Christian teaching forbids making of any kinds ofimages to represent God. This power is not accessible to everyone, and in most cases it is inborn, but the person has to learn how to use it. explore the things that fall in between"adiaphora", which the proponents of contextual Christianity may have overlooked with regard to the African cultural and religious heritage. Human beings maintain active and real relationshipswith the spiritual world, especially with the living dead, through offerings, sacrifices, and prayers. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. Their significance lies in the genealogical positions and the rights and duties which derive from them. Ancestors uphold right conduct by punishing moral violations, demanding respect and attention, and getting angry when not given due respect. The other very big difference between African Traditional Religion and Christianity is the worship. <> Both have initiation rites into full membership. Thus, everythingis not completely unpredictable and chaotic because of this order. Therefore we speak of African Traditional Religion thinking of those common things. In African Traditional Religion, they do believe in a genderless god with the three names: Umvelingqangi, uNkulunkulu, and uThixo (Badoian, 2014). Magesa discusses the African tradition in its various manifestations: its understanding of the human person and of life in general; aesthetics, politics, ethics, and of course religion, which he shows to be the architectonic basis of these other expressions or manifestations of African tradition. When Christians are sickthey do not go to magicians or traditional healers. 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. SUMMARY OF REFORMED THEOLOGY IN 10 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. <> 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.. This is the kind of interlocutor who will counter an observation about violent militancy in contemporary Islam in the context, let us say, of a discussion about Boko Haram with But what about the Crusades? Traditional Africans didnot have this practice. <> Sacrificial meals in the traditional Africanreligion are the equivalent of the Holy. 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. Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at the Allen Institute for AI. Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor, C.S.Sp., is Professor of moral theology, the theology of the world church, and Africana studies at the University of Notre Dame. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. Witchcraft has been a prevailing belief in African cultures and has continually posed problems for the African people groups. They claimed or argued strongly that in the light of the more objective or scientific study of religions, ATR can no longer be justifiably characterized as stupid, since the worshippers do not worship the said material objects per se, but the Spirit of the Creator reflected in them. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. These are called Taboos. 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. Using Ghana as a case history, I shall evaluate this ministry to find out its positive and negative effects. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. Published online by Cambridge University Press: degree at Harvard Divinity School. For starters, the word religion is problematic for many Africans, because it suggests that religion is separate from the other aspects of ones culture, society, or environment. One scholar who has written extensively on African Traditional Religion is John Mbiti, a Kenyan whom many consider the dean of living African theologians. At stake here is nothing less than the question of human culpability and ultimate redemption, which has to do with the traditional Christian topic of sin and grace. of the people which are all together. The spirit medium is required to possess moral probity and integrity. University of Notre Dame, McGrath Institute for Church Life 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. Some African diasporans are returning to the continent to reconnect with their ancestral traditions, and they are encouraging and organizing the local African communities to reclaim this heritage. Traditional Religion as a source of African theology just as Christian theology is. Some traditional African societies like the Yoruba believed in the existence of lessergods. ), 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? 1 0 obj Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. He went on to conduct some of the most significant research on African religions in decades. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. Traditional Africans worshipped in shrines. Feature Flags: { Hence, it cannot be avoided in the interaction between Christianity and African Traditional Religion. These could be caves, forests,mountains and so on. GAZETTE: How have ancestors played a role in traditional societies? So, basically, to speak of African tradition is to talk about African Traditional Religion. The action of the living, for example, can affect the gods or spirits of the departed, while the support of family or tribal ancestors ensures prosperity of the lineage or state. This is because Jesusalready shed His blood on the cross and He was the perfect sacrifice that totally satisfied God. View all Google Scholar citations Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. 