It is also an opportunity to help the Christian churches in the Akan and Ewe ethnic groups from which l come from, to see it as their duty to find means and ways to evangelise our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and children who are still under the African Traditional practices. Thus, for example, older persons not only possess a more powerful vital force but a greater responsibility in society and more intense mystical powers. 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. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 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. Our duty is to preach the Word of God and trust the saving grace of Jesus Christ for conversion of souls. SUMMARY OF REFORMED THEOLOGY IN 10 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer, By Anthony Chiorazzi Harvard Correspondent. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. Feature Flags: { A Background to Religion and Magic in Western Thought Our modern usage of the term 'magic' derives from the Greek magike, When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. 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. OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. 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. All rights reserved. One of the things these diaspora African religions testify to is the beauty of African religions to engage a devotee on many spiritual levels. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. Religion is part and parcel of daily life. A network of mutual relationships and responsibilities links the duals worlds of the mundane and the sacred. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax When one becomes a Christian he/she is baptised. <>>> Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. The religious traditions and beliefs of the African peoples have enough differences to merit a study of each in its own right. Highlights of the first writing were, the African Traditional Religion, the life of the ethnic groups in Ghana; their beliefs, customs, ritual and taboos. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Furthermore, Jesus is the perfect sacrifice that totally pleased God and there is no need for any other. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. He has useful insights to add to our discussion and in many ways corroborates the statements other scholars like Mbiti have made about African religion. Animism is a common feature of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery. Africans had shrines they believedGod dwelt in. A follower of African diaspora religions has many choices in terms of seeking spiritual help or succor. hand with the study of the people who practise the religion. I answered two, The paper discusses the state of traditional African religion in post-apartheid South Africa. 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. %PDF-1.5 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. Below is the article summary. 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. 2 0 obj Both have religious leaders or priests whopresent the peoples requests to God. 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. Christians acknowledge the existenceof magic and witchcraft. These gods are generally perceived as intermediaries between the Supreme Being and society. Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. Traditional Africans believed in the power of magic and medicinemen. They trust God for their healing. OLUPONA: Your question underscores an important facet about African spirituality: It is not a closed theological system. An important area Green points to has to do with the role of God in these two systems of thought. It is also present in relationships between persons, based on age and function. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. They consultedtraditional healers who used various herbs and charms to cure diverse illnesses. GAZETTE: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? All work unless implicitly stated is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 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. Some traditional African societies like the Yoruba believed in the existence of lessergods. 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. He has researched and written about such diverse religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the Old Order Amish. 3 0 obj So, basically, to speak of African tradition is to talk about African Traditional Religion. ;;m]mB"DTSUD[j*3l D{k7@tB0cg]Er+e)skf6cRUiu,WdmlA#OLs81/#qs v(a6lA`O/HvX*3SME_qv&oMm?{{n in social anthropology from Oxford University, is studying for a master of theological studies (M.T.S.) Mbiti makes a very controversial point when he claims that in African societies there are no acts that would be considered wrong in themselves. Download chapter 3 in full (3-page PDF, <1MB), Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis, Part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? There are also the lesser gods that take residency in streams, rivers, trees and mountains. This paper uses a qualitative research approach in the form of document analysis to critically explore the religious intersectionalities between Christianity and African Traditional. 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. 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 is called the Trinity. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). Their purpose is to summarize recent material produced by the relevant religious organizations and by some of the main academic interpreters to provide He sees the other faith as complementing and even adding spiritual potency to his own spiritual practice of constructing effective amulets. Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at the Allen Institute for AI. 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. These facts, however, does not necessary suggest that the educated Ghanaian has totally abandoned tradition; some educated and mission trained individuals do consult traditional oracles in times of crises. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. This is called a tithe. Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. 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. This is because Jesusalready shed His blood on the cross and He was the perfect sacrifice that totally satisfied God. According to all the major surveys, Christianity and Islam each represent approximately 40 percent of the African population. Interrogating identity: Frantz Fanon and the postcolonial prerogative, 3. 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. Omissions? For the full article, see, New religions, independent churches, and prophetic movements, https://www.britannica.com/summary/African-religions. Featured Image:Edo people, Queen Mother Pendant mask, circa 16th c.; Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. 1"7$X9Xyyyb GNpL!9I&mxo0++44cA@5c. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. 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). African spirituality simply acknowledges that beliefs and practices touch on and inform every facet of human life, and therefore African religion cannot be separated from the everyday or mundane.. endobj View all Google Scholar citations 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.. Religion informs everything in traditional African society, including political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. Such activities include the making of sacrifices and the pouring of libations. 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. . Traditional African religion advocated for bird and animal sacrifices whenever peoplewent to worship God. 