Religion is part and parcel of daily life. However, Christians can offer animals to the church where they canbe sold or reared to give the church income. In some communities masks were used to representcertain gods or ancestral spirits. <>>> Many laws, customs, set forms of behavior, regulations, rules, observances and taboos, constituting the moral code and ethics of a given community, are held sacred, and are believed to have been instituted by God.Furthermore, a person acts in ways that are good when he or she conforms to the customs and regulations of the community, or bad when he or she does not. KEYWORDS: African Culture, Christian God, Deities, Religion, Values. 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. The Church also combines those who have died and those who still live. Barrenness is, therefore, considered a great misfortune because it prevents ancestors from returning to life. Different fathers played a role in the development of this religion. 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. The religious activities of chiefs and lineage heads are generally limited to the more routine biweekly and annual festivities, but traditional priests given their association with specific shrines are regarded as specialized practitioners through whom the spirits of the gods may grant directions. The Christian idea of church has similarities with African traditional life in which brotherhood and the extended family play a central role. %PDF-1.5 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." In African Traditional Religion, they do believe in a genderless god with the three names: Umvelingqangi, uNkulunkulu, and uThixo (Badoian, 2014). 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. ^xH&M'YZ7EDi%qN^K 24 October 2016. 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. of the people which are all together. Below is the article summary. stream The religious traditions and beliefs of the African peoples have enough differences to merit a study of each in its own right. SUMMARY OF REFORMED THEOLOGY IN 10 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. Highlights of the first writing were, the African Traditional Religion, the life of the ethnic groups in Ghana; their beliefs, customs, ritual and taboos. x\s6Q|jyLd*{-Jb"$e~ $@ 6G"F@w? % So, basically, to speak of African tradition is to talk about African Traditional Religion. 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.. It is worth noting that these animals areat no time offered as burnt offerings to God. 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. 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. $70.00/$25.00. Marshall, Ruth Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. GAZETTE: How would you define indigenous African religions? in social anthropology from Oxford University, is studying for a master of theological studies (M.T.S.) 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. 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. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. The missionaries succeeded in spreading Christianity in Africa at a time when tribal religions were ignored or denigrated. The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in . While both Christianity and African religion have a concept of a Supreme Being,Christians believe in a God who exists in three persons. (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). 1xxp~I7m#MWjxAqN,PT2^]R6C3Y'K~Bwv4-xwE@;5 2 0 obj Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. 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. 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. This is because Jesusalready shed His blood on the cross and He was the perfect sacrifice that totally satisfied God. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Thus, everythingis not completely unpredictable and chaotic because of this order. 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). But as we learnt in Unit One, Christians can also worship Him attheir homes or other places. I should add that without claiming to be full members of indigenous traditions, there are many professed Christians and Muslims who participate in one form of indigenous religious rituals and practices or another. Indigenous African practices tend to be strongest in the central states of Africa, but some form of their practices and beliefs can be found almost anywhere in Africa. 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 . They can also be the dead of the tribe, following the order of primogeniture. GAZETTE: Are ancestors considered deities in the traditional African cosmology? Adebanwi, Wale He then reflects on five "essential aspects" of. Ancestors also serve as intermediaries (see ancestor worship). One is also sometimes givena new name after baptism. Africans had shrines they believedGod dwelt in. Keywords: contextualization . 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. 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. People may complain to God and the ancestors, but they will never accuse them of any moral wrongdoing. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. These shrines were built near waterbodies, next to big trees or near other sacred places. Such a project, however, is only significant if it is not only executed by religious leaders, By clicking accept or continuing to use the site, you agree to the terms outlined in our. Some of these African diaspora religions include Cuban Regla de Ocha, Haitian Vodou, and Brazilian Candomble. Traditional Africans didnot have this practice. African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. 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. 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. 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. 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. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. Church Life Journal Just like in Christianity, traditional Africanreligion has organised practices. These spirit do not carry the desires of humans to the Creator God. The traditional cosmology expresses belief in a supreme being (referred to by the Akan as Nyame, or by the Ewe Mawu). These laws are controlled by God directly or indirectly through Gods intermediaries. 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