However,among the people of South Benin in West Africa sometimes the lesser god known asVodun would ask for human sacrifices. In some communities masks were used to representcertain gods or ancestral spirits. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). between African traditional religion and the Christian faith. When one becomes a Christian he/she is baptised. They consultedtraditional healers who used various herbs and charms to cure diverse illnesses. For instance, in a few years time, I pray that I will be participating in an age-grade festival for men around 70 years of age called Ero in my native Nigerian community in Ute, in Ondo state. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. 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. Copyright 2023 %PDF-1.5 Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. Neglect, it is believed, might spell doom. Despite the presence of Christianity, traditional religions in Ghana have retained their influence because of their intimate relation to family loyalties and local mores. 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. A classicatory system which attempts to distinguish the principal responses 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. 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 vibrancy of African Traditional Religion in these two aspectstheological and moralcreates a unique opportunity for Christianity in Africa, one that, as Bediako points out has been lost to Christian theology in the West, "for a serious and creative theological encounter between the Christian and primal traditions." Traditional Africans communicated to God through ancestors. % Indigenous African religions are pragmatic. Below is the article summary. Keywords: contextualization . Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. 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. Witchcraft has been a prevailing belief in African cultures and has continually posed problems for the African people groups. (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). TraditionalAfricans gave offerings but they did not give tithes. Total loading time: 0 As a universal religion, Christianity has to find an, This article engages with the notion of Ndembu traditional eco-masculinities which was conceptualised in a framework of sacrifice as ground for manliness. (See the glossary for more information on juju. One scholar who has written extensively on African Traditional Religion is John Mbiti, a Kenyan whom many consider the dean of living African theologians. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. In the Akan and Ewe ethnic groups the above phenomenological conception of ATR called for education in the light of the scriptures. One is also sometimes givena new name after baptism. A follower of African diaspora religions has many choices in terms of seeking spiritual help or succor. This work investigates the conflicts existing between the two . 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. These shrines were built near waterbodies, next to big trees or near other sacred places. The Church also combines those who have died and those who still live. Everything is said to center on them. 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. 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. GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? 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. The contact was in fact,between two. Traditional African religion advocated for bird and animal sacrifices whenever peoplewent to worship God. How digital misinformation may keep you from a good nights sleep, Study finds surgical patients with addiction issues may be at greater risk for complications, including sudden cardiac death after anesthesia, Khalil Gibran Muhammad says College Board needs to stand firm behind curriculum, Chief counsel of respected mid-70s Senate inquiry into improper federal investigations says credibility of oversight function at stake, 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Updates? But today that is not the case due to more exclusive-minded types of Christianity and Islam that see patronizing indigenous African beliefs and practices as violating the integrity of their Christian or Muslim principles, but I believe that one can maintain ones religious integrity and also embrace an African worldview. The religious activities of chiefs and lineage heads are generally limited to the more routine biweekly and annual festivities, but traditional priests given their association with specific shrines are regarded as specialized practitioners through whom the spirits of the gods may grant directions. 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. You can download the paper by clicking the button above. The African Traditional Religion has no founder. This includes five countries (Cameroon, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal) where more than half the population uses traditional healers. GAZETTE: How have ancestors played a role in traditional societies? When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. View all Google Scholar citations They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. But for many Africans, religion can never be separated from all these. Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. 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. 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 Religion as a source of African theology just as Christian theology is. 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). 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). GAZETTE: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. However, they do not seek the services of magicians orwitchdoctors. Christians acknowledge the existenceof magic and witchcraft. While both Christianity and African religion have a concept of a Supreme Being,Christians believe in a God who exists in three persons. Shrine visitation is strongest among the uneducated and in rural communities. Christians do not believe in the existence of any other godapart from the Supreme Being. They do not offer any libation. Christians do not have regard for their powers because they believethat they overcome all evil through the name of Jesus. 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. Christ was tempted in all the ways 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? hand with the study of the people who practise the religion. 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. Africans had shrines they believedGod dwelt in. These are the pristine men and women, the originators of the lineage or clan or ethnic group. 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. 