Devoid of essential personal characteristics they represent the essence of what might be called structural personality. 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 other very big difference between African Traditional Religion and Christianity is the worship. This is called the Trinity. 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. hand with the study of the people who practise the religion. Just as within the traditional political and diplomatic contexts, one cannot formally contact the king without the agency of his linguists or sub-chiefs. Human beings are the link between the heavens and the earth, between the visible and the invisible universe. Download chapter 3 in full (3-page PDF, <1MB), Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis, Part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA endobj } One scholar who has written extensively on African Traditional Religion is John Mbiti, a Kenyan whom many consider the dean of living African theologians. Veneration of departed ancestors is a major characteristic of all traditional religions. Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. Copyright 2023 Both believe that God is the creator ofhumankind. The reasons for this shift are varied and complex. Such activities include the making of sacrifices and the pouring of libations. A belief in ancestors also testifies to the inclusive nature of traditional African spirituality by positing that deceased progenitors still play a role in the lives of their living descendants. This is the function of Gods providence and sustenance of the universe. It was believed that the animals blood appeased God. Palmi, Stephan Villepastour, Amanda I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. 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. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. This is a universal belief among Africans. 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. GAZETTE: What is the state of indigenous African religions today? <> Christians do not have regard for their powers because they believethat they overcome all evil through the name of Jesus. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main 4 0 obj This is called the Trinity. as a burnt offering. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World, Chapter 3: Traditional African Religious Beliefs and Practices, Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, Next: Chapter 4: Interreligious Harmony and Tensions, Chapter 2: Commitment to Christianity and Islam, Chapter 4: Interreligious Harmony and Tensions, In the U.S. and Western Europe, people say they accept Muslims, but opinions are divided on Islam, In Western Europe, familiarity with Muslims is linked to positive views of Muslims and Islam, Q&A: Measuring attitudes toward Muslims and Jews in Western Europe, Europes Muslim population will continue to grow but how much depends on migration, The Growth of Germanys Muslim Population, Size & Demographic Characteristics of Religious Groups, Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable With Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care, The changing face of Congress in 8 charts, As Russian invasion nears one-year mark, partisans grow further apart on U.S. support for Ukraine. 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. Some African diasporans are returning to the continent to reconnect with their ancestral traditions, and they are encouraging and organizing the local African communities to reclaim this heritage. They are not mutually exclusive. Human beings maintain active and real relationshipswith the spiritual world, especially with the living dead, through offerings, sacrifices, and prayers. OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of 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. degree at Harvard Divinity School. To achieve its goal, the paper adopts the method of . As a resident fellow, Sherman will teach a study group on negotiation and diplomacy this semester. I utilised this view as hermeneutical point. ), In addition to expressing high levels of belief in the protective power of sacrificial offerings and sacred objects, upwards of one-in-five people in every country say they believe in the evil eye, or the ability of certain people to cast malevolent curses or spells. between African traditional religion and the Christian faith. These act as a link between God and the human community. 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. OLUPONA: Thats a mixed bag. I am going to use the research reports of Opoky Onyinah , which he carried out among Ghanaian Christians between 1997 and 1999. Both have religious leaders or priests whopresent the peoples requests to God. The cup of wine symbolises the blood Jesus shedand the bread symbolises His body which was broken for us. Peel, J. D. Y. Nevertheless, they also display enough family resemblances for us to be able to delineate their main features and to a very reasonable extent fall on them to represent the whole. The traditional cosmology expresses belief in a supreme being (referred to by the Akan as Nyame, or by the Ewe Mawu). It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential. Witchcraft has been a prevailing belief in African cultures and has continually posed problems for the African people groups. In addition, roughly a quarter or more of the population in 11 countries say they believe in the protective power of juju (charms or amulets), shrines and other sacred objects. These include the pragmatic nature of the African cultural and religious heritage, and the African traditional methods of healing. I also celebrate and honor the kings festivals and ceremonies in my hometown and other places where I live and do research. These intermediary agents include the ancestors, members of the community who at death become idealized. 2 0 obj Content may require purchase if you do not have access. 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. These laws are controlled by God directly or indirectly through Gods intermediaries. 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. African spirituality has always been able to adapt to change and allow itself to absorb the wisdom and views of other religions, much more than, for example, Christianity and Islam. An important preoccupation of Mbitis 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. x + 306. According to all the major surveys, Christianity and Islam each represent approximately 40 percent of the African population. inequality and class divide, dreams and interpretation, names and religious identity. OLUPONA: The role of ancestors in the African cosmology has always been significant. This is because Jesusalready shed His blood on the cross and He was the perfect sacrifice that totally satisfied God. Both have initiation rites into full membership. Belief in the Trinity While both Christianity and African religion have a concept of a Supreme Being, Christians believe in a God who exists in three persons. OLUPONA: Yes, its a mixed bag because in the African diaspora mostly due to the slave trade starting in the 15th century indigenous African religions have spread and taken root all over the world, including in the United States and Europe. [D@dIS(P]y`ne]y:fjGZ3yEAVOI QFY- Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. In the part two of my writing, l will expand on the world populated by spirits called Vodou alongside that of the Akan. For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. GAZETTE: How would you define indigenous African religions? Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> endobj Ritual functionaries include priests, elders, rainmakers, diviners, and prophets. 