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. 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. 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. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. For example, an African amulet might have inside of it a written verse from either the Koran or Christian Bible. It evolved through many centuries, before the westerner come to Africa. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in postcolonial Africa have made inter-religious . 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). 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. (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). Traditional Africans made images of the Supreme God or other supernatural beingswhich they worshipped. Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors, Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects. 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. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. They do so by going to the hospital. GAZETTE: How would you define indigenous African religions? 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. Modernity has not put a total stop to its influence. Christ was tempted in all the ways The cup of wine symbolises the blood Jesus shedand the bread symbolises His body which was broken for us. Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. The worship can be direct , but is done (mostly) indirectly through divine agents like the gods or divinities (abosom in Akan , legbaa in Ewe ) and the ancestors. Commonly, God is believed to dwell in the skies. I also celebrate and honor the kings festivals and ceremonies in my hometown and other places where I live and do research. For example, in 14 of the 19 countries surveyed, more than three-in-ten people say they sometimes consult traditional healers when someone in their household is sick. stream
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 . As a resident fellow, Sherman will teach a study group on negotiation and diplomacy this semester. The African Traditional Religion, which is still in place today, can be compared to Christianity through their similarities and differences. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. People may complain to God and the ancestors, but they will never accuse them of any moral wrongdoing. Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. Sarr, Ramon %
This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. Updated: 10 . I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. 1xxp~I7m#MWjxAqN,PT2^]R6C3Y'K~Bwv4-xwE@;5 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. <>
Ancestors can offer advice and bestow good fortune and honor to their living dependents, but they can also make demands, such as insisting that their shrines be properly maintained and propitiated. 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. The Church also combines those who have died and those who still live. A sacrifice refers to an animal that is offered to God, e.g. 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. 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 traditional African societies like the Yoruba believed in the existence of lessergods. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. These are the pristine men and women, the originators of the lineage or clan or ethnic group. 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. 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. Human beings are the link between the heavens and the earth, between the visible and the invisible universe. Because many diseases are believed to have spiritual causes, traditional priests sometimes act as doctors or herbalists. 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. in social anthropology from Oxford University, is studying for a master of theological studies (M.T.S.) African spirituality has always been able to adapt to change and allow itself to absorb the wisdom and views of other religions, much more than, for example, Christianity and Islam. Part two provides a condensed historical survey of the, The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters, by R. S. Sugirtharajah. In respect and honor of my culture, I also dress in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im in my country. 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. 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. 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. Moreover, the religions developed in the Americas impact Africa in that devotees of the African diaspora have significant influence on practices in Africa. He then reflects on five "essential aspects" of. endobj
These spirit do not carry the desires of humans to the Creator God. These act as a link between God and the human community. 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. The Yoruba believe in the existence of the Supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser god, Obatala. OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. Africans believe in the existence of a mystical, invisible, hidden, spiritual power in the universe. OLUPONA: One of the basic reasons is that indigenous African spiritual beliefs are not bound by a written text, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Religion is part and parcel of daily life. They believe that Obatala helped Olurun in creating theworld and everything in it. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. The reasons for this shift are varied and complex. Everything is said to center on them. Mbiti makes a very controversial point when he claims that in African societies there are no acts that would be considered wrong in themselves. Green opines that although superficially regarded, this may seem to be a minimal moral relationshipmore like a kind of egoism on one side and fearful propitiation on the otherit also shows, however, the profound role that respect for age and for the fulfillment of lineage and familial duties play in this traditional setting. Traditional Africans believed in the power of magic and medicinemen. African traditional religion cannot be discussed without mentioning that it is the way of life of the people of Africa and so cannot be differentiated from the politics, education, and socialisation, etc. The success of Christianity and Islam on the African continent in the last 100 years has been extraordinary, but it has been, unfortunately, at the expense of African indigenous religions. 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]. Janson, Marloes One of the things these diaspora African religions testify to is the beauty of African religions to engage a devotee on many spiritual levels. To achieve its goal, the paper adopts the method of . These act as Gods associates, assistants, and mediators, and they are directly involved in human affairs. Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. They do not offer any libation. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. For example, sickness in the indigenous African worldview is not only an imbalance of the body, but also an imbalance in ones social life, which can be linked to a breakdown in ones kinship and family relations or even to ones relationship with ones ancestors. However, they do not seek the services of magicians orwitchdoctors. The religious traditions and beliefs of the African peoples have enough differences to merit a study of each in its own right. 2017. 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. 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