3 0 obj This bitter conflict has led to wanton destruction of lives and property, and this has become a source of great worry to the writers. 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 Observing this moral order ensures harmony and peace within the community. "useRatesEcommerce": false The understanding of God normally needs some refining when one comes from African Traditional Religion to be a Christian. 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. 4 0 obj It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential. Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. endobj These include the pragmatic nature of the African cultural and religious heritage, and the African traditional methods of healing. 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.. Human beings are the link between the heavens and the earth, between the visible and the invisible universe. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. A follower of African diaspora religions has many choices in terms of seeking spiritual help or succor. 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. 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. 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, . To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. The other question: Stereotype, This essay deals with the relationship between Christianity and other religions. endobj Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. This is because Jesusalready shed His blood on the cross and He was the perfect sacrifice that totally satisfied God. These act as a link between God and the human community. 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. All work unless implicitly stated is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Pentecostalism and Shamanism in Asia and Beyond, A Critical Analysis of Byang Kato's Demonology and Its Theological Relevance for an Evangelical Demonology, INITIATION IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION, Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Kirsteen Kim, Amos Yong: Interdisciplinary and Religio-Cultural Discourses on a Spirit-Filled World, Encounter - Journal of African Life and Religion, 12 (2017), REGNUM STUDIES IN MISSION Pentecostal Mission and Global Christianity An Edinburgh Centenary Reader, Van Rheenen, Gailyn: Missions - biblical foundations. The numerous traditional African religions have in common the notion of a creator god, who made the . endobj 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() of the people which are all together. They do not offer any libation. All rights reserved. Rituals are aimed at maintaining a harmonious relationship with cosmic powers, and many have associated myths that explain their significance. The religious functions, especially of chiefs and lineage heads, are clearly demonstrated during such periods as the Odwira of the Akan, Hogbetsotso / Tedudu of the Ewe, the Homowo of the Ga-Adangbe, or the Aboakyir of the Efutu (coastal Guan), when the people are organized in activities that renew and strengthen relations with their ancestors. Mbiti makes a very controversial point when he claims that in African societies there are no acts that would be considered wrong in themselves. Secondly, there is moral and religious order. The other very big difference between African Traditional Religion and Christianity is the worship. The traditional cosmology expresses belief in a supreme being (referred to by the Akan as Nyame, or by the Ewe Mawu). OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. From this view point, Ill begin to say that African Traditional Religion (ATR) involves the belief and worship of the Supreme Being known and revered all over Africa as Onyame in Akan, Mao in Ewe, Chineke in Igbo and Oludumare in Yoruba etc. The reasons for this shift are varied and complex. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main There is also a mystical order of the universe. Ancestors also serve as intermediaries (see ancestor worship). For this reason, l am writing on the topic, which says, Comparing the concept of Spirit and Soul in the Traditional Religion of the Akan and Ewe Tribes to that of the Bible. similarities between the traditional beliefs of Africans in Africa. <> These spirit do not carry the desires of humans to the Creator God. 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. The Yoruba believe in the existence of the Supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser god, Obatala. Like Mbiti and Green, Magesa notes that the world of African Traditional Religion is a hierarchically ordered place where, On the lowest rung of the ladder are spirits, who are active beings distinct from humans and reside in nature and phenomena such as trees, rivers, rocks, or lakes. 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. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax In African Traditional Religion, they do believe in a genderless god with the three names: Umvelingqangi, uNkulunkulu, and uThixo (Badoian, 2014). African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. However, the reasons for the growth of Christianity in Africa significantly include the way the Africans have attempted to deal with their threatening fears, especially witchcraft. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. 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. An important area Green points to has to do with the role of God in these two systems of thought. That would be a serious loss not only for Africans, but also for academics, researchers, writers, and general seekers of wisdom the world over. Witchcraft has been a prevailing belief in African cultures and has continually posed problems for the African people groups. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. 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. I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. These shrines were built near waterbodies, next to big trees or near other sacred places. 2 0 obj When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. Religion informs everything in traditional African society, including political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death. However, they do not seek the services of magicians orwitchdoctors. Traditional Africans had to go to specific sacred placesfor them to worship but Christians can worship God anywhere at any time. endobj <> Barrenness is, therefore, considered a great misfortune because it prevents ancestors from returning to life. Again, it doesnt reflect the multiplicity of ways that traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. 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. 1 0 obj Whenever. It also taps into a common lay attitude to what might be called a secular common sense, which feels impatience or distaste for all forms of what it considers religious extremism, while at the same time shying away from regarding any one religion as more prone to extremism than others. Traditional Africans communicated to God through ancestors. However, Christians can offer animals to the church where they canbe sold or reared to give the church income. May the Lord assist us to know the truth and walk in it. God, the ancestors, and the spirits are all moral powers whose actions affect human life in various ways and to various degrees. The Christian idea of church has similarities with African traditional life in which brotherhood and the extended family play a central role. Rooted in the belief in God as the Creator, Africans believe in various dimensions of the created universe, such as visible and invisible (the spiritual realm), heavenly (skyward) and earthly (and in some ethnic groups there is a belief in the underworld). This should make it clear why some African intellectuals would question the relevance of Christianity on the continent. Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. The final aspect of this deep structure of moral reason in African Traditional Religion Green refers to as morally intentional trans-moral safety valves such as are found in the doctrine of grace or atonement in Weston religions (Christianity) or of liberation from the world of moral causation in Eastern religions. Youll never experience a black hole, but Avi Loeb can help you imagine one. % Different fathers played a role in the development of this religion. The spiritual medium is the physical embodiment of the religious retributive order in which Africans know themselves to stand.. 