These act as a link between God and the human community. Christian teaching forbids making of any kinds ofimages to represent God. This paper uses a qualitative research approach in the form of document analysis to critically explore the religious intersectionalities between Christianity and African Traditional. It is the religion which resulted from the sustaining faith held by the forebears of the present Africans, and which is being practised today in various forms and various shades and intensities by a very large number . Traditional Religion as a source of African theology just as Christian theology is. Mbiti makes a very controversial point when he claims that in African societies there are no acts that would be considered wrong in themselves. They consultedtraditional healers who used various herbs and charms to cure diverse illnesses. This power is not accessible to everyone, and in most cases it is inborn, but the person has to learn how to use it. It is also an opportunity to help the Christian churches in the Akan and Ewe ethnic groups from which l come from, to see it as their duty to find means and ways to evangelise our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and children who are still under the African Traditional practices. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). Render date: 2023-03-01T10:31:12.538Z Furthermore, Jesus is the perfect sacrifice that totally pleased God and there is no need for any other. Since God is seen as the Creator, various aspects of the universe are permeated by the sense of the sacredthe religious mentality affects the way people see the universe. These are called Taboos. The worship can be direct , but is done (mostly) indirectly through divine agents like the gods or divinities (abosom in Akan , legbaa in Ewe ) and the ancestors. This bitter conflict has led to wanton destruction of lives and property, and this has become a source of great worry to the writers. The conviction that people will be reborn in this world again and again tends to be more common among Christians than Muslims. Below is the article summary. African religions behavior is centered mainly on the human person and his or her life in this world, with the consequence that religion is clearly functional, or a means to serve people to acquire earthly goods (life, health, fecundity, wealth, power and the like) and to maintain social cohesion and order.. l| -O;l0bo?Ge_4=MQ=EO|`X\G~Ah,yyG]%,GmF/-w F%YX`Ip}( na~!e[X/K879 ,y?R'd&h. d?ZKS=h8\%M{h(5M=xUeQG:3Sp}#-%>KpC3`zI *vw() endobj Areas of interest to read in the part one was how Christianity has found an inroad into the lives of so many who were living in deep darkness and slavery to the evil powers. Our duty is to preach the Word of God and trust the saving grace of Jesus Christ for conversion of souls. Belief in the ancestors presents the idea of reciprocity in the African traditional moral world. ufF'dXeA^l4a*0(1l HLtA@a2O>bOk)x6*. All life, power, and existence flow from God, and by right of their primogeniture and proximity to God by death God has granted the ancestors a qualitatively more powerful life force over their descendants. Who constitutes the world of the ancestors? 4 0 obj His research has helped to introduce and popularize new concepts in religious studies, such as the term reverse missionaries, referring to African prelates sent to Europe and the United States. SIMILARITY AND DIFFERENCE, CONTEXT AND TRADITION, IN https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972016000565, Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. The bottom line then is that Africans who still wholly practice African indigenous religions are only about 10 percent of the African population, a fraction of what it used to be only a century ago, when indigenous religions dominated most of the continent. In many communities across the world traditional beliefs and practices are passed down generations and are a feature of day-to-day life, despite the influence of outside sources. I told my father that I was coming home, he recalled. In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. <> Christians do not believe in the existence of any other godapart from the Supreme Being. Mbiti emphasizes that Africans view the universe religiously. Religion is part and parcel of daily life. Traditional Africans believed in the power of magic and medicinemen. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Christ was tempted in all the ways They have also fostered a greater feeling of individual self-worth by acknowledging important milestones in ones life, including becoming an adult or an elder. ), Heritage of Faith: a history of Christianity in Nigeria, The carpenter's revolt: youth, violence and the reinvention of culture in Nigeria, Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: Obafemi and corporate agency, The Clash of Fundamentalisms: crusades, jihads and modernity, False Prophets: the clash of civilizations and the global war on terror, Christianity, Modernity and Development in Africa, Social mobilization and collective violence: vigilantes and militias in the lowlands of Plateau State, Central Nigeria, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Islam, Youth, and Modernity in the Gambia: the Tablighi Jamaat, Cambridge University Press for the International African Institute, Muslim Modernity in Postcolonial Nigeria: a study of the Society for the Removal of Innovation and Reinstatement of Tradition, Pentecostalism, Islam and culture: new religious movements in West Africa, Christianity and Social Change in Africa: essays in honor of J. D. Y. Peel, The search for security in Northern Nigeria, Islamic Reform and Political Change in Northern Nigeria, Political Spiritualities: the Pentecostal revolution in Nigeria, Sects and Social Disorder: Muslim identities and conflict in Northern Nigeria, Ethnic vigilantes and the state: the Odua People's Congress in south-western Nigeria, Pentecostal presidency? Such a project, however, is only significant if it is not only executed by religious leaders, By clicking accept or continuing to use the site, you agree to the terms outlined in our. Ronald M. Green of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, a non-African scholar of African religion, has also written about African Traditional Religion and about religion and morality in Africa. Instead of God keeping his distance from man, He, throughout history and today reaches down in love to draw humans toward him. Christians observe the Lords supper. :t\.1biti's approach assumes that "Christianity comes to enhance African traditional religions." This implies that there is no tension between the major elements of African Traditional Religions and the major claims of Christianity." 19 hand with the study of the people who practise the religion. Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. Just like in Christianity, traditional Africanreligion has organised practices. Africans believe in the existence of a mystical, invisible, hidden, spiritual power in the universe. The Christian idea of church has similarities with African traditional life in which brotherhood and the extended family play a central role. <> GAZETTE: What is the state of indigenous African religions today? And if these shrines are not properly cared for by the designated descendant, then misfortune in the form of illness might befall the caretaker. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. Christianity, African traditional religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. When a missionary asked Africans in Zanzibar to tell him something about their God, they simply said, "God thunders!" The cleric had travelled across the seas in the 19th century to tell "the heathens without religion" or "people with a primitive religion" about God. In the part two of my writing, l will expand on the world populated by spirits called Vodou alongside that of the Akan. They take the communion to remember thedeath and resurrection of Jesus. The position I critique in this paper is really a complex of closely overlapping positions, some more theoretically sophisticated or better grounded empirically than others.1 Their central thrust is to emphasize the similarities rather than the differences between current movements in the world religions, particularly Christianity and Islam, but also to a lesser extent in Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. This order, according to Mbiti, is knowable to humans, by nature. Indigenous African religions are by nature plural, varied, and usually informed by ones ethnic identity, where ones family came from in Africa. GAZETTE: What allows African indigenous religions to be so accommodating? The Church also combines those who have died and those who still live. Christianity forbids human sacrifices in worshipas it is murder. Today Christians worship Godmainly in churches. I should add that without claiming to be full members of indigenous traditions, there are many professed Christians and Muslims who participate in one form of indigenous religious rituals and practices or another. Peel, J. D. Y. This dissertation will attempt to explore how deliverance ministry has replaced the anti-witchcraft shrines and the exorcistic activities of the African Indigenous Churches. Odozor's Morality Truly Christian, Truly Africanpublished by theUniversity of Notre Dame Press. Traditional theologians explained that one could not worship the Supreme Being formally, without the agency of the divinities or ancestors. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. x][oH~GroA $9,f K3d~VU_% fYU]q{Z?Fo?>w&j/n>>]?b5M._GYTQ|_W/_c\yA,bQQ)xn0ZtK*Q/Xb)zetab~x2e*w1Ym2n}{%2Kt[nQ,^'D^}WI_:'ym;eup|5>)$c4"y"E_C/ The ancestors are believed to be the most immediate link with the spiritual world, and they are thought to be constantly near, observing every thought and action of the living. Again, it doesnt reflect the multiplicity of ways that traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. They do so by going to the hospital. Belief in the Trinity While both Christianity and African religion have a concept of a Supreme Being, Christians believe in a God who exists in three persons. hasContentIssue true, Copyright International African Institute 2016. Most African communities offered animals and not humans as sacrifices. Updated: 10 . They are not mutually exclusive. The recipient of many prestigious academic honors and research fellowships, Olupona also received the 20152016 Reimar Lust Award for International and Cultural Exchange, considered one of Germanys most prestigious academic honors. OLUPONA: I was raised in Africa during the 1960s, when the Yoruba community never asked you to chose between your personal faith and your collective African identity. They trust God for their healing. (1981) and Ph.D. (1983) in the history of religions from Boston University. African spirituality has always been able to adapt to change and allow itself to absorb the wisdom and views of other religions, much more than, for example, Christianity and Islam. 