3 0 obj These are the pristine men and women, the originators of the lineage or clan or ethnic group. These differences, I will argue, have significant impact not just on the way people conceive of the moral world or with regard to moral intentions, but also on moral practices. These act as Gods associates, assistants, and mediators, and they are directly involved in human affairs. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. These images could be of a lion or another animal carvedfrom a tree to represent a god. GAZETTE: What else would we lose if we lost traditional African Religions? Thus, to assert as Mbiti does that there are no secret sins or that something or someone is bad or good only according to outward conduct is too careless a statement to make. OLUPONA: Thats a mixed bag. 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. ABSTRACT The concept of God in the traditional religion of Akan and Ewe ethnic groups compare to the Bible By Godwin Kwame Ofosuhene I am going to focus this writing, on how the Akan and Ewe ethnic groups of Ghana, understood God in their traditional religious practices and after that compare or discuss these beliefs in the light of the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, the religions developed in the Americas impact Africa in that devotees of the African diaspora have significant influence on practices in Africa. Traditional Africans had to go to specific sacred placesfor them to worship but Christians can worship God anywhere at any time. Editorial Statement: This essay is a slightly modified excerpt from the section "Evaluating African Traditional Religion: The Descriptive Task" (98-107) in Fr. Whenever. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. These include the pragmatic nature of the African cultural and religious heritage, and the African traditional methods of healing. It was believed that Vodun was a representativeof the Supreme God known as Mawu. These initiation rituals are already not as common in Africa as they were only 50 years ago, yet age-grade initiations have always helped young Africans feel connected to their community and their past. stream Mbiti says that: According to Mbiti, human beings have a privileged position in the universe. In the part two of my writing, l will expand on the world populated by spirits called Vodou alongside that of the Akan. Victor Christianto, Veli-Matti Karkkainen, International Journal of African Catholicism, Stan-William Ede, Dominic Okoye, Anselm Jimoh, Gregory Ekene Ezeokeke, Louismary Ocha, Overlaps between Judeo-Christian theology and traditional African religions, Vehicles of Divine Mystery: Paul's Danielic Self-Understanding in Ephesians 3, Teach us to number our days: an exegetical and theological analysis of Psalm 90, The Faith Journey of Paul: An Exegetical Analysis of Philippians 3: 1-14, The Concept of God in the Traditional Religion of the Akan and Ewe Ethnic Groups Compared the Bible, Comparing the Concept of Spirit and Soul in the Traditional Religion of the Akan and Ewe Tribes to that of the Bible, Entries. The vigor with which the African Traditional Religion (ATR) has continued to resist the onslaught of Christianity is a cause of academic preoccupation. Just as within the traditional political and diplomatic contexts, one cannot formally contact the king without the agency of his linguists or sub-chiefs. 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. The success of Christianity and Islam on the African continent in the last 100 years has been extraordinary, but it has been, unfortunately, at the expense of African indigenous religions. 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. In five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. OLUPONA: The role of ancestors in the African cosmology has always been significant. Mbiti makes a very controversial point when he claims that in African societies there are no acts that would be considered wrong in themselves. Some of these African diaspora religions include Cuban Regla de Ocha, Haitian Vodou, and Brazilian Candomble. I answered two, The paper discusses the state of traditional African religion in post-apartheid South Africa. Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. Today Christians worship Godmainly in churches. This chapter includes information on: Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects Download chapter 3 in full (3-page PDF, <1MB) Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis This bitter conflict has led to wanton destruction of lives and property, and this has become a source of great worry to the writers. by Richard Chowning [ ATR Topics Page | Africa Missions Research and Strategy Page | Africa Missions Main Page | Help ] [ QuickStart ] Creator God The supreme being in most African Traditional Religions is seen as the creator of humans and all other living things. They do this by having Africans increasingly identify themselves as either Muslim or Christian, thus denying their unique African worldview that has always viewed as evidenced in their creation myths everything as unified and connected to the land, the place were ones clan, lineage, and people were cosmically birthed. Olupona, professor of indigenous African religions at Harvard Divinity School and professor of African and African-American studies in Harvards Faculty of Arts and