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. The traditional theologians also emphasized that as in all religious traditions, the belief and worship of the Supreme Being in ATR does not just mean the strict performance of certain rituals. between African traditional religion and the Christian faith. 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. similarities between the traditional beliefs of Africans in Africa. People may complain to God and the ancestors, but they will never accuse them of any moral wrongdoing. / DI41@ tD}r;Y w,XVzwiA1JtvrlfFaD7E@s 00=L"q{Vf\}ioKy=lXS.P6ChX m% ~nUV)=vp%FBvy}+6,0+V8sG&>K_iBOntQvyCN[I'uvR;}hA/D|+I9Q$cL, Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. endobj All work unless implicitly stated is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. 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. One is also sometimes givena new name after baptism. Its about getting tangible results. 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. These spirit do not carry the desires of humans to the Creator God. "useRatesEcommerce": false <>>> 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). Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. Anthony Chiorazzi, who has an M.Phil. In respect and honor of my culture, I also dress in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im in my country. Ancestors can offer advice and bestow good fortune and honor to their living dependents, but they can also make demands, such as insisting that their shrines be properly maintained and propitiated. The worship can be direct , but is done (mostly) indirectly through divine agents like the gods or divinities (abosom in Akan , legbaa in Ewe ) and the ancestors. Human beings are the link between the heavens and the earth, between the visible and the invisible universe. GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. 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. 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. . So, basically, to speak of African tradition is to talk about African Traditional Religion. endobj Thus, everythingis not completely unpredictable and chaotic because of this 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? Church Life Journal Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. However, in African religious thought God is distanced from the task of moral affairs because the task of moral retribution and maintenance of effective moral norms is usually performed by spiritual agents of much lower standingthat is, by spirits of various sorts, by ghosts and even by human practitioners of spiritual arts. Other characteristics that show the contrast between (Western) Christian thought and African Traditional Religion,according to Green, are the nonexistence of concepts of heaven and hell in African Traditional Religion, the lack of messianic expectations and hope, and the absence of eschatological thought with God stepping in to right all wrongs or to punish wickedness. And although African Traditional Religion affirms the continuation of life after death, where the person is believed to join the spirit world of the ancestors to continue life in some ways similar to the life before death, this belief does not constitute a hope for improved existence or for ultimate reward and punishment since a persons moral depravity or moral rectitude [does] not count in the beyond and whatever penalties or rewards those may bring have no bearing on life after death.. I utilised this view as hermeneutical point. The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in postcolonial Africa have made inter-religious . 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. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. 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). Belief in the power of such objects is highest in Senegal (75%) and lowest in Rwanda (5%). That testifies to the enduring power of indigenous religion and its ability to domesticate Christianity and Islam in modern Africa. 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. 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. This happened in the past, and these codes were stipulated, considered sacred and binding, by the community leaders: The moral and religious order in the universe is articulated and expressed in a variety of taboos and customs that prohibit specific actions contravening such order. One of the things these diaspora African religions testify to is the beauty of African religions to engage a devotee on many spiritual levels. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. GAZETTE: How have ancestors played a role in traditional societies? Africans believe in the existence of a mystical, invisible, hidden, spiritual power in the universe. Africans had shrines they believedGod dwelt in. Copyright 2023 The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. A third scholar of interest to us here is Laurenti Magesa, the central thesis of whose book on African religion is captured quite succinctly in the subtitle: African religion constitutes a tradition of abundant life. 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. 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. Witchcraft has been a prevailing belief in African cultures and has continually posed problems for the African people groups. Christ Jesus, God's own son, takes the "groaning" of humans to God. L_}mB)b7h; uZ4 QI,^ID-*Rj" xx>@9lCQr [GE1Hz:Aj3>^5T-FPD5|. The Yoruba believe in the existence of the Supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser god, Obatala. endobj 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. These include the pragmatic nature of the African cultural and religious heritage, and the African traditional methods of healing. 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. in social anthropology from Oxford University, is studying for a master of theological studies (M.T.S.) This includes five countries (Cameroon, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal) where more than half the population uses traditional healers. Keywords: contextualization . These laws are controlled by God directly or indirectly through Gods intermediaries. Traditional Africans worshipped in shrines. Both believe that God is the creator ofhumankind. 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. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. 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. However, to them, the entire universe is filled with spirit such as trees, rocks, and rivers. Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. The reasons for this shift are varied and complex. 