Editorial Statement: This essay is a slightly modified excerpt from the section "Evaluating African Traditional Religion: The Descriptive Task" (98-107) in Fr. Commonly, God is believed to dwell in the skies. These act as God’s associates, assistants, and mediators, and they are directly involved in human affairs. Mbiti portrays traditional African religions as essentially monotheistic, despite a plethora of divinities and spirits. 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. 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). Seeing encounters between Christianity and African traditional religions as valuable, rather than hostile, is a complicated process, but Mbiti in the book says it is taking place. The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions.. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural, include belief in a supreme creator, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional African medicine. Belief in the ancestors presents the idea of reciprocity in the African traditional moral world. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. This order, established by God, guides the functioning of the universe, preventing it from falling into chaos; and it ensures the continuance of life and the universe itself. This revision of a standard text ( LJ 7/75) provides an excellent overview of native religion in Africa. This is an explanatory and analytical research based on African traditional religions in terms … As I have discussed elsewhere in Morality Truly Christian, Truly African, for example, some African societies are so conscious of the implications of crossing the line on some ethical matters, like adultery, incest, and murder, that anyone who engages in these acts is considered automatically to be putting the very survival of the community in danger. February 21, 2019. These are the departed, the living and those to be born. Secondly, there is moral and religious order. In this paper I wish to examine the place and the role of women according to African Religion. This happened in the past, and these codes were stipulated, considered sacred and binding, by the community leaders: The moral and religious order in the universe is articulated and expressed in a variety of taboos and customs that prohibit specific actions contravening such order. According to Paul, (2004: 2) ATR is the indigenous religion of the Africans which was handed over from one generation to another by word of mouth until recent attempts at documentation. Africans believe in the existence of a mystical, invisible, hidden, spiritual power in the universe. 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. John Mbiti (1969:75) makes a distinction between two broad categories of spirits, namely, those which were created by God as such, and those which were once human beings. According to Mbiti, Africans came to believe in God by reflecting on their experience and through observation of the created universe. J ohn S. M biti is Professor of Theology and Comparative Religion in Makere University College, Uganda. 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. 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. The Role of Women in African Traditional Religion INTRODUCTION A proverb from Ghana declares that: A woman is a flower in a garden; her husband is the fence around it'." Moral culpability is always on the shoulders of humanity.” The same hierarchy evident in the relationship between God, the ancestors, and humanity is also present in the relationship between the animate and the inanimate world, the former being superior to the latter. 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. 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. 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. Mbiti says that: According to Mbiti, human beings have a privileged position in the universe. An important preoccupation of Mbiti’s work has been to show that knowledge of God and the worship of God have been staples of African life from the earliest times on the continent. It also offers a useful and up-to-date list of books for more advanced reading, questions for ... Read full review. Both faith traditions have established a deep rapport around their fundamental element - God, he writes. On the whole, Mbiti’s African … Unlike Christianity and Islam, African religion does not have a sacred scripture (Mbiti, 1969). “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. sub-saharan Africa is one country with one religious belief and practice. Odozor's Morality Truly Christian, Truly African published by the University of Notre Dame Press. For a long time it will continue to exist; it will not be easily wiped out by these other religions or by secularism.. John S. Mbiti: The Prayers of African Religion, SPCK, London and Orbis Books, New York, 1975, p. 162.. Mbiti, ibid.. Mbiti, op. He was an ordained Anglican priest, and is considered "the father of modern African theology". Human beings are the link between the heavens and the earth, between the visible and the invisible universe. John Mbiti, a prominent Christian theologian from Kenya who helped debunk entrenched ideas that traditional African religions were primitive, giving them … While the universe has a beginning, many Africans believe that it does not have an end—either spatially or temporally. Chilembwe, the Prophet Harris, the Zulu Zionists, or other African transmutations of Christian beliefs and practices. Rent and save from the world's largest eBookstore. Mbiti'1 Undentanrllag or the Arricau View or Time As we present Mbiti's analysis, we must keep in mind that the sort of analysis (systematic, analytical, and categorical) to which Westerners would like to submit the concept being studied is tmknown in traditional Africa. The living are the link between death and life. University of Notre Dame, McGrath Institute for Church Life Written at the lowest reading levels, the 50-page story structure is straightforward and moves the reader through the text quickly and efficiently. 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. 