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. degree at Harvard Divinity School. Again, it doesnt reflect the multiplicity of ways that traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. As a resident fellow, Sherman will teach a study group on negotiation and diplomacy this semester. 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. Using Ghana as a case history, I shall evaluate this ministry to find out its positive and negative effects. Christians do not have regard for their powers because they believethat they overcome all evil through the name of Jesus. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential. Christianity is more dominant in the south, while Islam is more dominant in the north. Also, how the Christian organizations help free women and girls from the grip of slavery. It is worth noting that these animals areat no time offered as burnt offerings to God. Traditional Africans worshipped in shrines. 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. GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? Sarr, Ramon Corrections? Because many diseases are believed to have spiritual causes, traditional priests sometimes act as doctors or herbalists. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 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. 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. In this paper, Ill bring the understanding of African traditional adherents into the light of the Holy Scriptures; to explain what the Bible teaches about soul and spirit in relation to God and man. Rituals are aimed at maintaining a harmonious relationship with cosmic powers, and many have associated myths that explain their significance. Ifa is an indispensable treasure trove of knowledge that cant be duplicated elsewhere; much of its knowledge has been handed down from babalawo [Ifa priest/diviner] to babalawo for centuries. Thus, it is because of the existence of this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct. Belief in the ancestors presents the idea of reciprocity in the African traditional moral world. 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]. The traditional cosmology expresses belief in a supreme being (referred to by the Akan as Nyame, or by the Ewe Mawu). %PDF-1.5 as a burnt offering. These included interviews he conducted with pastors, exorcists, traditional priests, so-called witches and delivered witches. Additionally, I will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who practice their form of African indigenous religions. GAZETTE: What allows African indigenous religions to be so accommodating? 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. As I have discussed elsewhere in Morality Truly Christian, Truly African, for example, some African societies are so conscious of the implications of crossing the line on some ethical matters, like adultery, incest, and murder, that anyone who engages in these acts is considered automatically to be putting the very survival of the community in danger. GAZETTE: It sounds like African indigenous religions are dynamic, inclusive, and flexible. 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 . Barrenness is, therefore, considered a great misfortune because it prevents ancestors from returning to life. The Church is the Christian family, in which all are accompanied to one another through belief and baptism in Jesus Christ. The numerous traditional African religions have in common the notion of a creator god, who made the world and then withdrew, remaining remote from the concerns of human life. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. KEYWORDS: African Culture, Christian God, Deities, Religion, Values. 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. 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. The understanding of God normally needs some refining when one comes from African Traditional Religion to be a Christian. Specifically, by reflecting on the wonder and magnitude of the universe, they came to the conclusion that God must exist: they posited the existence of God to explain the existence and sustenance of the universe. African Traditional Religion and Concepts of Development: A Background Paper 1 . Inculturation, as we will argue later in Morality Truly Christian, Truly African, sheds the light of the gospel on cultural practices like this one to reveal what is sinful in them and to show that human beings, especially women, in this case, deserve better treatment than this. 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. One is also sometimes givena new name after baptism. |,utv2QdjrqfM7PC)2-|O7,0[i=_a/Om"X`Y2FpXBjsFxCqDd`%*g,-J1e*jjq,tm{w>qAsAqN$D Its about getting tangible results. This hierarchy is also evident in human society, where there are chiefs, clan heads, family heads, older siblings, and so on. 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. Total loading time: 0 Part one looks briefly at the matter of religion itself. OLUPONA: Yes, its a mixed bag because in the African diaspora mostly due to the slave trade starting in the 15th century indigenous African religions have spread and taken root all over the world, including in the United States and Europe. A classicatory system which attempts to distinguish the principal responses Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. The Yoruba believe in the existence of the Supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser god, Obatala. Church Life Journal 2 0 obj Secondly, there is moral and religious order. 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. Human beings maintain active and real relationshipswith the spiritual world, especially with the living dead, through offerings, sacrifices, and prayers. Traditional African religion does not show any belief in the Trinity. 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. $70.00/$25.00. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. The Supreme Being is usually thought of as remote from daily religious life and is, therefore, not directly worshipped. Those to whom this power is accessible can use it for good, such as healing, rainmaking, or divination, while others can use it for harm, through magic, witchcraft, and sorcery. They can also be the dead of the tribe, following the order of primogeniture. This power is not accessible to everyone, and in most cases it is inborn, but the person has to learn how to use it. Both have places of worship. 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. Shrine visitation is strongest among the uneducated and in rural communities. Traditional Africans had to go to specific sacred placesfor them to worship but Christians can worship God anywhere at any time. Some ancestors may even be reincarnated to replenish the lineage. 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. Therefore we speak of African Traditional Religion thinking of those common things. However, Christians can offer animals to the church where they canbe sold or reared to give the church income. ), 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. Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. These laws are controlled by God directly or indirectly through Gods intermediaries. Christ Jesus, God's own son, takes the "groaning" of humans to God. (See the glossary for more information on juju. Moreover, the religions developed in the Americas impact Africa in that devotees of the African diaspora have significant influence on practices in Africa. The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in . <> 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. 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