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. Church Life Journal In this paper, I interrogated the Gabola church in terms of its origins, purpose and its distinctiveness as a postcolonial manifestation of freedom of religion in South Africa. One of Jacob Oluponas earliest memories in Massachusetts is of nearly freezing in his apartment as a graduate student at Boston University during the great snowstorm of 1978. (See the glossary for more information on juju. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. They are thus moral agents. It is the ancestors, however, the custodians of tradition, who determine the way these agents act, and it is tradition that supplies the moral code and indicates what the people must do to live ethically. African traditions carry out their role as ethical guides in many ways, including myths and rituals. 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. Level of cannabis use could determine post-op outcomes, Historian says Fla. dispute shows why AP class in African American studies is needed, Why Church Committee alums urged new House panel to avoid partisanship, One small step toward understanding gravity, Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. 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. 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 could be caves, forests,mountains and so on. Christ is the Mediator between Humans and God In African Traditional Religion ancestral spirits, and lesser gods, are usually the spirits that communicate with humans on earth. The missionaries succeeded in spreading Christianity in Africa at a time when tribal religions were ignored or denigrated. Both have places of worship. Today Christians worship Godmainly in churches. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. In the Ewe thought they are called Vodou (Vodu or Vudu in Benin and Togo; also Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, or other phonetically equivalent spellings. Sacrificial meals in the traditional Africanreligion are the equivalent of the Holy. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-79tgq This is a universal belief among Africans. So, basically, to speak of African tradition is to talk about African Traditional Religion. Some traditional African societies like the Yoruba believed in the existence of lessergods. While Islam and Christianity tend to be overtly resistant to adopting traditional African religious ideas or practices, indigenous African religions have always accommodated other beliefs. the other in tradition poses a serious dilemma for both Christianity and tradition in Africa. Pratten, David 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. Omissions? I answered two, The paper discusses the state of traditional African religion in post-apartheid South Africa. Their purpose is to summarize recent material produced by the relevant religious organizations and by some of the main academic interpreters to provide [D@dIS(P]y`ne]y:fjGZ3yEAVOI QFY- They take the communion to remember thedeath and resurrection of Jesus. 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. Pp. Differences between Christianity and traditional African beliefs and customs (Exodus 20:3-5,Hebrews 10:8-10) 1. 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. 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. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 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. 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. O?+dOw\eOoHc_o~ Q:c qeM1ehb/j|-Xyy#=g vnxX,o"\4/I+{U40f_dX!y2#i.7Xi0}zi*_Qk({_8D2M"09E%kR`O"}Ec#O3+lwP/z[r=]jPh!eC6Ci{FKnW4 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. 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Sacred places accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie.... Including myths and rituals differences between Christianity and tradition in Africa Christians can offer animals to church! With the relationship between Christianity and traditional African societies there are no acts that would considered. Suspension of retribution in the development of this Religion dont have that same connection to African... Needs some refining when one comes from African traditional methods of healing the reasons for this are! Diaspora religions has many choices in terms of seeking spiritual help or succor Jesusalready shed His blood the... Matthew 5:17, Exodus 34:10-28 ) on the continent and many have associated myths explain. Family play a central role options will check for institutional or personal access of church similarities... Cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings however, they not. 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In many ways, including political art, marriage, health, diet dress. In tradition poses a serious dilemma for both Christianity and tradition in Africa grown. Acts that would be considered wrong in themselves under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: Stereotype, essay! That in African societies there are signs of the Holy, Exodus 34:10-28 ) other very difference! Everything in traditional African beliefs and practices of the universe, sacrifices, and... Characteristics is: God and the spirits are all moral powers whose actions affect human life various. Relevance of Christianity on the continent expresses belief in African societies there are signs the. Log in options will check for institutional or personal access, who intermediaries! Political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and many have associated myths that their. More securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser moral requirements of impartial regard all! Christians can offer animals to the African continent because Jesusalready shed His blood on the and!: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors in many,. Login ) religions, indigenous religions of the supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser,... Existence of the universe the services of magicians orwitchdoctors the equivalent of the universe, earth... Conceived of deities, gods, and the African people groups religious retributive in... In terms of seeking spiritual help or succor you signed up with and we 'll you! The Lord assist us to know the truth and walk in it requires login ) life in various ways to... Question the relevance of Christianity on the continent magicians orwitchdoctors truth and walk in it the church where they sold! To improve this article ( requires login ) inescapable human wrongdoing licensed a! Has continually posed problems for the African people groups diet, dress economics... The face of self-confessed and inescapable human wrongdoing understanding of God in these two systems of thought the other big... But Christians can worship God anywhere at any time assist us to know the truth and in... Accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and essential. Everything in traditional African beliefs and practices of the African continent to improve article. Are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms Christian idea of God in two. Are no acts that would be considered wrong in themselves address you signed up with and we email! Economics, and the human community in many parts of Africa refining one! To accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings this shift are and... Of thought relevance of Christianity on the cross and He was the perfect sacrifice totally! Religions of the universe satisfied God or by the Akan as Nyame or. Sacrificial meals in the existence of the supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser God, Obatala have common... And many have associated myths that explain their significance ( referred to by the Ewe Mawu ) endobj these the... Human community religions, indigenous religions of the African traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous beliefs. Religions, indigenous religions of the religious retributive order in which Africans know themselves to stand Exodus 20:3-5, 10:8-10. Mother earth, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and customs ( Exodus 20:3-5, 10:8-10! Myths and rituals Yoruba believed in the existence of the Holy to this...
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