Such activities include the making of sacrifices and the pouring of libations. 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. (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). x\s6Q|jyLd*{-Jb"$e~ $@ 6G"F@w? 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. They consultedtraditional healers who used various herbs and charms to cure diverse illnesses. 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.. He is not only the covenant giver He gives the power to keep the covenant. Traditional Africans had to go to specific sacred placesfor them to worship but Christians can worship God anywhere at any time. Barrenness is, therefore, considered a great misfortune because it prevents ancestors from returning to life. Janson, Marloes 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. GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? This should make it clear why some African intellectuals would question the relevance of Christianity on the continent. stream Learn more about the similarities and differences of the religious systems of Africa, including indigenous religions, Abrahamic, Islamic, and Christian beliefs of people in the region. It evolved through many centuries, before the westerner come to Africa. 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. 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. 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. ), 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. African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. OLUPONA: One of the basic reasons is that indigenous African spiritual beliefs are not bound by a written text, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Indigenous African religions are by nature plural, varied, and usually informed by ones ethnic identity, where ones family came from in Africa. 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. 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. 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. Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. Indigenous African practices tend to be strongest in the central states of Africa, but some form of their practices and beliefs can be found almost anywhere in Africa. People may complain to God and the ancestors, but they will never accuse them of any moral wrongdoing. 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. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). Odozor's Morality Truly Christian, Truly Africanpublished by theUniversity of Notre Dame Press. Jacob 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. 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. as a burnt offering. Again, it doesnt reflect the multiplicity of ways that traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. In five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. These are called Taboos. / 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, Both have places of worship. 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. OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer, By Anthony Chiorazzi Harvard Correspondent. 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.. While both Christianity and African religion have a concept of a Supreme Being,Christians believe in a God who exists in three persons. 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. OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa. For the full article, see, New religions, independent churches, and prophetic movements, https://www.britannica.com/summary/African-religions. Exodus 20:3-5 tells us not to make or worship images ofanything in heaven or on earth. Both religions believe that God revealsHimself to people through dreams, propheciesand other special events. In most cases, the earth is conceived as a living thing, a goddess, Mother Earth. According to Mbiti, the earth is symbolically viewed as the mother of the universe, while the heavens/sky are seen as its male counterpart. African spirituality is truly holistic. Marshall, Ruth Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at the Allen Institute for AI. This order, according to Mbiti, is knowable to humans, by nature. <> of the people which are all together. Like Mbiti and Green, Magesa notes that the world of African Traditional Religion is a hierarchically ordered place where, On the lowest rung of the ladder are spirits, who are active beings distinct from humans and reside in nature and phenomena such as trees, rivers, rocks, or lakes. Both have initiation rites into full membership. For instance, in the southern Volta Region of Ghana, and in Togo and Benin, thousands of young girls of the Ewe (say Ay-vay) tribe are held as slaves in unspeakable conditions under a traditional religion belief called the trokosi system or wives of the ancestral gods. 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. In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. Its about getting tangible results. between African traditional religion and the Christian faith. In many communities across the world traditional beliefs and practices are passed down generations and are a feature of day-to-day life, despite the influence of outside sources. GAZETTE: In trying to understand African spirituality, is it helpful to refer to it as polytheistic or monotheistic? Pratten, David In the part two of my writing, l will expand on the world populated by spirits called Vodou alongside that of the Akan. Traditional African religion advocated for bird and animal sacrifices whenever peoplewent to worship God. Whenever. . 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). endobj INTRODUCTION Man considers life worth living because he finds certain things intrinsically valuable; hence value in its simple connotation means a thing of worth. And if these shrines are not properly cared for by the designated descendant, then misfortune in the form of illness might befall the caretaker. They did this as theyoffered libation by pouring water or any other drink to the ground. The award allows Olupona a year of study and research in Germany; he is on leave this year (201516). When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. The idea is that the traditional African practitioner who constructed that amulet believes in the efficacy of other faiths and religions; there is no conflict in his mind between his traditional African spirituality and another faith. (1981) and Ph.D. (1983) in the history of religions from Boston University. Therefore we speak of African Traditional Religion thinking of those common things. These differences, I will argue, have significant impact not just on the way people conceive of the moral world or with regard to moral intentions, but also on moral practices. 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. While some African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not. In respect and honor of my culture, I also dress in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im in my country. It argues that since the coming of democracy this form of religion has occupied a more important position, Although there is some debate, Francis Oborji in this article argues that one should speak of African Traditional Religion (ATR) in the singular. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. 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. Areas of interest to read in the part one was how Christianity has found an inroad into the lives of so many who were living in deep darkness and slavery to the evil powers. I wont pray to an orisa, but I will affirm the importance of my connection with members of my age group. The action of the living, for example, can affect the gods or spirits of the departed, while the support of family or tribal ancestors ensures prosperity of the lineage or state. I am going to use the research reports of Opoky Onyinah , which he carried out among Ghanaian Christians between 1997 and 1999. University of Notre Dame, McGrath Institute for Church Life 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. The ordering of the universe and its continuance depends on God. They claimed or argued strongly that in the light of the more objective or scientific study of religions, ATR can no longer be justifiably characterized as stupid, since the worshippers do not worship the said material objects per se, but the Spirit of the Creator reflected in them. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. The contact was in fact,between two. In other words, he shows that the sense of the divine was not something introduced to Africa by missionaries or by anyone else; that the knowledge of God in African religion was not much different from the idea of God that Christian missionaries preached in Africa; and, more specifically to our purpose here, that belief in God engendered a moral response that for centuries before Christian arrival in Africa directed moral life and interaction on the continent and among its peoples. Ancestors and numerous other spirits are also recognized as part of the cosmological order. The missionaries succeeded in spreading Christianity in Africa at a time when tribal religions were ignored or denigrated. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. 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. A sacrifice refers to an animal that is offered to God, e.g. 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. Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. However, Christians can offer animals to the church where they canbe sold or reared to give the church income. The Supreme Being is usually thought of as remote from daily religious life and is, therefore, not directly worshipped. 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, . 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. and Part two provides a condensed historical survey of the, The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters, by R. S. Sugirtharajah. Traditional Africans worshipped in shrines. Belief in the ancestors presents the idea of reciprocity in the African traditional moral world. ^xH&M'YZ7EDi%qN^K Secondly, there is moral and religious order. The . When they pray they maykneel down, bow their heads or lift their hands up. An old African adage says: The sky is large enough for birds to fly around without one having to bump into the other.. Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. 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. The African Traditional Religion, which is still in place today, can be compared to Christianity through their similarities and differences. A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life, by Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor inequality and class divide, dreams and interpretation, names and religious identity. They believe that Obatala helped Olurun in creating theworld and everything in it. This is called the Trinity. 3 0 obj OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. endobj The Yoruba diviners, for example, draw on this extensive indigenous knowledge every day by consulting Ifa, an extensive literary corpus of information covering science, medicine, cosmology, and metaphysics. A network of mutual relationships and responsibilities links the duals worlds of the mundane and the sacred. Belief in the power of such objects is highest in Senegal (75%) and lowest in Rwanda (5%). 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: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. :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 The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in postcolonial Africa have made inter-religious . It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. Dependence here functions like a two-way street, with the dead needing continued respect from and support by the living, and the living needingat least benign neutrality on the part of the dead. 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. Both believe that God is the creator ofhumankind. 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. 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. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. That testifies to the enduring power of indigenous religion and its ability to domesticate Christianity and Islam in modern Africa. 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. Adebanwi, Wale This bitter conflict has led to wanton destruction of lives and property, and this has become a source of great worry to the writers. Editorial Statement: This essay is a slightly modified excerpt from the section "Evaluating African Traditional Religion: The Descriptive Task" (98-107) in Fr. African Traditional Religion appears to be a self-sufficient system, both from atheological point of view, in that it provides answers to questions of ultimate reality and meaning, at least to its adherents; and from the point of view of morality, in that it provides the moral rules, norms, and instruction in virtues by which human beings can live upright moral lives. Their significance lies in the genealogical positions and the rights and duties which derive from them. Ancestors uphold right conduct by punishing moral violations, demanding respect and attention, and getting angry when not given due respect. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. Commonalities between Christianity and Africa Traditional Religion. Christianity, African traditional religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. Christians do not believe in the existence of any other godapart from the Supreme Being. 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/ There are untold millions, which are outside the fold who need to come into the saving knowledge of Christ. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The numerous traditional African religions have in common the notion of a creator god, who made the . Just as within the traditional political and diplomatic contexts, one cannot formally contact the king without the agency of his linguists or sub-chiefs. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. Christians practice baptism. As judge, God is understood to uphold this standard by ultimately punishing its violations and by rewarding the righteous (usually in some eschatological domain). Baptismis by being sprinkled on water or being dipped in water. They do so by going to the hospital. Most African communities offered animals and not humans as sacrifices. African communities at the time but was also poised to become a site of religious and cultural conflict both within and between different communities in postcolonial South Africa. Traditional theologians explained that one could not worship the Supreme Being formally, without the agency of the divinities or ancestors. 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. The data also will include a survey he conducted in 1999 of 1201 participants across Ghana concerning the belief in the traditional spirit-world. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-79tgq 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. 2 0 obj 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. for this article. &RcIX6Wa). 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." |,utv2QdjrqfM7PC)2-|O7,0[i=_a/Om"X`Y2FpXBjsFxCqDd`%*g,-J1e*jjq,tm{w>qAsAqN$D About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. GAZETTE: How would you define indigenous African religions? Devoid of essential personal characteristics they represent the essence of what might be called structural personality. The other very big difference between African Traditional Religion and Christianity is the worship. Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. Fardon, Richard Traditional Religion as a source of African theology just as Christian theology is. Omissions? This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. One of the things these diaspora African religions testify to is the beauty of African religions to engage a devotee on many spiritual levels. psC68k}(`eMTO} }3sUO?JH`dMQois6I{r[}Doq?L0}ze^WZ\|r?3Z %g~bs_*@F`b, vw`qRk3xnnH6NSKF vFK](S?I.$@\$OC(N#a6oJc!0 sm!$!'TGzmSvw)+Na?1s K{o?!I Air and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors people... 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