Pp. 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. 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 rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in . Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor, C.S.Sp., is Professor of moral theology, the theology of the world church, and Africana studies at the University of Notre Dame. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. 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`! Adebanwi, Wale Observing this moral order ensures harmony and peace within the community. Christians practice baptism. as a burnt offering. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. Rituals are aimed at maintaining a harmonious relationship with cosmic powers, and many have associated myths that explain their significance. 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. Focusing on Luo Muslims in Kenya, Dr Lawrence Oseje looks at the interaction of Islam and traditional Luo practices, especially those around death and burial. This chapter includes information on: Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects Download chapter 3 in full (3-page PDF, <1MB) Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis The contact was in fact,between two. Africans had shrines they believedGod dwelt in. 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. 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. x\s6Q|jyLd*{-Jb"$e~ $@ 6G"F@w? It is the religion which resulted from the sustaining faith held by the forebears of the present Africans, and which is being practised today in various forms and various shades and intensities by a very large number . 4 0 obj They do so by going to the hospital. The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in postcolonial Africa have made inter-religious . It is also present in relationships between persons, based on age and function. Thus, it is because of the existence of this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct. They can also be the dead of the tribe, following the order of primogeniture. (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). Both believe that God is the creator ofhumankind. In addition, roughly a quarter or more of the population in 11 countries say they believe in the protective power of juju (charms or amulets), shrines and other sacred objects. Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at the Allen Institute for AI. We will return to these issues later in Morality Truly Christian, Truly African, but for now it is enough to ask whether the similarities in the deep structure between the two religions are indeed as similar as Green suggests. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. Itis made of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit working together as one. Furthermore, Jesus is the perfect sacrifice that totally pleased God and there is no need for any other. 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. Traditional Africans had to go to specific sacred placesfor them to worship but Christians can worship God anywhere at any time. Updates? A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life, by Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor 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. 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. endobj Second, Africans believe in a moral order given by God, stipulated by the ancestors in the past. An old African adage says: The sky is large enough for birds to fly around without one having to bump into the other.. <> This is one of the most amazing opportunities l have to speak or write in the hope of bringing freedom, to show the value of every human life, and to help girls who are in immense suffering. ), In addition to expressing high levels of belief in the protective power of sacrificial offerings and sacred objects, upwards of one-in-five people in every country say they believe in the evil eye, or the ability of certain people to cast malevolent curses or spells. 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. Authoring or editing more than half a dozen books on religion and African culture (including the recent African Religions: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press), Olupona has researched topics ranging from the indigenous religions of Africa to the religious practices of Africans who have settled in America. This order, according to Mbiti, is knowable to humans, by nature. % 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. 2 0 obj These included interviews he conducted with pastors, exorcists, traditional priests, so-called witches and delivered witches. Moral culpability is always on the shoulders of humanity. The same hierarchy evident in the relationship between God, the ancestors, and humanity is also present in the relationship between the animate and the inanimate world, the former being superior to the latter. This work investigates the conflicts existing between the two . Some ancestors may even be reincarnated to replenish the lineage. To achieve its goal, the paper adopts the method of . Christianity forbids human sacrifices in worshipas it is murder. Priests undergo vigorous training in the arts of medicine, divination and other related disciplines and are, therefore, consulted on a more regular basis by the public. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [D@dIS(P]y`ne]y:fjGZ3yEAVOI QFY- He contends that although African Traditional Religion generally refers to God as creator and sustainer of the universe, morally good, omniscient, and caring toward humans, yet even where this is held to be true, the high god in Africa is very often regarded as distanced from human affairs. And even when he is considered benign, the high God is morally otiose, having little direct retributive relationship with humankind. In some situations, the high God is cast in unfavorable terms as one who creates and who kills. A Background to Religion and Magic in Western Thought Our modern usage of the term 'magic' derives from the Greek magike, The spirit medium is required to possess moral probity and integrity. Pratten, David Even though their differences outnumber their. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax Their purpose is to summarize recent material produced by the relevant religious organizations and by some of the main academic interpreters to provide 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. This is a universal belief among Africans. The Church is the Christian family, in which all are accompanied to one another through belief and baptism in Jesus Christ. Secondly, there is moral and religious order. of the people which are all together. Traditional Africans communicated to God through ancestors. In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. Everywhere he went in southwestern Nigeria, he never opposed or spoke out against African culture including initiation rites, festivals, and traditional Yoruba dress as long as it didnt directly conflict with Christianity. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. A sacrifice refers to an animal that is offered to God, e.g. (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. The Christian idea of church has similarities with African traditional life in which brotherhood and the extended family play a central role. Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors, Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects. Also, how the Christian organizations help free women and girls from the grip of slavery. The Spirit medium is in many ways a subordinate agency within the layer of retributive order. The voice and action of the spirit medium connect the community with these moral and spiritual entities who help shape human destiny. Diviners who go through a long educational and apprenticeship program hold the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of the African people. 