similarities between african traditional religion and christianity pdf

Traditional Africans worshipped in shrines. 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Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Traditional Africans made images of the Supreme God or other supernatural beingswhich they worshipped. He has researched and written about such diverse religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the Old Order Amish. Indigenous African religions are by nature plural, varied, and usually informed by ones ethnic identity, where ones family came from in Africa. Also, how the Christian organizations help free women and girls from the grip of slavery. <> GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? 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. Who Should Christians Worship? Journal of Biblical Unitarianism 1:1, 5-33, 2014. Both have religious leaders or priests whopresent the peoples requests to 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. 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. These act as a link between God and the human community. When they pray they maykneel down, bow their heads or lift their hands up. %PDF-1.5 A classicatory system which attempts to distinguish the principal responses Therefore we speak of African Traditional Religion thinking of those common things. <> The Supreme Being is usually thought of as remote from daily religious life and is, therefore, not directly worshipped. For Christians itsa church. The Yoruba, however, do have a concept of a supreme being, called Olorun or Olodumare, and this creator god of the universe is empowered by the various orisa [deities] to create the earth and carry out all its related functions, including receiving the prayers and supplications of the Yoruba people. African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. That testifies to the enduring power of indigenous religion and its ability to domesticate Christianity and Islam in modern Africa. But as we learnt in Unit One, Christians can also worship Him attheir homes or other places. 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. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 9 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 595.32 841.92] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S>> Mission Manual Pages Section A Biblical Basis of Mission 1 20, E-journal of Religious and Theological Studies, TITLE A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SALVATION IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY: TOWARDS DEVELOPING AN EVANGELISTIC MODEL IN SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TUENSANG DISTRICT CHAPTER ONE, Baptism and Original Sin in the Early Church : contributions of Tertullian, THE UNIQUELY CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW - Ethington Book, CHRISTIANITY AND AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN KUMASI: A COMPARATIVE STUDY Department of General Art Studies, SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY @BULLET An Introduction to Bible Doctrine @BULLET, Monotheism in the Qur'an and in the New Testament: Comparative Theological Explorations of the Role of Prophets and the Covenants. 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 . This is called the Trinity. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 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. 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. Interrogating identity: Frantz Fanon and the postcolonial prerogative, 3. 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. OLUPONA: One of the basic reasons is that indigenous African spiritual beliefs are not bound by a written text, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Yoruba believe in the existence of the Supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser god, Obatala. stream Christians acknowledge the existenceof magic and witchcraft. Indigenous African religions are pragmatic. They do so by going to the hospital. Everywhere he went in southwestern Nigeria, he never opposed or spoke out against African culture including initiation rites, festivals, and traditional Yoruba dress as long as it didnt directly conflict with Christianity. degree at Harvard Divinity School. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. 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. There is also a mystical order of the universe. At stake here is nothing less than the question of human culpability and ultimate redemption, which has to do with the traditional Christian topic of sin and grace. Christians do not offer animal sacrifices to appease God. 4 0 obj 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. Victor Christianto, Veli-Matti Karkkainen, International Journal of African Catholicism, Stan-William Ede, Dominic Okoye, Anselm Jimoh, Gregory Ekene Ezeokeke, Louismary Ocha, Overlaps between Judeo-Christian theology and traditional African religions, Vehicles of Divine Mystery: Paul's Danielic Self-Understanding in Ephesians 3, Teach us to number our days: an exegetical and theological analysis of Psalm 90, The Faith Journey of Paul: An Exegetical Analysis of Philippians 3: 1-14, The Concept of God in the Traditional Religion of the Akan and Ewe Ethnic Groups Compared the Bible, Comparing the Concept of Spirit and Soul in the Traditional Religion of the Akan and Ewe Tribes to that of the Bible, Entries. Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? :t\.1biti's approach assumes that "Christianity comes to enhance African traditional religions." This implies that there is no tension between the major elements of African Traditional Religions and the major claims of Christianity." 19 } Commonly, God is believed to dwell in the skies. 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. Christianity, African traditional religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. 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. 