This view influences the way humans relate to the universe: on the one hand, they strive to maintain harmony between themselves and the invisible universe by observing the moral and religious order; at the same time, humans see the universe in a utilitarian way, from the point of view of what is beneficial or harmful to them. <> 24 October 2016. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. stream This power is not accessible to everyone, and in most cases it is inborn, but the person has to learn how to use it. Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. Mbiti makes a very controversial point when he claims that in African societies there are no acts that would be considered wrong in themselves. OLUPONA: Your question underscores an important facet about African spirituality: It is not a closed theological system. <> Devoid of essential personal characteristics they represent the essence of what might be called structural personality. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. They did this as theyoffered libation by pouring water or any other drink to the ground. 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. The traditional cosmology expresses belief in a supreme being (referred to by the Akan as Nyame, or by the Ewe Mawu). OLUPONA: Yes, its a mixed bag because in the African diaspora mostly due to the slave trade starting in the 15th century indigenous African religions have spread and taken root all over the world, including in the United States and Europe. GAZETTE: What is the state of indigenous African religions today? There is even a community deep in the American Bible Belt in Beaufort County, S.C., called Oyotunji Village that practices a type of African indigenous religion, which is a mixture of Yoruba and Ewe-Fon spiritual practices. 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. These are the pristine men and women, the originators of the lineage or clan or ethnic group. The understanding of God normally needs some refining when one comes from African Traditional Religion to be a Christian. This condition is under a traditional religion belief called the trokosi system or wives of the ancestral gods. These ancestral gods lived in the spiritual world, which according to ATR, is the world populated by spirits. 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. However, Christians can offer animals to the church where they canbe sold or reared to give the church income. And if these shrines are not properly cared for by the designated descendant, then misfortune in the form of illness might befall the caretaker. Pp. These gods are generally perceived as intermediaries between the Supreme Being and society. In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. But after braving that first blizzard in a land far from his native Nigeria, Olupona stuck it out and earned his Ph.D. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. Everything is said to center on them. When they pray they maykneel down, bow their heads or lift their hands up. The . They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Thus, it is because of the existence of this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct. Indigenous African religions are by nature plural, varied, and usually informed by ones ethnic identity, where ones family came from in Africa. <>>> Updated: 10 . of the people which are all together. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. When one becomes a Christian he/she is baptised. They believe that Obatala helped Olurun in creating theworld and everything in it. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax <> People may complain to God and the ancestors, but they will never accuse them of any moral wrongdoing. The Supreme Being is usually thought of as remote from daily religious life and is, therefore, not directly worshipped. Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. Before you discuss on how somebody is doing something, it is also good to look at the reason why the person is doing that thing, so that you can be in a better position to educate the person properly. 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. Mission Manual Pages Section A Biblical Basis of Mission 1 20, E-journal of Religious and Theological Studies, TITLE A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SALVATION IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY: TOWARDS DEVELOPING AN EVANGELISTIC MODEL IN SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TUENSANG DISTRICT CHAPTER ONE, Baptism and Original Sin in the Early Church : contributions of Tertullian, THE UNIQUELY CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW - Ethington Book, CHRISTIANITY AND AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN KUMASI: A COMPARATIVE STUDY Department of General Art Studies, SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY @BULLET An Introduction to Bible Doctrine @BULLET, Monotheism in the Qur'an and in the New Testament: Comparative Theological Explorations of the Role of Prophets and the Covenants. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 9 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 595.32 841.92] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S>> Traditional Africans believed in the power of magic and medicinemen. But for many Africans, religion can never be separated from all these. The introduced religions of Islam (in northern Africa) and Christianity (in southern Africa) are now the continents major religions, but traditional religions still play an important role, especially in the interior of sub-Saharan Africa. Different fathers played a role in the development of this religion. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. [D@dIS(P]y`ne]y:fjGZ3yEAVOI QFY- African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. The award allows Olupona a year of study and research in Germany; he is on leave this year (201516). 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. 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. 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. Religion informs everything in traditional African society, including political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death. This supreme . The writing of this paper is another opportunity given to me so that l would use my talents given by the Holy Spirit to help our relatives still under the worldview of Satan to see and come into the Light of Life. 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. 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. Consequently, traditional Africans have different ideas on what role the ancestors play in the lives of living descendants. Eternal Rest of the Soul. 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. Copyright 2023 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. But it is also the strict commitment, to the observance of certain (written or unwritten) divinely inspired moral prescriptions or codes of ethics, promulgated by the religious authorities and enforced by sanctions. 