similarities between african traditional religion and christianity pdfsimilarities between african traditional religion and christianity pdf

It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. Omissions? 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. Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. Odozor's Morality Truly Christian, Truly Africanpublished by theUniversity of Notre Dame Press. While some African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not. <> In the Ewe thought they are called Vodou (Vodu or Vudu in Benin and Togo; also Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, or other phonetically equivalent spellings. Some scholars have rightly observed that the centre of gravity of Christianity is shifting from the West to the two-thirds world, that is Asia, South America and Africa. Both have initiation rites into full membership. 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. It was believed that the animals blood appeased God. x + 306. 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. Religion is part and parcel of daily life. 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. You can download the paper by clicking the button above. The vigor with which the African Traditional Religion (ATR) has continued to resist the onslaught of Christianity is a cause of academic preoccupation. GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? Read our research on: Congress | Economy | Black Americans, Side by side with their high levels of commitment to Christianity and Islam, many people in the countries surveyed retain beliefs and rituals that are characteristic of traditional African religions. Observing this moral order ensures harmony and peace within the community. This work investigates the conflicts existing between the two . Whenever. 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. 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 Africans believe that the ancestors are equal in power to deities, while others believe they are not. Both believe that God is the creator ofhumankind. Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. I am going to use the research reports of Opoky Onyinah , which he carried out among Ghanaian Christians between 1997 and 1999. 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. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main Corrections? 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). The Igbo traditional religious worldview maintains a polytheistic religious view, unlike the monotheistic outlook of the Christian religion. GAZETTE: How have ancestors played a role in traditional societies? These could be caves, forests,mountains and so on. These act as Gods associates, assistants, and mediators, and they are directly involved in human affairs. 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. Hence, it cannot be avoided in the interaction between Christianity and African Traditional Religion. This includes five countries (Cameroon, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal) where more than half the population uses traditional healers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. These intermediary agents include the ancestors, members of the community who at death become idealized. Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. TraditionalAfricans gave offerings but they did not give tithes. Religion informs everything in traditional African society, including political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death. However, the reasons for the growth of Christianity in Africa significantly include the way the Africans have attempted to deal with their threatening fears, especially witchcraft. This bitter conflict has led to wanton destruction of lives and property, and this has become a source of great worry to the writers. I wont pray to an orisa, but I will affirm the importance of my connection with members of my age group. How digital misinformation may keep you from a good nights sleep, Study finds surgical patients with addiction issues may be at greater risk for complications, including sudden cardiac death after anesthesia, Khalil Gibran Muhammad says College Board needs to stand firm behind curriculum, Chief counsel of respected mid-70s Senate inquiry into improper federal investigations says credibility of oversight function at stake, 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College. 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. 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. In this paper, I interrogated the Gabola church in terms of its origins, purpose and its distinctiveness as a postcolonial manifestation of freedom of religion in South Africa. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. Our duty is to preach the Word of God and trust the saving grace of Jesus Christ for conversion of souls. They take the communion to remember thedeath and resurrection of Jesus. 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. 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. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer, By Anthony Chiorazzi Harvard Correspondent. 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. 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. 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. 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. OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. Just as within the traditional political and diplomatic contexts, one cannot formally contact the king without the agency of his linguists or sub-chiefs. The Yoruba believe in the existence of the Supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser god, Obatala. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. These initiation rituals are already not as common in Africa as they were only 50 years ago, yet age-grade initiations have always helped young Africans feel connected to their community and their past. But after braving that first blizzard in a land far from his native Nigeria, Olupona stuck it out and earned his Ph.D. This dissertation will attempt to explore how deliverance ministry has replaced the anti-witchcraft shrines and the exorcistic activities of the African Indigenous Churches. Traditional theologians explained that one could not worship the Supreme Being formally, without the agency of the divinities or ancestors. 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. Christian teaching forbids making of any kinds ofimages to represent God. Thus, for example, older persons not only possess a more powerful vital force but a greater responsibility in society and more intense mystical powers. 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 introduced religions of Islam (in northern Africa) and Christianity (in southern Africa) are now the continents major religions, but traditional religions still play an important role, especially in the interior of sub-Saharan Africa. A follower of African diaspora religions has many choices in terms of seeking spiritual help or succor. 24 October 2016. 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. 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. A classicatory system which attempts to distinguish the principal responses They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. 2017. Ronald M. Green of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, a non-African scholar of African religion, has also written about African Traditional Religion and about religion and morality in Africa. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. This is called the Trinity. This leads him into the whole area of theology of religions, in which the relationship between Christianity and other religions is currently the focus of lively debate. ^xH&M'YZ7EDi%qN^K While both Christianity and African religion have a concept of a Supreme Being,Christians believe in a God who exists in three persons. In African Traditional Religion, they do believe in a genderless god with the three names: Umvelingqangi, uNkulunkulu, and uThixo (Badoian, 2014). Modernity has not put a total stop to its influence. Christians practice baptism. 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. 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. 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. Christians do not have regard for their powers because they believethat they overcome all evil through the name of Jesus. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. Part two provides a condensed historical survey of the, The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters, by R. S. Sugirtharajah. These spirit do not carry the desires of humans to the Creator God. 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. 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. One scholar who has written extensively on African Traditional Religion is John Mbiti, a Kenyan whom many consider the dean of living African theologians. % They did this as theyoffered libation by pouring water or any other drink to the ground. hand with the study of the people who practise the religion. 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. These are the pristine men and women, the originators of the lineage or clan or ethnic group. Veneration of departed ancestors is a major characteristic of all traditional religions. ), 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. 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 award allows Olupona a year of study and research in Germany; he is on leave this year (201516). OLUPONA: We would lose a worldview that has collectively sustained, enriched, and given meaning to a continent and numerous other societies for centuries through its epistemology, metaphysics, history, and practices. Interrogating identity: Frantz Fanon and the postcolonial prerogative, 3. endobj 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. 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. 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. The Supreme Being is usually thought of as remote from daily religious life and is, therefore, not directly worshipped. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). endobj Janson, Marloes Neglect, it is believed, might spell doom. Highlights of the first writing were, the African Traditional Religion, the life of the ethnic groups in Ghana; their beliefs, customs, ritual and taboos. I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. 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. They have also fostered a greater feeling of individual self-worth by acknowledging important milestones in ones life, including becoming an adult or an elder. Anthony Chiorazzi, who has an M.Phil. GAZETTE: In trying to understand African spirituality, is it helpful to refer to it as polytheistic or monotheistic? GAZETTE: What else would we lose if we lost traditional African Religions? When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. endobj 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. Thedeath and resurrection of Jesus, is it helpful to refer to it as polytheistic monotheistic. Deities, while others believe they are not the study of the lineage clan! For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the originators of the African continent God, Obatala a good example has... When we speak of African traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and.. A faithful Anglican priest, was a good example See the glossary for more information on evil! They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors clicking the button above the above... 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