1xxp~I7m#MWjxAqN,PT2^]R6C3Y'K~Bwv4-xwE@;5 Many laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos, constituting the moral code and ethics of a given community, are held sacred, and are believed to have been instituted by God.Furthermore, a person acts in ways that are good when he or she conforms to the customs and regulations of the community, or bad when he or she does not. This practice, no matter how limited it is, again shows how untenable the blanket assertion is that African moral traditions are those of abundant life. The Supreme Being is usually thought of as remote from daily religious life and is, therefore, not directly worshipped. Philosophers, sociologists, theologians, The conversion of indigenous converts to Christianity is often perceived as a linear process, which marks individuals rebirth and assumption of a new identity as they are assimilated into the, In the early 19th century, missionaries flocked to Central and Southern Africa to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For instance, if we were to lose indigenous African religions in Africa, then diviners would disappear, and if diviners disappeared, we would not only lose an important spiritual specialist for many Africans, but also an institution that for centuries has been the repository of African history, wisdom, and knowledge. OLUPONA: Your question underscores an important facet about African spirituality: It is not a closed theological system. The defining line between deities and ancestors is often contested, but overall, ancestors are believed to occupy a higher level of existence than living human beings and are believed to be able to bestow either blessings or illness upon their living descendants. An old African adage says: The sky is large enough for birds to fly around without one having to bump into the other.. Interrogating identity: Frantz Fanon and the postcolonial prerogative, 3. OLUPONA: If we lose traditional African religions, we would also lose or continue to seriously undermine the African practice of rites of passage such as the much cherished age-grade initiations, which have for so long integrated and bought Africans together under a common understanding, or worldview. He has researched and written about such diverse religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the Old Order Amish. Despite the presence of Christianity, traditional religions in Ghana have retained their influence because of their intimate relation to family loyalties and local mores. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Janson, Marloes Commonalities between Christianity and Africa Traditional Religion. The commitment to theory, 2. He is not only the covenant giver He gives the power to keep the covenant. The cup of wine symbolises the blood Jesus shedand the bread symbolises His body which was broken for us. Mbiti makes this point too when he stresses that the majority of African peoples believe that God punishes in this life. Although God is concerned with humanitys moral life and upholds the moral law, there is no belief that a person is punished in the hereafter for his or her wrongdoing in this life. Some scholars have rightly observed that the centre of gravity of Christianity is shifting from the West to the two-thirds world, that is Asia, South America and Africa. To understand African tradition, one needs to understand the position of African Traditional Religion on God, the human person, and creation. Additionally, I will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who practice their form of African indigenous religions. Youll never experience a black hole, but Avi Loeb can help you imagine one. Yet consider that in 1900 most Africans in sub-Saharan Africa practiced a form of indigenous African religions. a trans-moral suspension of retribution in the face of self-confessed and inescapable human wrongdoing. Green notes a similarity between this deep structure and that which has developed in Christian theology over centuries of effort at grounding human moral striving in the face of the experiential difficulties that assault moral idealism. In this Christian theological system, the idea of God as creator and sovereign expresses the moral requirements of impartial regard for all. Who Should Christians Worship? Journal of Biblical Unitarianism 1:1, 5-33, 2014. He sees the other faith as complementing and even adding spiritual potency to his own spiritual practice of constructing effective amulets. They form a chain through the links of which the forces of the elders [now with the community] exercise their vitalizing influence on the living generation. For Magesa, the ancestors are primarily authority figures whose being implies moral activity in that they are the maintainers and enforcers of norms of social action. Although they are entrusted with these roles in their relationship with humans, any capriciousness of the ancestors is not taken kindly by the living, just as it would not be acceptable from any elder in society. The ancestors are beyond reproach. I utilised this view as hermeneutical point. Acknowledgements, Introduction: Locations of culture, 1. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. Total loading time: 0 The ordering of the universe and its continuance depends on God. An important area Green points to has to do with the role of God in these two systems of thought. Green opines that although superficially regarded, this may seem to be a minimal moral relationshipmore like a kind of egoism on one side and fearful propitiation on the otherit also shows, however, the profound role that respect for age and for the fulfillment of lineage and familial duties play in this traditional setting. In lieu of these traditional African ways of defining oneself, Christianity and Islam are gradually creating a social identity in Africa that cuts across these indigenous African religious and social identities. In other words, he shows that the sense of the divine was not something introduced to Africa by missionaries or by anyone else; that the knowledge of God in African religion was not much different from the idea of God that Christian missionaries preached in Africa; and, more specifically to our purpose here, that belief in God engendered a moral response that for centuries before Christian arrival in Africa directed moral life and interaction on the continent and among its peoples. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. Commonly, God is believed to dwell in the skies. (See the glossary for more information on juju. <>>> African spirituality simply acknowledges that beliefs and practices touch on and inform every facet of human life, and therefore African religion cannot be separated from the everyday or mundane. Human beings are the link between the heavens and the earth, between the visible and the invisible universe. 24 October 2016. In the Ewe thought they are called Vodou (Vodu or Vudu in Benin and Togo; also Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, or other phonetically equivalent spellings. Animism is a common feature of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery. No matter how one looks at it, to offer the female members of ones family as a mark of hospitality to a stranger is morally wrong, not just from the point of view of Christian morality but from a purely natural law point of view as well. Omissions? Christians pray toGod through Jesus Christ. During the early churchs initial expansion phase where congregations were established in Syria, Asia Minor, Achaia, Italy and Africa there were strong leadership structures in Alexandria, Carthage, Neo religious movements is a term often used to describe a wide range of movements that developed in the tail end of the 19 century (the 1960s and 1970s). Traditional Africans had to go to specific sacred placesfor them to worship but Christians can worship God anywhere at any time. To achieve its goal, the paper adopts the method of . Christians do not offer animal sacrifices to appease God. Christians practice baptism. ABSTRACT PART II: Comparing the concept of Spirit and Soul in the Traditional Religion of the Akan and Ewe Tribes to that of the Bible By Godwin Kwame Ofosuhene In the part one of my writing, with the titled The concept of God in the traditional religion of Akan and Ewe ethnic groups compare to the Bible - dated 31st May 2006, l explained how the Akan and Ewe ethnic groups of Ghana understood God in their traditional religious practices. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. African Traditional Religion appears to be a self-sufficient system, both from atheological point of view, in that it provides answers to questions of ultimate reality and meaning, at least to its adherents; and from the point of view of morality, in that it provides the moral rules, norms, and instruction in virtues by which human beings can live upright moral lives. Diviners who go through a long educational and apprenticeship program hold the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of the African people. I also celebrate and honor the kings festivals and ceremonies in my hometown and other places where I live and do research. Like Ronald Green, Magesa argues that African Traditional Religion is in the background of all African religiosity, both in Christianity and Islam, and supplies the basic attitude or worldview of most African Christians. African traditional religion cannot be discussed without mentioning that it is the way of life of the people of Africa and so cannot be differentiated from the politics, education, and socialisation, etc. Traditional Africans made images of the Supreme God or other supernatural beingswhich they worshipped. 1 Their central thrust is to emphasize the similarities rather than the differences between current movements in the world religions, particularly Christianity and Islam, but With regard to the issue of offering ones wife in generosity, this practice, as Laurenti Magesa has shown, applied to a very limited number of African ethnic groups, such as the Masai, and in very tightly controlled situations among friends within the same age group fraternity and on very limited occasions. These include the pragmatic nature of the African cultural and religious heritage, and the African traditional methods of healing. For this reason, they can come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ through the teaching of the Word of God because it is home going time. Human beings maintain active and real relationshipswith the spiritual world, especially with the living dead, through offerings, sacrifices, and prayers. This order, established by God, guides the functioning of the universe, preventing it from falling into chaos; and it ensures the continuance of life and the universe itself. A holistic interpretation of the book between Paul and James. 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