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. These laws are controlled by God directly or indirectly through God’s intermediaries. By Green’s own admission, and as we shall see later, there are as many divergences on the architectonic hinge of these deep structures—God, the human person, and the material world—as there are similarities. In 1900 some 58% of the population adhered to “pure” African Religion. This Ghanaian Adinkra symbol means \"except for God\" and symbolizes the supremacy of God. When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. These intermediary agents include the ancestors, members of the community who at death become idealized. The point can be made then, that a significant symmetr y This article was the last of three lectures delivered at a religious workshop on Religion in Africa Today, held at St. Paul's Theological College, Limuru, Kenya, 13–16 April 1970, and attended by staff from theological colleges in East Africa. This should make it clear why some African intellectuals would question the relevance of Christianity on the continent. In most cases, the earth is conceived as a living thing, a goddess, “Mother Earth.” According to Mbiti, the earth is symbolically viewed as the mother of the universe, while the heavens/sky are seen as its male counterpart. Thus, everything is not completely unpredictable and chaotic because of this order. To understand African tradition, one needs to understand the position of African Traditional Religion on God, the human person, and creation. They can also be “the dead of the tribe, following the order of primogeniture. Islam does not fare any better. It could withstand the high winds and rising water. These act as a link between God and the human community. This controversy and misunderstanding misconception continued until the 1970s and 1980s whensome African indigenous scholars like Bolaji E. Idowu, Mbiti, S. John set out to refute some of the erroneous claims about African traditional religion. “The Spirit medium is in many ways a subordinate agency within the layer of retributive order.” The voice and action of the spirit medium “connect the community with these moral and spiritual entities who help shape human destiny. Awolalu says ancestors…”are the guardians of family affairs, traditions, ethics and activities….They are regarded as presiding spiritually over the welfare of the family.”(Awolalu : … The departed come into the picture because they are the roots on whom the living stand. African traditional religion is another source for African Theology. The ordering of the universe and its continuance depends on God. cit., p. 163.. According to him, the belief in spirits and ancestors is the most important element of African religions. Among the Chewa, according to James Amanze (2002:146) the ancestral spirits not only This is the function of God’s providence and sustenance of the universe. The final aspect of this deep structure of moral reason in African Traditional Religion Green refers to as “morally intentional” trans-moral “safety valves” such as are found in the doctrine of grace or atonement in Weston religions (Christianity) or of liberation from the world of moral causation in Eastern religions. In fact, family is the main theme of these titles. African religion’s behavior is centered mainly on the human person and his or her life in this world, “with the consequence that religion is clearly functional, or a means to serve people to acquire earthly goods (life, health, fecundity, wealth, power and the like) and to maintain social cohesion and order.”. in Africa. Featured Image: Edo people, Queen Mother Pendant mask, circa 16th c.; Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. John Samuel Mbiti was a Kenyan-born Christian religious philosopher and writer. God, the ancestors, and the spirits are all moral powers whose actions affect human life in various ways and to various degrees. Last week, in a veiled comparison between African traditional religions and Christianity, which is the major religion in Jamaica, some of the key elements of African traditional religions were discussed using Kenya-born Professor John S. Mbiti, a well-known scholar and researcher of African religions, as the main reference. It is the religion which resulted from the sustaining faith held by ... 1 J. S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, Heineman, 1969, p.1. he states that for African man no ontological progression is possible beyond the spirit world: " Beyond the state of the spirits, men, cannot go o r develop. This revision of a standard text ( LJ 7/75) provides an excellent overview of native religion in Africa. Professor Mbiti has published over 400 articles, reviews and books on theology, religion, philosophy and literature. The symbol can be found throughout Ghana. “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. He is married to Verena and they have four children: Kyeni, Maria, Esther and Kavata. African Traditional Religion is not essentially idolatrous, ... J. S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, Heineman, 1969, ... which nullifies all dualistic notions, including constructs of self and other. Written expressly for the middle grade struggling reader, the series does not contain strong language, edgy themes, or dysfunctional families. Traditional African medicine is also directly linked to traditional African religions. This is the destiny of man as far as African ontology i s concerned ."' The vibrancy of African Traditional Religion in these two aspects—theological and moral—creates 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 Africa’s pre-Christian past. It is not brought from outside. Mbiti emphasizes that Africans view the universe religiously. African traditional religion The faith in ancestors continued to be practised by many African Christians. Everything is said to center on them. Read, highlight, and take notes, across web, tablet, and phone. And one particular Latino family is the focus with their uncanny knack for finding humor, hope, and colorful personalities--even in unusual circumstances. Thus, for example, older persons not only possess a more powerful vital force but a greater responsibility in society and more intense mystical powers. There is also a mystical order of the universe. Dependence here functions like a two-way street, with the dead needing continued respect from and support by the living, and the living needing at least benign neutrality on the part of the dead. So, basically, to speak of … . This paper discusses the contribution of Professor John S Mbiti to African theology and African Philosophy. Written expressly for the middle grade struggling reader, the series does not contain strong language, edgy themes, or dysfunctional families. 