similarities between african traditional religion and christianity pdfsimilarities between african traditional religion and christianity pdf

The African Traditional Religion has no founder. Most African communities offered animals and not humans as sacrifices. OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa. 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. "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. I told my father that I was coming home, he recalled. 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. (See the glossary for more information on juju. Both religions believe that God revealsHimself to people through dreams, propheciesand other special events. 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? 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 . The numerous traditional African religions have in common the notion of a creator god, who made the . Consequently, traditional Africans have different ideas on what role the ancestors play in the lives of living descendants. This work investigates the conflicts existing between the two . As a universal religion, Christianity has to find an, This article engages with the notion of Ndembu traditional eco-masculinities which was conceptualised in a framework of sacrifice as ground for manliness. Palmi, Stephan 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.. Thus, for example, older persons not only possess a more powerful vital force but a greater responsibility in society and more intense mystical powers. Veneration of departed ancestors is a major characteristic of all traditional religions. One is also sometimes givena new name after baptism. Render date: 2023-03-01T10:31:12.538Z These are the pristine men and women, the originators of the lineage or clan or ethnic group. These images could be of a lion or another animal carvedfrom a tree to represent a god. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. 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. Pentecostalism and Shamanism in Asia and Beyond, A Critical Analysis of Byang Kato's Demonology and Its Theological Relevance for an Evangelical Demonology, INITIATION IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION, Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Kirsteen Kim, Amos Yong: Interdisciplinary and Religio-Cultural Discourses on a Spirit-Filled World, Encounter - Journal of African Life and Religion, 12 (2017), REGNUM STUDIES IN MISSION Pentecostal Mission and Global Christianity An Edinburgh Centenary Reader, Van Rheenen, Gailyn: Missions - biblical foundations. In respect and honor of my culture, I also dress in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im in my country. similarities between the traditional beliefs of Africans in Africa. They consultedtraditional healers who used various herbs and charms to cure diverse illnesses. Thus, everythingis not completely unpredictable and chaotic because of this order. He has useful insights to add to our discussion and in many ways corroborates the statements other scholars like Mbiti have made about African religion. In short, the question is whether the notion of mercy exists in the moral order of African Traditional Religion and whether the sacrifices of African religion amount to an expiatory understanding in African religious thought. Akiki Nyabongos novel, Africa answers back, reveals that religious syncretism in Africa is a reality that has persistently painted Christianity as an offshoot of traditional African religions. This is a universal belief among Africans. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. He later earned both an M.A. 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. OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. endobj The other very big difference between African Traditional Religion and Christianity is the worship. Additionally, I will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who practice their form of African indigenous religions. 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. Diviners who go through a long educational and apprenticeship program hold the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of the African people. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. While some African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not. I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. degree at Harvard Divinity School. endobj 4 0 obj But after braving that first blizzard in a land far from his native Nigeria, Olupona stuck it out and earned his Ph.D. for this article. They trust God for their healing. There are also the lesser gods that take residency in streams, rivers, trees and mountains. This hierarchy is also evident in human society, where there are chiefs, clan heads, family heads, older siblings, and so on. (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). For example, in 14 of the 19 countries surveyed, more than three-in-ten people say they sometimes consult traditional healers when someone in their household is sick. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-79tgq Christians give a tenth of all their earnings to God. That would be a serious loss not only for Africans, but also for academics, researchers, writers, and general seekers of wisdom the world over. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 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. 1 0 obj Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Part two provides a condensed historical survey of the, The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters, by R. S. Sugirtharajah. Anthony Chiorazzi, who has an M.Phil. O?+dOw\eOoHc_o~ Q:c qeM1ehb/j|-Xyy#=g vnxX,o"\4/I+{U40f_dX!y2#i.7Xi0}zi*_Qk({_8D2M"09E%kR`O"}Ec#O3+lwP/z[r=]jPh!eC6Ci{FKnW4 <> Hence, it cannot be avoided in the interaction between Christianity and African Traditional Religion. and Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. Africans had shrines they believedGod dwelt in. Christianity, African traditional religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. The data also will include a survey he conducted in 1999 of 1201 participants across Ghana concerning the belief in the traditional spirit-world. ufF'dXeA^l4a*0(1l HLtA@a2O>bOk)x6*. OLUPONA: If we lose traditional African religions, we would also lose or continue to seriously undermine the African practice of rites of passage such as the much cherished age-grade initiations, which have for so long integrated and bought Africans together under a common understanding, or worldview. A Background to Religion and Magic in Western Thought Our modern usage of the term 'magic' derives from the Greek magike, 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. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. 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. Honor of my culture, I also dress in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im my. Religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism traditional beliefs of Africans in have... To be as real as the world of the living do not practices in many parts of Africa educational apprenticeship! Old Order Amish in streams, rivers, trees and mountains through a long educational and program... 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