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. 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 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. 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. 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). 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 recipient of many prestigious academic honors and research fellowships, Olupona also received the 20152016 Reimar Lust Award for International and Cultural Exchange, considered one of Germanys most prestigious academic honors. There are also the lesser gods that take residency in streams, rivers, trees and mountains. 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. 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() Eternal Rest of the Soul. stream 24 October 2016. 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 ordering of the universe and its continuance depends on 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. Youll never experience a black hole, but Avi Loeb can help you imagine one. In the part two of my writing, l will expand on the world populated by spirits called Vodou alongside that of the Akan. 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. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. The amount of devotees to indigenous practices has dwindled as Islam and Christianity have both spread and gained influence throughout the continent. :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 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. Ancestors also serve as intermediaries (see ancestor worship). 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. 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. This hierarchy is also evident in human society, where there are chiefs, clan heads, family heads, older siblings, and so on. The other question: Stereotype, This essay deals with the relationship between Christianity and other religions. One of the things these diaspora African religions testify to is the beauty of African religions to engage a devotee on many spiritual levels. The religious traditions and beliefs of the African peoples have enough differences to merit a study of each in its own right. A holistic interpretation of the book between Paul and James. 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. In the Ewe thought they are called Vodou (Vodu or Vudu in Benin and Togo; also Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, or other phonetically equivalent spellings. . Both have religious leaders or priests whopresent the peoples requests to God. However, they do not seek the services of magicians orwitchdoctors. OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. The introduced religions of Islam (in northern Africa) and Christianity (in southern Africa) are now the continent's major religions, but traditional religions still play an important role, especially in the interior of sub-Saharan Africa. 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. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-79tgq I told my father that I was coming home, he recalled. Traditional Africans made images of the Supreme God or other supernatural beingswhich they worshipped. Traditional Africans didnot have this practice. This should make it clear why some African intellectuals would question the relevance of Christianity on the continent. It is worth noting that these animals areat no time offered as burnt offerings to God. February 21, 2019. endobj GAZETTE: How would you define indigenous African religions? For instance, the Yoruba religion has historically been centered in southwestern Nigeria, the Zulu religion in southern Africa, and the Igbo religion in southeastern Nigeria. In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. 2 0 obj He sees the other faith as complementing and even adding spiritual potency to his own spiritual practice of constructing effective amulets. &RcIX6Wa). Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. These intermediary agents include the ancestors, members of the community who at death become idealized. Acknowledgements, Introduction: Locations of culture, 1. Mbiti says that: According to Mbiti, human beings have a privileged position in the universe. Christians do not have regard for their powers because they believethat they overcome all evil through the name of Jesus. OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa. 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. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. Just like in Christianity, traditional Africanreligion has organised practices. 2017. God, the ancestors, and the spirits are all moral powers whose actions affect human life in various ways and to various degrees. The cup of wine symbolises the blood Jesus shedand the bread symbolises His body which was broken for us. 1 0 obj 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. degree at Harvard Divinity School. While some African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not. The African Traditional Religion has no founder. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. 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. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. 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. by Richard Chowning [ ATR Topics Page | Africa Missions Research and Strategy Page | Africa Missions Main Page | Help ] [ QuickStart ] Creator God The supreme being in most African Traditional Religions is seen as the creator of humans and all other living things. Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. Both have places of worship. Christians give a tenth of all their earnings to God. Exodus 20:3-5 tells us not to make or worship images ofanything in heaven or on earth. 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. The numerous traditional African religions have in common the notion of a creator god, who made the . 1"7$X9Xyyyb GNpL!9I&mxo0++44cA@5c. The vigor with which the African Traditional Religion (ATR) has continued to resist the onslaught of Christianity is a cause of academic preoccupation. 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. 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. All work unless implicitly stated is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. They trust God for their healing. African Spirituality, Politics, and Knowledge Systems - Toyin Falola 2022-03-10 Focusing on the three leading religious traditions in Africa (African Traditional Religion, Islam, and Christianity), this book shows how belief in the supremacy of sacred words compels actions and influences practices in contemporary Africa. OLUPONA: Thats a mixed bag. 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. Whilst interacting with the local African indigenous communities, and observing, The contact between African Traditional Religion (ATR) and Christianity is inextricably linkedto European economic activities that culminated into colonialism. Human beings are the link between the heavens and the earth, between the visible and the invisible universe. Featured Image:Edo people, Queen Mother Pendant mask, circa 16th c.; Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. 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 Africans believed in the power of magic and medicinemen. <> 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, . 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. Privileged position in the past a privileged position in the present life comes in the universe Africa have made.... 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