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. . African, religion is literally life and life is religion’ (Mbiti, 1997: 1-2). 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 standing—that 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 person’s 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.”. African Traditional Religion appears to be a self-sufficient system, both from a theological 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. The spiritual medium is the physical embodiment of the religious retributive order in which Africans know themselves to stand.”. Observing this moral order ensures harmony and peace within the community. African Traditional Religion has grown out of the African soil. So, basically, to speak of African tradition is to talk about African Traditional Religion. 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. Green opines that although superficially regarded, this may seem to be a minimal moral relationship—more like a kind of egoism on one side and fearful propitiation on the other—it also shows, however, the profound role that respect for age and for the fulfillment of lineage and familial duties play in this traditional setting. (1). uniform African traditional belief in the spirit world as Salala rightly points out (ibid., 134). Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor, C.S.Sp., is Professor of moral theology, the theology of the world church, and Africana studies at the University of Notre Dame. For a more detailed treatment of this subject of God in Africa, see Mbiti 1982 and 1992. In fact, family is the main theme of these titles. With regard to the issue of offering one’s wife in generosity, this practice, as Laurenti Magesa has shown, applied to a very limited number of African ethnic groups, such as the Masai, and in very tightly controlled situations among friends within the same age group fraternity and on very limited occasions. 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? Thus, it is because of the existence of this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct. 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. All rights reserved. Therefore, the universe has dimensions of order and power as follows: first of all, there is order in the laws of nature. According to Clemmont E. Vontress, the various religious traditions of Africa are united by a basic Animism. 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. This power is not accessible to everyone, and in most cases it is inborn, but the person has to learn how to use it. The fact that there are no written scriptures by the votaries of African traditional religion, does not in any way mean that the concept of the Supreme Being does not exist in their ontology. John Samuel Mbiti was a Kenyan-born Christian philosopher and writer. She knew the old building was the safest place for her family. Mbiti makes this point too when he stresses that “the majority of African peoples believe that God punishes in this life.” Although God is concerned with humanity’s moral life and upholds the moral law, “there is no belief that a person is punished in the hereafter” for his or her wrongdoing in this 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. Second, Africans believe in a moral order given by God, stipulated by the ancestors in the past. However, This is because a myth is a vehicle for conveying a certain fact or a certain basic truth about man’s experiences in his encounter with 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. In this second edition, Dr Mbiti has updated his material to include the involvement of women in religion, and the potential unity to be found in what was once thought to be a mass of quite separate religions. This order, according to Mbiti, is knowable to humans, by nature. Like Ronald Green, Magesa argues that African Traditional Religion is in the background of all African religiosity, both in Christianity and Islam, and supplies the basic attitude or worldview of most African Christians. Like Ronald Green, Magesa argues that African Traditional Religion is in the background of all African religiosity, both in Christianity and Islam, and supplies the basic attitude or worldview of most African Christians. Since God is seen as the Creator, various aspects of the universe are permeated by the sense of the sacred—the religious mentality affects the way people see the universe. Mbiti asserts that the “African religion is a written history in the hearts and experiences of people.” As a result, it is quite difficult to make a comparison between the traditional African religion and the modernized African religion. 4 These traditional reads are brimming with spirited characters and positive values--but with a little extra excitement and bite, so hold on to your hats! Then Ana remembered the old stone church. One scholar who has written extensively on African Traditional Religion is John Mbiti, a Kenyan whom many consider the dean of living African theologians. dation apart, however, Mbiti is quite right when. Their significance lies in the genealogical positions and the rights and duties which derive from them.” Ancestors uphold right conduct by punishing moral violations, demanding respect and attention, and getting angry when not given due respect. Dr. Mbiti states, "as long as African Theology, both oral and written keeps close to the scriptures, it will remain relevant to the life of the church in Africa and will make lasting contributions to the Theology of the Church universal." As judge, God is understood to uphold this standard by ultimately punishing its violations and by rewarding the righteous (usually in some eschatological domain). Inculturation, as we will argue later in Morality Truly Christian, Truly African, sheds the light of the gospel on cultural practices like this one to reveal what is sinful in them and to show that human beings, especially women, in this case, deserve better treatment than this. Philosophy and literature meeting-point for the middle grade struggling reader, the various religious traditions of Africa are united a! And peace within the community who at death become idealized Mbiti says that: according to,. A plethora of divinities and spirits Institute for Church life Church life by! 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Of God’s providence and sustenance of the existence of this order, questions for... read full review in,.
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