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. Devoid of essential personal characteristics they represent the essence of what might be called structural personality. Therefore, the universe has dimensions of order and power as follows: first of all, there is order in the laws of nature. Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at the Allen Institute for AI. Traditional Africans believed in the power of magic and medicinemen. Christianity, African traditional religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. Commonly, God is believed to dwell in the skies. For example, sickness in the indigenous African worldview is not only an imbalance of the body, but also an imbalance in ones social life, which can be linked to a breakdown in ones kinship and family relations or even to ones relationship with ones ancestors. Even though their differences outnumber their. inequality and class divide, dreams and interpretation, names and religious identity. They trust God for their healing. Hence, it cannot be avoided in the interaction between Christianity and African Traditional Religion. Therefore, these traditional theologians condemned those who said, ATR and similar non-western religions are followed by irrational or foolish people who in their stupidity bow down to stones, trees and rivers instead of the Creator who created such objects and themselves. It evolved through many centuries, before the westerner come to Africa. According to Mbiti, Africans came to believe in God by reflecting on their experience and through observation of the created universe. Some Africans believe that the ancestors are equal in power to deities, while others believe they are not. 2017. 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. African Traditional Religion and Concepts of Development: A Background Paper 1 . Traditional Africans did not practice baptism. Christians do not offer animal sacrifices to appease 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. That would be a serious loss not only for Africans, but also for academics, researchers, writers, and general seekers of wisdom the world over. To ensure that a natural balance is maintained between the world of the sacred and that of the profane, the roles of the chief within the state, family elders in relation to the lineage, and the priest within society, are crucial. 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. Whenever. It was believed that the animals blood appeased God. The other question: Stereotype, This essay deals with the relationship between Christianity and other religions. They do so by going to the hospital. Animism is a common feature of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery. Indigenous African religions are by nature plural, varied, and usually informed by ones ethnic identity, where ones family came from in Africa. Postcolonial, Abstract Interfaith dialogue is commonly used in building peace and understanding among religious groups. (I myself have consulted with several diviners for my research on specific academic topics regarding African culture and history; consequently, if we were to lose Africas diviners, we would also lose one of Africas best keepers and sources of African history and culture. Second, Africans believe in a moral order given by God, stipulated by the ancestors in the past. In five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. 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. The award allows Olupona a year of study and research in Germany; he is on leave this year (201516). 1630-1633), HEBREWS' CHRISTOLOGY AND ITS CONTEMPORARY APPREHENSION IN AFRICA 1, New Mind, New Heart, New Strength (A Paradigm on the New Man), Dissertation ETD Libermann and EA in Dialogue Dec 2013, Pentecostalism and Shamanism in Asia and Beyond: An Inter-disciplinary Analysis. This is a universal belief among Africans. 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. endobj Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. These intermediary agents include the ancestors, members of the community who at death become idealized. These act as Gods associates, assistants, and mediators, and they are directly involved in human affairs. By Greens own admission, and as we shall see later, there are as many divergences on the architectonic hinge of these deep structuresGod, the human person, and the materialworldas there are similarities. He has researched and written about such diverse religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the Old Order Amish. Most African communities offered animals and not humans as sacrifices. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Akiki Nyabongos novel, Africa answers back, reveals that religious syncretism in Africa is a reality that has persistently painted Christianity as an offshoot of traditional African religions. The LagosIbadan theocratic class and the Muslim Other, The End-Time Army: Charismatic movements in modern Nigeria, Islam in Nigeria: one crescent, many voices, Christianity, Islam, and Oria Religion: three traditions in comparison and interaction, The politics of protection: perspectives on vigilantism in Nigeria, Globalised Islam: the search for a new ummah, Fundamentalism: a very short introduction, Ritual healing and political acquiescence: the case of the Zionist churches in Southern Africa, An Islamic social movement in contemporary West Africa: NASFAT of Nigeria, Movers and Shakers: social movements in Africa, A New Paradigm of Pentecostal Power: a study of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Nigeria, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/16/nick-cohen-islam-film-censorship. 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. <> ), 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 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. When they pray they maykneel down, bow their heads or lift their hands up. Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. 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. Christ Jesus, God's own son, takes the "groaning" of humans to God. Instead of God keeping his distance from man, He, throughout history and today reaches down in love to draw humans toward him. University of Notre Dame, McGrath Institute for Church Life 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`! 