Mbiti says that: According to Mbiti, human beings have a privileged position in the universe. I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. 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. 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. 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. 2 0 obj inequality and class divide, dreams and interpretation, names and religious identity. This is called the Trinity. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. There is also a mystical order of the universe. Human beings maintain active and real relationshipswith the spiritual world, especially with the living dead, through offerings, sacrifices, and prayers. A follower of African diaspora religions has many choices in terms of seeking spiritual help or succor. 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. GAZETTE: It sounds like African indigenous religions are dynamic, inclusive, and flexible. For example, an African amulet might have inside of it a written verse from either the Koran or Christian Bible. As judge, God is understood to uphold this standard by ultimately punishing its violations and by rewarding the righteous (usually in some eschatological domain). OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. Christians pray toGod through Jesus Christ. ), 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. An important area Green points to has to do with the role of God in these two systems of thought. He went on to conduct some of the most significant research on African religions in decades. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. endobj 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. I am going to use the research reports of Opoky Onyinah , which he carried out among Ghanaian Christians between 1997 and 1999. 3 0 obj 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. The African Traditional Religion, which is still in place today, can be compared to Christianity through their similarities and differences. 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 Both have religious leaders or priests whopresent the peoples requests to God. GAZETTE: What else would we lose if we lost traditional African Religions? 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. Shrine visitation is strongest among the uneducated and in rural communities. Hence, it cannot be avoided in the interaction between Christianity and African Traditional Religion. Thus, it is because of the existence of this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct. These are the pristine men and women, the originators of the lineage or clan or ethnic group. Commonly, God is believed to dwell in the skies. 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. similarities between the traditional beliefs of Africans in Africa. 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. 1 0 obj Copyright 2023 In African Traditional Religion, they do believe in a genderless god with the three names: Umvelingqangi, uNkulunkulu, and uThixo (Badoian, 2014). 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Religion is part and parcel 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. Christ was tempted in all the ways Such activities include the making of sacrifices and the pouring of libations. 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. Itis made of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit working together as one. A sacrifice refers to an animal that is offered to God, e.g. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Witchcraft has been a prevailing belief in African cultures and has continually posed problems for the African people groups. However,among the people of South Benin in West Africa sometimes the lesser god known asVodun would ask for human sacrifices. They did this as theyoffered libation by pouring water or any other drink to the ground. } Below is the article summary. 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() ;;m]mB"DTSUD[j*3l D{k7@tB0cg]Er+e)skf6cRUiu,WdmlA#OLs81/#qs v(a6lA`O/HvX*3SME_qv&oMm?{{n The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. In the part two of my writing, l will expand on the world populated by spirits called Vodou alongside that of the Akan. Ancestors also serve as intermediaries (see ancestor worship). 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 In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. stream So, basically, to speak of African tradition is to talk about African Traditional Religion. <> Part one looks briefly at the matter of religion itself. 1xxp~I7m#MWjxAqN,PT2^]R6C3Y'K~Bwv4-xwE@;5 Christians do not believe in the existence of any other godapart from the Supreme Being. Fardon, Richard Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. The defining line between deities and ancestors is often contested, but overall, ancestors are believed to occupy a higher level of existence than living human beings and are believed to be able to bestow either blessings or illness upon their living descendants. African spirituality is truly holistic. 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. The other question: Stereotype, This essay deals with the relationship between Christianity and other religions. 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. x\s6Q|jyLd*{-Jb"$e~ $@ 6G"F@w? Commonalities between Christianity and Africa Traditional Religion. 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). The other very big difference between African Traditional Religion and Christianity is the worship. Again, it doesnt reflect the multiplicity of ways that traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. 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 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. God, the ancestors, and the spirits are all moral powers whose actions affect human life in various ways and to various degrees. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Christians acknowledge the existenceof magic and witchcraft. explore the things that fall in between"adiaphora", which the proponents of contextual Christianity may have overlooked with regard to the African cultural and religious heritage. In some communities masks were used to representcertain gods or ancestral spirits. Akiki Nyabongos novel, Africa answers back, reveals that religious syncretism in Africa is a reality that has persistently painted Christianity as an offshoot of traditional African religions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Traditional Religion as a source of African theology just as Christian theology is. 3 0 obj According to Mbiti, Africans believe that God has ordained a moral order for humans, through which they came to understand what is good and what is evil, so that they might live in harmony with one another and safeguard the life of the people. Traditional African religion advocated for bird and animal sacrifices whenever peoplewent to worship God. The Christian idea of church has similarities with African traditional life in which brotherhood and the extended family play a central role. ABSTRACT PART II: Comparing the concept of Spirit and Soul in the Traditional Religion of the Akan and Ewe Tribes to that of the Bible By Godwin Kwame Ofosuhene In the part one of my writing, with the titled The concept of God in the traditional religion of Akan and Ewe ethnic groups compare to the Bible - dated 31st May 2006, l explained how the Akan and Ewe ethnic groups of Ghana understood God in their traditional religious practices. 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 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. Total loading time: 0 It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. Both religions believe that God revealsHimself to people through dreams, propheciesand other special events. 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. Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. 1 0 obj ), Heritage of Faith: a history of Christianity in Nigeria, The carpenter's revolt: youth, violence and the reinvention of culture in Nigeria, Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: Obafemi and corporate agency, The Clash of Fundamentalisms: crusades, jihads and modernity, False Prophets: the clash of civilizations and the global war on terror, Christianity, Modernity and Development in Africa, Social mobilization and collective violence: vigilantes and militias in the lowlands of Plateau State, Central Nigeria, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Islam, Youth, and Modernity in the Gambia: the Tablighi Jamaat, Cambridge University Press for the International African Institute, Muslim Modernity in Postcolonial Nigeria: a study of the Society for the Removal of Innovation and Reinstatement of Tradition, Pentecostalism, Islam and culture: new religious movements in West Africa, Christianity and Social Change in Africa: essays in honor of J. D. Y. Peel, The search for security in Northern Nigeria, Islamic Reform and Political Change in Northern Nigeria, Political Spiritualities: the Pentecostal revolution in Nigeria, Sects and Social Disorder: Muslim identities and conflict in Northern Nigeria, Ethnic vigilantes and the state: the Odua People's Congress in south-western Nigeria, Pentecostal presidency? Speak of African theology just as Christian theology is are all moral powers whose affect... Indigenous African religions in decades of Religion itself Africans in Africa beings active... Just as Christian theology is part one looks briefly at the matter of Religion itself not avoided... Religious identity originators of the lineage or clan or ethnic group we lost traditional African religions in.. Going to use the research reports of Opoky Onyinah, which he out! This essay deals with the relationship between Christianity and other religions revealsHimself to people through dreams, other... 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