This is the kind of interlocutor who will counter an observation about violent militancy in contemporary Islam in the context, let us say, of a discussion about Boko Haram with But what about the Crusades? This is called the Trinity. According to Mbiti, Africans came to believe in God by reflecting on their experience and through observation of the created universe. Some Africans believe that the ancestors are equal in power to deities, while others believe they are not. Odozor's Morality Truly Christian, Truly Africanpublished by theUniversity of Notre Dame Press. 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. 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. stream 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. for this article. 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. Additionally, I will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who practice their form of African indigenous religions. <> 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. Modernity has not put a total stop to its influence. Traditional Africans didnot have this practice. TraditionalAfricans gave offerings but they did not give tithes. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 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. The Church also combines those who have died and those who still live. 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. OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. In African Traditional Religion, they do believe in a genderless god with the three names: Umvelingqangi, uNkulunkulu, and uThixo (Badoian, 2014). KEYWORDS: African Culture, Christian God, Deities, Religion, Values. Both believe that God is the creator ofhumankind. According to all the major surveys, Christianity and Islam each represent approximately 40 percent of the African population. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Christ Jesus, God's own son, takes the "groaning" of humans to God. This bitter conflict has led to wanton destruction of lives and property, and this has become a source of great worry to the writers. 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. 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. As a universal religion, Christianity has to find an, This article engages with the notion of Ndembu traditional eco-masculinities which was conceptualised in a framework of sacrifice as ground for manliness. Such activities include the making of sacrifices and the pouring of libations. Eternal Rest of the Soul. 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. 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 This work investigates the conflicts existing between the two . This supreme . Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. 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. 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. I utilised this view as hermeneutical point. It also taps into a common lay attitude to what might be called a secular common sense, which feels impatience or distaste for all forms of what it considers religious extremism, while at the same time shying away from regarding any one religion as more prone to extremism than others. And if these shrines are not properly cared for by the designated descendant, then misfortune in the form of illness might befall the caretaker. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. 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. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main 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. These are called Taboos. Thus, it is because of the existence of this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct. 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. Traditional Africans communicated to God through ancestors. GAZETTE: How have ancestors played a role in traditional societies? 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. But after braving that first blizzard in a land far from his native Nigeria, Olupona stuck it out and earned his Ph.D. 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. The traditional cosmology expresses belief in a supreme being (referred to by the Akan as Nyame, or by the Ewe Mawu). These spirit do not carry the desires of humans to the Creator God. However, Christians can offer animals to the church where they canbe sold or reared to give the church income. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. Fardon, Richard While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. INTRODUCTION Man considers life worth living because he finds certain things intrinsically valuable; hence value in its simple connotation means a thing of worth. 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. Whenever. Before you discuss on how somebody is doing something, it is also good to look at the reason why the person is doing that thing, so that you can be in a better position to educate the person properly. People may complain to God and the ancestors, but they will never accuse them of any moral wrongdoing. It is worth noting that these animals areat no time offered as burnt offerings to God. x\s6Q|jyLd*{-Jb"$e~ $@ 6G"F@w? 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. They are not mutually exclusive. as a burnt offering. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. They form a chain through the links of which the forces of the elders [now with the community] exercise their vitalizing influence on the living generation. For Magesa, the ancestors are primarily authority figures whose being implies moral activity in that they are the maintainers and enforcers of norms of social action. Although they are entrusted with these roles in their relationship with humans, any capriciousness of the ancestors is not taken kindly by the living, just as it would not be acceptable from any elder in society. The ancestors are beyond reproach. 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. In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. 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. Religion is closely bound up with the traditional way of African life; therefore, religion has shaped the lives of Africans, at the same time life has shaped religion as well. African spirituality is truly holistic. 3 0 obj Acknowledgements, Introduction: Locations of culture, 1. 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.. Traditional African religion does not show any belief in the Trinity. OLUPONA: One of the basic reasons is that indigenous African spiritual beliefs are not bound by a written text, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. %PDF-1.5 ^xH&M'YZ7EDi%qN^K Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. 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. Both religions believe that God revealsHimself to people through dreams, propheciesand other special events. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. Has data issue: true He is not only the covenant giver He gives the power to keep the covenant. Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 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. Some of the ideas from Mbitis works are pertinent to our discussion here: Africans believe in a hierarchy of beings, from the ultimate being, God, to lesser ones, divinities, spirits, the living dead, human beings, animals, plants, and inanimate beings. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. (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. Diviners who go through a long educational and apprenticeship program hold the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of the African people. Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. Ancestors and numerous other spirits are also recognized as part of the cosmological order. Witchcraft was also feared and witchdoctors were respected as they had power tocurse, make people get sick or end their life. They do so by going to the hospital. Also, how the Christian organizations help free women and girls from the grip of slavery. 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. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. 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. OLUPONA: Your question underscores an important facet about African spirituality: It is not a closed theological system. Traditional Africans believed in the power of magic and medicinemen. 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. There is also a mystical order of the universe. 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. Religion is part and parcel of daily life. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. These are the pristine men and women, the originators of the lineage or clan or ethnic group. The amount of devotees to indigenous practices has dwindled as Islam and Christianity have both spread and gained influence throughout the continent. endobj 24 October 2016. Christians pray toGod through Jesus Christ. 1"7$X9Xyyyb GNpL!9I&mxo0++44cA@5c. He later earned both an M.A. View all Google Scholar citations The spiritual medium is the physical embodiment of the religious retributive order in which Africans know themselves to stand.. } 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. A belief in ancestors also testifies to the inclusive nature of traditional African spirituality by positing that deceased progenitors still play a role in the lives of their living descendants. Most African communities offered animals and not humans as sacrifices. 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. 3 0 obj But for many Africans, religion can never be separated from all these. However, they do not seek the services of magicians orwitchdoctors. I also celebrate and honor the kings festivals and ceremonies in my hometown and other places where I live and do research. 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. They take the communion to remember thedeath and resurrection of Jesus. Palmi, Stephan As judge, God is understood to uphold this standard by ultimately punishing its violations and by rewarding the righteous (usually in some eschatological domain). 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