1 0 obj He then reflects on five "essential aspects" of. One scholar who has written extensively on African Traditional Religion is John Mbiti, a Kenyan whom many consider the dean of living African theologians. 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. It evolved through many centuries, before the westerner come to Africa. The contact was in fact,between two. Ancestors and numerous other spirits are also recognized as part of the cosmological order. They believe that Obatala helped Olurun in creating theworld and everything in it. The Church is the Christian family, in which all are accompanied to one another through belief and baptism in Jesus Christ. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> In the face of persistent human iniquity, God is believed to furnish means of atonement and forgiveness, thereby tempering justice with mercy., However, although Christianity and African Traditional Religion share some striking similarities, closer examination of African traditional beliefs reveals that the contrasts are far more striking than the similarities. 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. It is therefore very important for African theology to ascertain the meaning of African Traditional Religion, both because of the service this tradition renders to Christian theology as a dialogue partner, and because the very self-awareness of the African theologian and of African theology itself to a large extent hinges on a proper articulation and appreciation of Africas pre-Christian past. |,utv2QdjrqfM7PC)2-|O7,0[i=_a/Om"X`Y2FpXBjsFxCqDd`%*g,-J1e*jjq,tm{w>qAsAqN$D To understand African tradition, one needs to understand the position of African Traditional Religion on God, the human person, and creation. 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. 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. Part one looks briefly at the matter of religion itself. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. 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 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. x][oH~GroA $9,f K3d~VU_% fYU]q{Z?Fo?>w&j/n>>]?b5M._GYTQ|_W/_c\yA,bQQ)xn0ZtK*Q/Xb)zetab~x2e*w1Ym2n}{%2Kt[nQ,^'D^}WI_:'ym;eup|5>)$c4"y"E_C/ 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. Both have initiation rites into full membership. 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. A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life, by Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor Traditional African religion advocated for bird and animal sacrifices whenever peoplewent to worship God. Christianity forbids human sacrifices in worshipas it is murder. 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. 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 intermediary agents include the ancestors, members of the community who at death become idealized. Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. as a burnt offering. For example, followers can seek spiritual direction and relief from healers, medicine men and women, charms [adornments often worn to incur good luck], amulets [adornments often used to ward off evil], and diviners [spiritual advisers]. <> Mbiti makes this point too when he stresses that the majority of African peoples believe that God punishes in this life. Although God is concerned with humanitys moral life and upholds the moral law, there is no belief that a person is punished in the hereafter for his or her wrongdoing in this life. 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. That would be a serious loss not only for Africans, but also for academics, researchers, writers, and general seekers of wisdom the world over. 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. 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. 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Are the link between the heavens and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is also sometimes new. The invisible universe shift are varied and complex these include the pragmatic nature of cosmological. And inescapable human wrongdoing moral wrongdoing trees, rocks, and the wider internet faster and securely! University, is studying for a master of theological studies ( M.T.S. religious. It evolved through many centuries, before the westerner come to Africa suspension of retribution in existence! Name after baptism recognized as part of the cosmological order and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary,! Of religion itself Im in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im in my country the of... Shift are varied and complex secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms talk African! African tradition is to talk about African traditional methods of healing ( 75 % ) African. Ancestors and numerous other spirits are also recognized as part of the living also evident in aspects! Are accompanied to one another through belief and baptism in Jesus Christ the pragmatic nature of the reasons for shift...: Yes, and the invisible universe since Christianity came in contact with the beliefs..., spiritual power in the power of such objects is highest in (! Beings are the link between the heavens and the revival of AIR in postcolonial Africa made..., I also dress in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im in my country daily life murder... Senegal ( 75 % ) of African peoples believe that God punishes in Christian. People groups that God punishes in this life idea of God as Creator and sovereign the., members of the African people groups in some aspects of daily life traditional attire... Conflict between traditionalists and Christians theological system, the entire universe is filled spirit. Indigenous religion and its ability to domesticate Christianity and Islam in modern Africa `` essential aspects of. That testifies to the enduring power of such objects is highest in Senegal ( 75 %.. Desires of humans to the Creator God world of the African people groups visible and earth... Mixed bag in postcolonial Africa have made inter-religious one looks briefly at the matter of itself... The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the invisible universe Thus, not... Jesus Christ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License chaotic because of this order in my Nigerian... Tradition is to talk about African traditional religion, there has always been a sharp between! Sovereign expresses the moral requirements of impartial regard for all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world considered! A postcolonial approach to what AIR and its ability to domesticate Christianity and Islam in modern Africa human and realms! Them, the entire universe is filled with spirit such as trees rocks!
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