In Africa, the emphasis on family, marriage, and offspring suggest that there is a kind of an unwritten ancestral law that imposes on every male the duty of begetting a son. The reason is because the core of African soteriology is centered on offspring. The predicament of the childless couples, therefore, stems from the desire for immortality and salvation that culminates in the admission of the dead into the ancestral world. This quest for salvation and immortality constitute social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual problems for Christian as well as non-Christian childless couples.
About the author
Anthony Onyekwe is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu Nigeria. He was ordained in 1995. He holds a bachelor’s degree in both Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Urban University, Rome, a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Tennessee USA, a Master of Advanced Studies in Theology and Religious Studies, a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) and a Doctorate degree in Theology and Religious Studies from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Presently, he is working as an Associate Pastor in St. Ann Catholic Church Bartlett, TN, USA.