up, so be sure to grab your copy today!