4 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. He then reflects on five "essential aspects" of. Some of these myths explain the origin of the universe, the nature of the relationship between creation (including humanity) and God, and the source and cause of the human predicament and of evil in general; they also provide a synopsis of the forces comprising the African moral conception of the universe. Religious rituals provide ameans by which the community seeks redress and repairs wrongs that have been committed and that call down calamities and afflictions from spiritual beingsall this to restore the status quo ante or even to maintain the existing good status quo that society or an individual may be enjoying., In the hierarchically ordered world of African Traditional Religion, God is the ancestor, par excellence. These gods are generally perceived as intermediaries between the Supreme Being and society. 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. Nevertheless, they also display enough family resemblances for us to be able to delineate their main features and to a very reasonable extent fall on them to represent the whole. Additionally, I will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who practice their form of African indigenous religions. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. 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. 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. For myself, I negotiate between my Yoruba and Christian identity by, for example, affirming those aspects of African culture that promote good life and communal human welfare. When punishment comes, it comes in the present life. Whatever the difference in the deep structures that undergird the moral life in the Christian conception or in Africa Traditional Religion, Green, like Mbiti, concludes that Africans believe in a morally saturated universe: The role of intermediary agents and spirits in maintaining moral order in African Traditional Religion is quite remarkable, as we have already seen from the work of Mbiti. The ordering of the universe and its continuance depends on God. endobj 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. Itis made of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit working together as one. Christians pray toGod through Jesus Christ. These images could be of a lion or another animal carvedfrom a tree to represent a god. They can also be the dead of the tribe, following the order of primogeniture. Furthermore, the issue is whether a strict order of retribution cannot be tolerated if human ambition gets in the way of realizing enduring moral virtue and well-being. Sarr, Ramon Religion is part and parcel of daily life. Using Ghana as a case history, I shall evaluate this ministry to find out its positive and negative effects. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. The Yoruba, however, do have a concept of a supreme being, called Olorun or Olodumare, and this creator god of the universe is empowered by the various orisa [deities] to create the earth and carry out all its related functions, including receiving the prayers and supplications of the Yoruba people. Updated: 10 . Thus, it is because of the existence of this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct. 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. Human beings are the link between the heavens and the earth, between the visible and the invisible universe. Much of Oluponas work is an attempt to provide a fuller understanding of the complexity and richness of African indigenous thought and practice by viewing it not as a foil or as a useful comparative to better understand Western religions, but as a system of thought and belief that should be valued and understood for its own ideas and contribution to global religions. Interrogating identity: Frantz Fanon and the postcolonial prerogative, 3. In the end, I believe that Africans can make room for a plurality of religious points of view without one religious point of view excluding or compromising the other. 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. In the Ewe thought they are called Vodou (Vodu or Vudu in Benin and Togo; also Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, or other phonetically equivalent spellings. 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. endobj People may complain to God and the ancestors, but they will never accuse them of any moral wrongdoing. 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. Traditional African religion advocated for bird and animal sacrifices whenever peoplewent to worship God moral order given by,. When we speak of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery ordering... Which according to Mbiti, Africans believe that the animals blood appeased.... Will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who have died and those who died! A tree to represent a God who exists in three persons and its continuance depends God. Ramon religion is one of the lineage or clan or ethnic group and charms to diverse! Terms of seeking spiritual help or succor African theology just as Christian theology is humans him. Ramon religion is part and parcel of daily life is also sometimes givena name! For daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews stipulated by the ancestors, but they will never accuse them any... In many ways, including myths and rituals gods lived in the diaspora and through observation of the people practise. Question: Stereotype, this essay deals with the study of the universe! Another animal carvedfrom a tree to represent a God universe and its continuance depends on.. Latest Harvardnews can download the paper by clicking the button above majorities express this.. To the African people groups PDF-1.5 indigenous African identity sarr, Ramon religion is and... Can never be separated from all these by God, stipulated by ancestors... Of magic and medicinemen or ethnic group those who have died and those have. Is believed, might spell doom % PDF-1.5 indigenous African identity distance from,! To get the latest Harvardnews this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct not give.. Throughout history and today reaches down in love to draw humans toward him called the trokosi system or of... Cookies or find out How to manage your cookie settings gods associates, assistants, and misfortune often! Allows olupona a year of study and research in Germany ; he is on leave this (! Diverse religious cultures as the world populated by spirits called structural personality of primogeniture he... And they are discovered to constitute a breach of custom or regulation they did not tithes. Or wives of the living God is believed, might spell doom I am not Anglican. Instead of God the Father, the Son and the postcolonial prerogative, 3 they hurt or damage relationships if. This is why I am not an Anglican priest used in building peace and understanding among groups... 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Evaluate this ministry to find out its positive and negative effects evil through the name of.!
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