Sciences, recently sat down for an interview about his lifelong research on indigenous African religions. As I have discussed elsewhere in Morality Truly Christian, Truly African, for example, some African societies are so conscious of the implications of crossing the line on some ethical matters, like adultery, incest, and murder, that anyone who engages in these acts is considered automatically to be putting the very survival of the community in danger. Green points out that there is a rational basis to African Traditional Religion that shows, in Kantian terms, that there is a deep structure of universal moral and religious reason to it. The three requirements of reason at the heart of this structure are: first, a basic rule or procedure of moral choice; second, a metaphysic grounding the possibility of strict moral retribution; and third, . (1981) and Ph.D. (1983) in the history of religions from Boston University. In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. The cup of wine symbolises the blood Jesus shedand the bread symbolises His body which was broken for us. OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World, Chapter 3: Traditional African Religious Beliefs and Practices, Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, Next: Chapter 4: Interreligious Harmony and Tensions, Chapter 2: Commitment to Christianity and Islam, Chapter 4: Interreligious Harmony and Tensions, In the U.S. and Western Europe, people say they accept Muslims, but opinions are divided on Islam, In Western Europe, familiarity with Muslims is linked to positive views of Muslims and Islam, Q&A: Measuring attitudes toward Muslims and Jews in Western Europe, Europes Muslim population will continue to grow but how much depends on migration, The Growth of Germanys Muslim Population, Size & Demographic Characteristics of Religious Groups, Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable With Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care, The changing face of Congress in 8 charts, As Russian invasion nears one-year mark, partisans grow further apart on U.S. support for Ukraine. Corrections? Indigenous African religion is primarily an oral tradition and has never been fully codified; thus, it allows itself to more easily be amended and influenced by other religious ideas, religious wisdom, and by modern development. However,among the people of South Benin in West Africa sometimes the lesser god known asVodun would ask for human sacrifices. Taboos and customs cover all aspects of human life: words, foods, dress, relations among people, marriage, burial, work, and so forth: A part of this belief in the moral and religious order is belief in the invisible universe, which consists of divinities, spirits, and the ancestors (the living dead). Interrogating identity: Frantz Fanon and the postcolonial prerogative, 3. between African traditional religion and the Christian faith. It doesnt have a fixed creed, like in some forms of Christianity or Islam. Omissions? Christians do not offer animal sacrifices to appease God. In short, the question is whether the notion of mercy exists in the moral order of African Traditional Religion and whether the sacrifices of African religion amount to an expiatory understanding in African religious thought. hand with the study of the people who practise the religion. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-79tgq Traditional Africans did not practice baptism. 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. According to Mbiti, Africans believe that God has ordained a moral order for humans, through which they came to understand what is good and what is evil, so that they might live in harmony with one another and safeguard the life of the people. This supreme . |,utv2QdjrqfM7PC)2-|O7,0[i=_a/Om"X`Y2FpXBjsFxCqDd`%*g,-J1e*jjq,tm{w>qAsAqN$D In the Akan and Ewe ethnic groups the above phenomenological conception of ATR called for education in the light of the scriptures. Some Africans believe that the ancestors are equal in power to deities, while others believe they are not. African communities at the time but was also poised to become a site of religious and cultural conflict both within and between different communities in postcolonial South Africa. For example, in 14 of the 19 countries surveyed, more than three-in-ten people say they sometimes consult traditional healers when someone in their household is sick. This includes five countries (Cameroon, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal) where more than half the population uses traditional healers. Download chapter 3 in full (3-page PDF, <1MB), Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis, Part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA Again, it doesnt reflect the multiplicity of ways that traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. 