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. A Background to Religion and Magic in Western Thought Our modern usage of the term 'magic' derives from the Greek magike, 3 0 obj 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. Traditional theologians explained that one could not worship the Supreme Being formally, without the agency of the divinities or ancestors. endobj An important preoccupation of Mbitis work has been to show that knowledge of God and the worship of God have been staples of African life from the earliest times on the continent. 2017. He then reflects on five "essential aspects" of. The cup of wine symbolises the blood Jesus shedand the bread symbolises His body which was broken for us. For the full article, see, New religions, independent churches, and prophetic movements, https://www.britannica.com/summary/African-religions. 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. 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. Neglect, it is believed, might spell doom. For example, an African amulet might have inside of it a written verse from either the Koran or Christian Bible. The Yoruba diviners, for example, draw on this extensive indigenous knowledge every day by consulting Ifa, an extensive literary corpus of information covering science, medicine, cosmology, and metaphysics. 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. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? and They trust God for their healing. It was believed that the animals blood appeased God. In some communities masks were used to representcertain gods or ancestral spirits. 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() These included interviews he conducted with pastors, exorcists, traditional priests, so-called witches and delivered witches. Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. 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 Both religions believe that God revealsHimself to people through dreams, propheciesand other special events. According to Mbiti, Africans came to believe in God by reflecting on their experience and through observation of the created universe. Ritual functionaries include priests, elders, rainmakers, diviners, and prophets. One scholar who has written extensively on African Traditional Religion is John Mbiti, a Kenyan whom many consider the dean of living African theologians. Instead of God keeping his distance from man, He, throughout history and today reaches down in love to draw humans toward him. 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. When Christians are sickthey do not go to magicians or traditional healers. While the recourse to traditional healers may be motivated in part by economic reasons and an absence of health care alternatives, it may also be rooted in religious beliefs about the efficacy of this approach. The vigor with which the African Traditional Religion (ATR) has continued to resist the onslaught of Christianity is a cause of academic preoccupation. The African Traditional Religion, which is still in place today, can be compared to Christianity through their similarities and differences. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential. This dissertation will attempt to explore how deliverance ministry has replaced the anti-witchcraft shrines and the exorcistic activities of the African Indigenous Churches. 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. Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. OLUPONA: We would lose a worldview that has collectively sustained, enriched, and given meaning to a continent and numerous other societies for centuries through its epistemology, metaphysics, history, and practices. A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life, by Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor Traditional African religious influences on the church and the Bible It is worth noting that Cameroonians ferociously resisted foreign religions in the 18th century to maintain their traditional religions when Christianity entered Cameroon (Betoto, 2012). In five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. This is called the Trinity. OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. The Yoruba believe in the existence of the Supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser god, Obatala. The commitment to theory, 2. Sacrificial meals in the traditional Africanreligion are the equivalent of the Holy. 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. 1 0 obj SUMMARY OF REFORMED THEOLOGY IN 10 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. Editorial Statement: This essay is a slightly modified excerpt from the section "Evaluating African Traditional Religion: The Descriptive Task" (98-107) in Fr. endobj GAZETTE: What allows African indigenous religions to be so accommodating? For instance, in the southern Volta Region of Ghana, and in Togo and Benin, thousands of young girls of the Ewe (say Ay-vay) tribe are held as slaves in unspeakable conditions under a traditional religion belief called the trokosi system or wives of the ancestral gods. OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. $70.00/$25.00. Christians do not have regard for their powers because they believethat they overcome all evil through the name of Jesus. 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. ufF'dXeA^l4a*0(1l HLtA@a2O>bOk)x6*. It is a counter culture in response to the, The move towards contextual Christianity in Africa is an essential venture if Christianity is to communicate with the African cultural heritage. ), 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? 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. ^xH&M'YZ7EDi%qN^K Christianity, African traditional religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. Omissions? This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. :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 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. There are also the lesser gods that take residency in streams, rivers, trees and mountains. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> M!eJ/"0Nq"3_ad!+;\4C2-0"+5qu|Rw!9KkC~V3M$ 2d yFT!Jf"ez:~ U S dE{hbaERVTGeqBzk2^oP)R}7Qv#.dQF4^%y+X-o"wr+l+B?{lb="akK;qurpDB ~O` Hn5~:D]xDS-V3tVgP`Axx8Mi2.O4g5=t DTW?ne![Cc?"C+E|o&Ks0`7_BiXHyJ8;B>7AfvuPTZV(3JW|/+Ywy"EtBEVYlNFc[5%X8@o|^DHD\*=z.)P??6`! In most cases, the earth is conceived as a living thing, a goddess, Mother Earth. According to Mbiti, the earth is symbolically viewed as the mother of the universe, while the heavens/sky are seen as its male counterpart. When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. Such activities include the making of sacrifices and the pouring of libations. But as we learnt in Unit One, Christians can also worship Him attheir homes or other places. A classicatory system which attempts to distinguish the principal responses As judge, God is understood to uphold this standard by ultimately punishing its violations and by rewarding the righteous (usually in some eschatological domain). This is a universal belief among Africans. GAZETTE: What else would we lose if we lost traditional African Religions? While both Christianity and African religion have a concept of a Supreme Being,Christians believe in a God who exists in three persons. These could be caves, forests,mountains and so on. 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