These gods are generally perceived as intermediaries between the Supreme Being and society. 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. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Palmi, Stephan Sarr, Ramon SIMILARITY AND DIFFERENCE, CONTEXT AND TRADITION, IN https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972016000565, Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. This chapter includes information on: Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects Download chapter 3 in full (3-page PDF, <1MB) Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis These shrines were built near waterbodies, next to big trees or near other sacred places. A sacrifice refers to an animal that is offered to God, e.g. 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). 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.. x\s6Q|jyLd*{-Jb"$e~ $@ 6G"F@w? Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. Such a project, however, is only significant if it is not only executed by religious leaders, By clicking accept or continuing to use the site, you agree to the terms outlined in our. For example, followers can seek spiritual direction and relief from healers, medicine men and women, charms [adornments often worn to incur good luck], amulets [adornments often used to ward off evil], and diviners [spiritual advisers]. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main Christians observe the Lords supper. Before you discuss on how somebody is doing something, it is also good to look at the reason why the person is doing that thing, so that you can be in a better position to educate the person properly. Traditional Africans believed in the power of magic and medicinemen. Christ was tempted in all the ways |,utv2QdjrqfM7PC)2-|O7,0[i=_a/Om"X`Y2FpXBjsFxCqDd`%*g,-J1e*jjq,tm{w>qAsAqN$D Africans had shrines they believedGod dwelt in. Some traditional African societies like the Yoruba believed in the existence of lessergods. One scholar who has written extensively on African Traditional Religion is John Mbiti, a Kenyan whom many consider the dean of living African theologians. Corrections? (See the glossary for more information on juju. 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. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. There are also the lesser gods that take residency in streams, rivers, trees and mountains. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). [D@dIS(P]y`ne]y:fjGZ3yEAVOI QFY- Ancestors also serve as intermediaries (see ancestor worship). 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. An old African adage says: The sky is large enough for birds to fly around without one having to bump into the other.. Render date: 2023-03-01T10:31:12.538Z That testifies to the enduring power of indigenous religion and its ability to domesticate Christianity and Islam in modern Africa. Devoid of essential personal characteristics they represent the essence of what might be called structural personality. Even though their differences outnumber their. Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. All life, power, and existence flow from God, and by right of their primogeniture and proximity to God by death God has granted the ancestors a qualitatively more powerful life force over their descendants. Who constitutes the world of the ancestors? OLUPONA: The role of ancestors in the African cosmology has always been significant. The spirit medium is required to possess moral probity and integrity. In the Ewe thought they are called Vodou (Vodu or Vudu in Benin and Togo; also Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, or other phonetically equivalent spellings. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax Christianity is more dominant in the south, while Islam is more dominant in the north. 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. 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. This paper uses a qualitative research approach in the form of document analysis to critically explore the religious intersectionalities between Christianity and African Traditional. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. 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. Copyright 2023 Religion is part and parcel of daily life. 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. Traditional Africans communicated to God through ancestors. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. This is called a tithe. 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. GAZETTE: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? 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. / DI41@ tD}r;Y w,XVzwiA1JtvrlfFaD7E@s 00=L"q{Vf\}ioKy=lXS.P6ChX m% ~nUV)=vp%FBvy}+6,0+V8sG&>K_iBOntQvyCN[I'uvR;}hA/D|+I9Q$cL, 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. This power originates from God but is possessed hierarchically by divinities, spirits, and the living dead, and it is available to some people, in various degrees. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. GAZETTE: What is the state of indigenous African religions today? OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. Anthony Chiorazzi, who has an M.Phil. Diviners who go through a long educational and apprenticeship program hold the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of the African people. 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. They trust God for their healing. Wendy Sherman, who was the lead U.S. negotiator in the nuclear deal with Iran, was welcomed by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. But today that is not the case due to more exclusive-minded types of Christianity and Islam that see patronizing indigenous African beliefs and practices as violating the integrity of their Christian or Muslim principles, but I believe that one can maintain ones religious integrity and also embrace an African worldview. "useRatesEcommerce": false When one becomes a Christian he/she is baptised. 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.1 Their central thrust is to emphasize the similarities rather than the differences between current movements in the world religions, particularly Christianity and Islam, but also to a lesser extent in Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. 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. Differences between Christianity and traditional African beliefs and customs (Exodus 20:3-5,Hebrews 10:8-10) 1. The traditional cosmology expresses belief in a supreme being (referred to by the Akan as Nyame, or by the Ewe Mawu). Veneration of departed ancestors is a major characteristic of all traditional religions. Itis made of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit working together as one. The ordering of the universe and its continuance depends on God. They believe that Obatala helped Olurun in creating theworld and everything in it. Commonalities between Christianity and Africa Traditional Religion. 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. He sees the other faith as complementing and even adding spiritual potency to his own spiritual practice of constructing effective amulets. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. They do so by going to the hospital. 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. These differences, I will argue, have significant impact not just on the way people conceive of the moral world or with regard to moral intentions, but also on moral practices. The religious functions, especially of chiefs and lineage heads, are clearly demonstrated during such periods as the Odwira of the Akan, Hogbetsotso / Tedudu of the Ewe, the Homowo of the Ga-Adangbe, or the Aboakyir of the Efutu (coastal Guan), when the people are organized in activities that renew and strengthen relations with their ancestors. 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. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. Additionally, I will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who practice their form of African indigenous religions. ), Heritage of Faith: a history of Christianity in Nigeria, The carpenter's revolt: youth, violence and the reinvention of culture in Nigeria, Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: Obafemi and corporate agency, The Clash of Fundamentalisms: crusades, jihads and modernity, False Prophets: the clash of civilizations and the global war on terror, Christianity, Modernity and Development in Africa, Social mobilization and collective violence: vigilantes and militias in the lowlands of Plateau State, Central Nigeria, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Islam, Youth, and Modernity in the Gambia: the Tablighi Jamaat, Cambridge University Press for the International African Institute, Muslim Modernity in Postcolonial Nigeria: a study of the Society for the Removal of Innovation and Reinstatement of Tradition, Pentecostalism, Islam and culture: new religious movements in West Africa, Christianity and Social Change in Africa: essays in honor of J. D. Y. Peel, The search for security in Northern Nigeria, Islamic Reform and Political Change in Northern Nigeria, Political Spiritualities: the Pentecostal revolution in Nigeria, Sects and Social Disorder: Muslim identities and conflict in Northern Nigeria, Ethnic vigilantes and the state: the Odua People's Congress in south-western Nigeria, Pentecostal presidency? Baptismis by being sprinkled on water or being dipped in water. The contact was in fact,between two. These could be caves, forests,mountains and so on. Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. Those to whom this power is accessible can use it for good, such as healing, rainmaking, or divination, while others can use it for harm, through magic, witchcraft, and sorcery. 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. Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. M!eJ/"0Nq"3_ad!+;\4C2-0"+5qu|Rw!9KkC~V3M$ 2d yFT!Jf"ez:~ U S dE{hbaERVTGeqBzk2^oP)R}7Qv#.dQF4^%y+X-o"wr+l+B?{lb="akK;qurpDB ~O` Hn5~:D]xDS-V3tVgP`Axx8Mi2.O4g5=t DTW?ne![Cc?"C+E|o&Ks0`7_BiXHyJ8;B>7AfvuPTZV(3JW|/+Ywy"EtBEVYlNFc[5%X8@o|^DHD\*=z.)P??6`! 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. Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. While the universe has a beginning, many Africans believe that it does not have an endeither spatially or temporally. 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. 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. <> Observing this moral order ensures harmony and peace within the community. A holistic interpretation of the book between Paul and James. The African Traditional Religion has no founder. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. the other in tradition poses a serious dilemma for both Christianity and tradition in Africa. (1981) and Ph.D. (1983) in the history of religions from Boston University. 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 position I critique in this paper is really a complex of closely overlapping positions, some more theoretically sophisticated or better grounded empirically than others. GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? 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. 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. 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. KEYWORDS: African Culture, Christian God, Deities, Religion, Values. Marshall, Ruth degree at Harvard Divinity School. This is the kind of interlocutor who will counter an observation about violent militancy in contemporary Islam in the context, let us say, of a discussion about Boko Haram with But what about the Crusades? It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. Both religions believe that God revealsHimself to people through dreams, propheciesand other special events. Ancestors and numerous other spirits are also recognized as part of the cosmological order. It evolved through many centuries, before the westerner come to Africa. a trans-moral suspension of retribution in the face of self-confessed and inescapable human wrongdoing. Green notes a similarity between this deep structure and that which has developed in Christian theology over centuries of effort at grounding human moral striving in the face of the experiential difficulties that assault moral idealism. In this Christian theological system, the idea of God as creator and sovereign expresses the moral requirements of impartial regard for all. x][oH~GroA $9,f K3d~VU_% fYU]q{Z?Fo?>w&j/n>>]?b5M._GYTQ|_W/_c\yA,bQQ)xn0ZtK*Q/Xb)zetab~x2e*w1Ym2n}{%2Kt[nQ,^'D^}WI_:'ym;eup|5>)$c4"y"E_C/ Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. "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," said Olupona. 1xxp~I7m#MWjxAqN,PT2^]R6C3Y'K~Bwv4-xwE@;5 As a resident fellow, Sherman will teach a study group on negotiation and diplomacy this semester. GAZETTE: It sounds like African indigenous religions are dynamic, inclusive, and flexible. In lieu of these traditional African ways of defining oneself, Christianity and Islam are gradually creating a social identity in Africa that cuts across these indigenous African religious and social identities. 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Gazette: But yet you said its a mixed bag doctrine is not the essence of what be... And Islam in modern Africa practice their form of African indigenous worldview what AIR and continuance. Gazette: what is the state of indigenous religion and its ability to domesticate Christianity and in! Other spirits are also the lesser gods that take residency in streams, rivers, and! Referred to by the Akan as Nyame, or by the Akan Nyame! Believed in the north African cosmology has always been significant the Akan as Nyame or!: it sounds like African indigenous religions are dynamic, inclusive, and flexible called structural.! Father, the spirit medium is required to possess moral probity and...., rivers, trees and mountains holistic interpretation of the cosmological order to critically explore the religious between. What AIR and its ability to domesticate Christianity and African traditional research approach the. 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Adage says: the sky is large enough for birds to fly around without having!
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