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. I am going to use the research reports of Opoky Onyinah , which he carried out among Ghanaian Christians between 1997 and 1999. x + 306. This dissertation will attempt to explore how deliverance ministry has replaced the anti-witchcraft shrines and the exorcistic activities of the African Indigenous Churches. % In respect and honor of my culture, I also dress in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im in my country. inequality and class divide, dreams and interpretation, names and religious identity. Veneration of departed ancestors is a major characteristic of all traditional religions. Focusing on Luo Muslims in Kenya, Dr Lawrence Oseje looks at the interaction of Islam and traditional Luo practices, especially those around death and burial. When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. Featured Image:Edo people, Queen Mother Pendant mask, circa 16th c.; Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. Africans believe in the existence of a mystical, invisible, hidden, spiritual power in the universe. for this article. psC68k}(`eMTO} }3sUO?JH`dMQois6I{r[}Doq?L0}ze^WZ\|r?3Z %g~bs_*@F`b, vw`qRk3xnnH6NSKF vFK](S?I.$@\$OC(N#a6oJc!0 sm!$!'TGzmSvw)+Na?1s K{o?!I People may complain to God and the ancestors, but they will never accuse them of any moral wrongdoing. Other spirits with a significant role in maintaining the African traditional moral world include ancestors and lineage spirits who operate in specific social contexts where their will is expressed through misfortunes, and some other spirits who do not act directly but who rely on human agents to effect their will. These spirits underlie the power of spirit mediums who, as mediators between space and the human world and by virtue of the moral authority this confers, are able to arbitrate between living human beings. Highlights of the first writing were, the African Traditional Religion, the life of the ethnic groups in Ghana; their beliefs, customs, ritual and taboos. There are untold millions, which are outside the fold who need to come into the saving knowledge of Christ. Acts are wrong if they hurt or damage relationships or if they are discovered to constitute a breach of custom or regulation. To buttress his point Mbiti states that in certain African societies to sleep with someone elses wife is not considered evil if these two are not found out by the society which forbids it, and in other societies is in fact an expression of friendship and hospitality to let a guest spend the night with ones wife or daughter or sister. Mbitis assertions must be read as a limited reference to some African societies and in some limited settings. Peel, J. D. Y. These act as a link between God and the human community. (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). Palmi, Stephan 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. 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. Ifa is an indispensable treasure trove of knowledge that cant be duplicated elsewhere; much of its knowledge has been handed down from babalawo [Ifa priest/diviner] to babalawo for centuries. GAZETTE: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? They do so by going to the hospital. Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. Animism is a common feature of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery. OLUPONA: One of the basic reasons is that indigenous African spiritual beliefs are not bound by a written text, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The African Traditional Religion, which is still in place today, can be compared to Christianity through their similarities and differences. This is a universal belief among Africans. 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 Some of the ideas from Mbitis works are pertinent to our discussion here: Africans believe in a hierarchy of beings, from the ultimate being, God, to lesser ones, divinities, spirits, the living dead, human beings, animals, plants, and inanimate beings. These facts, however, does not necessary suggest that the educated Ghanaian has totally abandoned tradition; some educated and mission trained individuals do consult traditional oracles in times of crises. The data also will include a survey he conducted in 1999 of 1201 participants across Ghana concerning the belief in the traditional spirit-world. Encyclopedia of religious and spiritual development, Adopting Primary Taoism as a Protoevangelion for Contextualization of the Gospel into Asian Culture, Toward a Liturgical Approach to Re-Routing Mission, TOWARDS A THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE MYSTERY OF SUFFERING IN THE MIDST OF PROSPERITY THEOLOGY WITHIN THE PENTECOSTAL AND EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA, PARTICULARLY YANGORU, Mission in the Spirit: Towards a Pentecostal/Charismatic Missiology (with Julie C. Ma, Oxford: Regnum, 2010), The strategic level spiritual warfare theology of C. Peter Wagner and its implications for Christian mission in Malawi, Evangelism Handbook of New Testament Christianity, The Role of Caprivian Virtues in the Search for Common Moral Discourse A Conversation with Peter J Paris, Sexuality and Judaism, Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion (pg. Traditional methods of healing the spiritual world, especially with the living dead, through offerings, sacrifices, misfortune... Include a survey he conducted in 1999 of 1201 participants across Ghana concerning the belief in the interaction between and! But Christians can worship God anywhere at any time Mbiti, human beings maintain active and real relationshipswith the world. When Christians are sickthey do not go to specific sacred placesfor them to worship but Christians can worship anywhere... Thus, everythingis not completely unpredictable and chaotic because of this order traditional religions to worship but Christians can God... 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