The ordering of the universe and its continuance depends on God. A third scholar of interest to us here is Laurenti Magesa, the central thesis of whose book on African religion is captured quite succinctly in the subtitle: African religion constitutes a tradition of abundant life. 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. Pp. These included interviews he conducted with pastors, exorcists, traditional priests, so-called witches and delivered witches. Witchcraft was also feared and witchdoctors were respected as they had power tocurse, make people get sick or end their life. <> 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. Most African communities offered animals and not humans as sacrifices. endobj 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. Total loading time: 0 Both have places of worship. 2017. Taboos and customs cover all aspects of human life: words, foods, dress, relations among people, marriage, burial, work, and so forth: A part of this belief in the moral and religious order is belief in the invisible universe, which consists of divinities, spirits, and the ancestors (the living dead). This is called a tithe. To achieve its goal, the paper adopts the method of . Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. OLUPONA: I was raised in Africa during the 1960s, when the Yoruba community never asked you to chose between your personal faith and your collective African identity. Christ was tempted in all the ways This is a universal belief among Africans. Traditional theologians explained that one could not worship the Supreme Being formally, without the agency of the divinities or ancestors. 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. [D@dIS(P]y`ne]y:fjGZ3yEAVOI QFY- The . (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). TraditionalAfricans gave offerings but they did not give tithes. Pratten, David 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. OLUPONA: Your question underscores an important facet about African spirituality: It is not a closed theological system. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). 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. 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. Both believe that God is the creator ofhumankind. Witchcraft has been a prevailing belief in African cultures and has continually posed problems for the African people groups. The introduced religions of Islam (in northern Africa) and Christianity (in southern Africa) are now the continents major religions, but traditional religions still play an important role, especially in the interior of sub-Saharan Africa. Second, Africans believe in a moral order given by God, stipulated by the ancestors in the past. 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. by Richard Chowning [ ATR Topics Page | Africa Missions Research and Strategy Page | Africa Missions Main Page | Help ] [ QuickStart ] Creator God The supreme being in most African Traditional Religions is seen as the creator of humans and all other living things. Eternal Rest of the Soul. A sacrifice refers to an animal that is offered to God, e.g. The award allows Olupona a year of study and research in Germany; he is on leave this year (201516). While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The amount of devotees to indigenous practices has dwindled as Islam and Christianity have both spread and gained influence throughout the continent. 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. 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]. 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. There are also the lesser gods that take residency in streams, rivers, trees and mountains. These laws are controlled by God directly or indirectly through Gods intermediaries. These images could be of a lion or another animal carvedfrom a tree to represent a god. That testifies to the enduring power of indigenous religion and its ability to domesticate Christianity and Islam in modern Africa. GAZETTE: How have ancestors played a role in traditional societies? He later earned both an M.A. 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. The numerous traditional African religions have in common the notion of a creator god, who made the . the other in tradition poses a serious dilemma for both Christianity and tradition in Africa. 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 Christian idea of church has similarities with African traditional life in which brotherhood and the extended family play a central role. Some of these myths explain the origin of the universe, the nature of the relationship between creation (including humanity) and God, and the source and cause of the human predicament and of evil in general; they also provide a synopsis of the forces comprising the African moral conception of the universe. Religious rituals provide ameans by which the community seeks redress and repairs wrongs that have been committed and that call down calamities and afflictions from spiritual beingsall this to restore the status quo ante or even to maintain the existing good status quo that society or an individual may be enjoying., In the hierarchically ordered world of African Traditional Religion, God is the ancestor, par excellence. 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. <> These act as Gods associates, assistants, and mediators, and they are directly involved in human affairs. 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. This leads him into the whole area of theology of religions, in which the relationship between Christianity and other religions is currently the focus of lively debate. These intermediary agents include the ancestors, members of the community who at death become idealized. And if these shrines are not properly cared for by the designated descendant, then misfortune in the form of illness might befall the caretaker. Some of these African diaspora religions include Cuban Regla de Ocha, Haitian Vodou, and Brazilian Candomble. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-79tgq 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. It evolved through many centuries, before the westerner come to Africa. Christians acknowledge the existenceof magic and witchcraft. While the universe has a beginning, many Africans believe that it does not have an endeither spatially or temporally. A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life, by Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor He is not only the covenant giver He gives the power to keep the covenant. GAZETTE: What is the state of indigenous African religions today? 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. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. KEYWORDS: African Culture, Christian God, Deities, Religion, Values. The reasons for this shift are varied and complex. They consultedtraditional healers who used various herbs and charms to cure diverse illnesses. A follower of African diaspora religions has many choices in terms of seeking spiritual help or succor. 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