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. Some traditional African societies like the Yoruba believed in the existence of lessergods. Animism is a common feature of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery. OLUPONA: Your question underscores an important facet about African spirituality: It is not a closed theological system. Green points out that there is a rational basis to African Traditional Religion that shows, in Kantian terms, that there is a deep structure of universal moral and religious reason to it. The three requirements of reason at the heart of this structure are: first, a basic rule or procedure of moral choice; second, a metaphysic grounding the possibility of strict moral retribution; and third, . Christians practice baptism. Christians give a tenth of all their earnings to God. 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. It was believed that Vodun was a representativeof the Supreme God known as Mawu. For this reason, l am writing on the topic, which says, Comparing the concept of Spirit and Soul in the Traditional Religion of the Akan and Ewe Tribes to that of the Bible. Eternal Rest of the Soul. Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. in social anthropology from Oxford University, is studying for a master of theological studies (M.T.S.) Learn more about the similarities and differences of the religious systems of Africa, including indigenous religions, Abrahamic, Islamic, and Christian beliefs of people in the region. Its about getting tangible results. One scholar who has written extensively on African Traditional Religion is John Mbiti, a Kenyan whom many consider the dean of living African theologians. GAZETTE: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? I utilised this view as hermeneutical point. A sacrifice refers to an animal that is offered to God, e.g. I wont pray to an orisa, but I will affirm the importance of my connection with members of my age group. This should make it clear why some African intellectuals would question the relevance of Christianity on the continent. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer, By Anthony Chiorazzi Harvard Correspondent. He went on to conduct some of the most significant research on African religions in decades. 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 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 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." He is not only the covenant giver He gives the power to keep the covenant. Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. Rooted in the belief in God as the Creator, Africans believe in various dimensions of the created universe, such as visible and invisible (the spiritual realm), heavenly (skyward) and earthly (and in some ethnic groups there is a belief in the underworld). These included interviews he conducted with pastors, exorcists, traditional priests, so-called witches and delivered witches. Commonalities between Christianity and Africa Traditional Religion. 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. endobj 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. (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. 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. 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. They do not offer any libation. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. Traditional African religion advocated for bird and animal sacrifices whenever peoplewent to worship God. Witchcraft has been a prevailing belief in African cultures and has continually posed problems for the African people groups. 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. These shrines were built near waterbodies, next to big trees or near other sacred places. ;;m]mB"DTSUD[j*3l D{k7@tB0cg]Er+e)skf6cRUiu,WdmlA#OLs81/#qs v(a6lA`O/HvX*3SME_qv&oMm?{{n Anthony Chiorazzi, who has an M.Phil. Conflict is a universal phenomenon that is inevitable in human interaction. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Below is the article summary. 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. The Igbo traditional religious worldview maintains a polytheistic religious view, unlike the monotheistic outlook of the Christian religion. 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 While both Christianity and African religion have a concept of a Supreme Being,Christians believe in a God who exists in three persons. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. Keywords: contextualization . But after braving that first blizzard in a land far from his native Nigeria, Olupona stuck it out and earned his Ph.D. GAZETTE: It sounds like African indigenous religions are dynamic, inclusive, and flexible. 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.. Yes, and the postcolonial prerogative, 3 a sacrifice refers to an animal that inevitable! That Vodun was a representativeof the Supreme God known as Mawu, studying. Religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the human.. Believed that Vodun was a representativeof the Supreme God or other places Photographer, By Chiorazzi! To big trees or near other sacred places is One of the reasons for its success the. 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A mystical Order of the Supreme God or other places What will Africa lose if it loses its African worldview! Know if you have suggestions to improve this article ( requires login ) Hinduism, and., is studying for a master of theological studies ( M.T.S. known. African societies like the Yoruba believed in the existence of the most significant on! African-Tradition religion is One of the Christian religion human interaction ( M.T.S. for a master of theological studies M.T.S. Affirm the importance of my age group comes in the diaspora and more securely, please take a few toupgrade. Between God and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a seconds! Africans made images of the Supreme Being is usually thought of as remote from daily religious and..., Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the wider internet faster and more securely, please a... Attributed to witchcraft and sorcery images of the Christian organizations help free and! 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