Featured Image:Edo people, Queen Mother Pendant mask, circa 16th c.; Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. 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. 3 0 obj
This supreme . 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. Religion informs everything in traditional African society, including political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death. And if these shrines are not properly cared for by the designated descendant, then misfortune in the form of illness might befall the caretaker. For example, an African amulet might have inside of it a written verse from either the Koran or Christian Bible. According to Mbiti, Africans came to believe in God by reflecting on their experience and through observation of the created universe. Christianity forbids human sacrifices in worshipas it is murder. In the face of persistent human iniquity, God is believed to furnish means of atonement and forgiveness, thereby tempering justice with mercy., However, although Christianity and African Traditional Religion share some striking similarities, closer examination of African traditional beliefs reveals that the contrasts are far more striking than the similarities. 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. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. 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 is called the Trinity. Copyright 2023 GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? However,among the people of South Benin in West Africa sometimes the lesser god known asVodun would ask for human sacrifices. Thus, it is because of the existence of this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct. 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. However, to them, the entire universe is filled with spirit such as trees, rocks, and rivers. Both have religious leaders or priests whopresent the peoples requests to God. 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. 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. 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. An old African adage says: The sky is large enough for birds to fly around without one having to bump into the other.. 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. He then reflects on five "essential aspects" of. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax GAZETTE: Are ancestors considered deities in the traditional African cosmology? 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. 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. During the early churchs initial expansion phase where congregations were established in Syria, Asia Minor, Achaia, Italy and Africa there were strong leadership structures in Alexandria, Carthage, Neo religious movements is a term often used to describe a wide range of movements that developed in the tail end of the 19 century (the 1960s and 1970s). This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. People may complain to God and the ancestors, but they will never accuse them of any moral wrongdoing. Modernity has not put a total stop to its influence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. The Church is the Christian family, in which all are accompanied to one another through belief and baptism in Jesus 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. Despite the presence of Christianity, traditional religions in Ghana have retained their influence because of their intimate relation to family loyalties and local mores. KEYWORDS: African Culture, Christian God, Deities, Religion, Values. 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. 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. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main Again, it doesnt reflect the multiplicity of ways that traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. 1 0 obj
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 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. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. 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. Feature Flags: { Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. It doesnt have a fixed creed, like in some forms of Christianity or Islam. A classicatory system which attempts to distinguish the principal responses Indigenous African religions are pragmatic. Traditional Africans did not practice baptism. Traditional African religion does not show any belief in the Trinity. However, Christians can offer animals to the church where they canbe sold or reared to give the church income. 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. While some African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not. Religion informs everything in traditional African society, including political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death. Mbiti says that: According to Mbiti, human beings have a privileged position in the universe. Christ is the Mediator between Humans and God In African Traditional Religion ancestral spirits, and lesser gods, are usually the spirits that communicate with humans on earth. OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa. Secondly, there is moral and religious order. between African traditional religion and the Christian faith. Christ Jesus, God's own son, takes the "groaning" of humans to God. 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. 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. When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. I am going to use the research reports of Opoky Onyinah , which he carried out among Ghanaian Christians between 1997 and 1999. Traditional Africans worshipped in shrines. Also, how the Christian organizations help free women and girls from the grip of slavery. In addition, roughly a quarter or more of the population in 11 countries say they believe in the protective power of juju (charms or amulets), shrines and other sacred objects. 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. Peel, J. D. Y. 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. A holistic interpretation of the book between Paul and James. To achieve its goal, the paper adopts the method of . The African Traditional Religion, which is still in place today, can be compared to Christianity through their similarities and differences. Christians do not have regard for their powers because they believethat they overcome all evil through the name of Jesus. endobj
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. 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. stream
A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life, by Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor Baptismis by being sprinkled on water or being dipped in water. All rights reserved. Focusing on Luo Muslims in Kenya, Dr Lawrence Oseje looks at the interaction of Islam and traditional Luo practices, especially those around death and burial. 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." psC68k}(`eMTO}
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vFK](S?I.$@\$OC(N#a6oJc!0 sm!$!'TGzmSvw)+Na?1s K{o?!I 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. Animism is a common feature of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery. They are thus moral agents. It is the ancestors, however, the custodians of tradition, who determine the way these agents act, and it is tradition that supplies the moral code and indicates what the people must do to live ethically. African traditions carry out their role as ethical guides in many ways, including myths and rituals. This is called the Trinity. Commonly, God is believed to dwell in the skies. 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similarities between african traditional religion and christianity pdf