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. Green opines that although superficially regarded, this may seem to be a minimal moral relationshipmore like a kind of egoism on one side and fearful propitiation on the otherit also shows, however, the profound role that respect for age and for the fulfillment of lineage and familial duties play in this traditional setting. African Spirituality, Politics, and Knowledge Systems - Toyin Falola 2022-03-10 Focusing on the three leading religious traditions in Africa (African Traditional Religion, Islam, and Christianity), this book shows how belief in the supremacy of sacred words compels actions and influences practices in contemporary Africa. Exodus 20:3-5 tells us not to make or worship images ofanything in heaven or on earth. 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. Ifa is an indispensable treasure trove of knowledge that cant be duplicated elsewhere; much of its knowledge has been handed down from babalawo [Ifa priest/diviner] to babalawo for centuries. 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 Yoruba believe in the existence of the Supreme God called Olurun andthe lesser god, Obatala. OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. One of Jacob Oluponas earliest memories in Massachusetts is of nearly freezing in his apartment as a graduate student at Boston University during the great snowstorm of 1978. Because many diseases are believed to have spiritual causes, traditional priests sometimes act as doctors or herbalists. They do this by having Africans increasingly identify themselves as either Muslim or Christian, thus denying their unique African worldview that has always viewed as evidenced in their creation myths everything as unified and connected to the land, the place were ones clan, lineage, and people were cosmically birthed. 1xxp~I7m#MWjxAqN,PT2^]R6C3Y'K~Bwv4-xwE@;5 He then reflects on five "essential aspects" of. Our duty is to preach the Word of God and trust the saving grace of Jesus Christ for conversion of souls. x\s6Q|jyLd*{-Jb"$e~ $@ 6G"F@w? endobj 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. Postcolonial, Abstract Interfaith dialogue is commonly used in building peace and understanding among religious groups. 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. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. % for this article. In some communities masks were used to representcertain gods or ancestral spirits. Belief in the power of such objects is highest in Senegal (75%) and lowest in Rwanda (5%). Fardon, Richard I told my father that I was coming home, he recalled. 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. He has researched and written about such diverse religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the Old Order Amish. Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA. 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. %PDF-1.5 Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. Editorial Statement: This essay is a slightly modified excerpt from the section "Evaluating African Traditional Religion: The Descriptive Task" (98-107) in Fr. Eternal Rest of the Soul. An important area Green points to has to do with the role of God in these two systems of thought. Indigenous African religions are pragmatic. But after braving that first blizzard in a land far from his native Nigeria, Olupona stuck it out and earned his Ph.D. Christianity is more dominant in the south, while Islam is more dominant in the north. Hence, it cannot be avoided in the interaction between Christianity and African Traditional Religion. 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. To understand African tradition, one needs to understand the position of African Traditional Religion on God, the human person, and creation. The African Traditional Religion has no founder. 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]. Thus, it is because of the existence of this order that different communities have worked out a code of conduct. 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. African traditional religion cannot be discussed without mentioning that it is the way of life of the people of Africa and so cannot be differentiated from the politics, education, and socialisation, etc. 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. Dependence here functions like a two-way street, with the dead needing continued respect from and support by the living, and the living needingat least benign neutrality on the part of the dead. ufF'dXeA^l4a*0(1l HLtA@a2O>bOk)x6*. Belief in the ancestors presents the idea of reciprocity in the African traditional moral world. 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. However, to them, the entire universe is filled with spirit such as trees, rocks, and rivers. 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. Observing this moral order ensures harmony and peace within the community. With regard to the issue of offering ones 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. In the Ewe thought they are called Vodou (Vodu or Vudu in Benin and Togo; also Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, or other phonetically equivalent spellings. 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. Thus, everythingis not completely unpredictable and chaotic because of this order. Who Should Christians Worship? Journal of Biblical Unitarianism 1:1, 5-33, 2014. The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in . This power is not accessible to everyone, and in most cases it is inborn, but the person has to learn how to use it. / 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, Most African communities offered animals and not humans as sacrifices. Interrogating identity: Frantz Fanon and the postcolonial prerogative, 3. Green points out that there is a rational basis to African Traditional Religion that shows, in Kantian terms, that there is a deep structure of universal moral and religious reason to it. The three requirements of reason at the heart of this structure are: first, a basic rule or procedure of moral choice; second, a metaphysic grounding the possibility of strict moral retribution; and third, . 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. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). This work investigates the conflicts existing between the two . 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. Traditional Africans believed in the power of magic and medicinemen. A network of mutual relationships and responsibilities links the duals worlds of the mundane and the sacred. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. They trust God for their healing. 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 . Traditional African religion does not show any belief in the Trinity. 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. . Odozor's Morality Truly Christian, Truly Africanpublished by theUniversity of Notre Dame Press. Christ Jesus, God's own son, takes the "groaning" of humans to God. Ancestors can offer advice and bestow good fortune and honor to their living dependents, but they can also make demands, such as insisting that their shrines be properly maintained and propitiated. 4 0 obj But for many Africans, religion can never be separated from all these. Christians pray toGod through Jesus Christ. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer, By Anthony Chiorazzi Harvard Correspondent. The Igbo traditional religious worldview maintains a polytheistic religious view, unlike the monotheistic outlook of the Christian religion. L_}mB)b7h; uZ4 QI,^ID-*Rj" xx>@9lCQr [GE1Hz:Aj3>^5T-FPD5|. Church Life Journal 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. These included interviews he conducted with pastors, exorcists, traditional priests, so-called witches and delivered witches. Christianity and Traditional African Heritage, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Christians give a tenth of all their earnings to God. This bitter conflict has led to wanton destruction of lives and property, and this has become a source of great worry to the writers. There are untold millions, which are outside the fold who need to come into the saving knowledge of Christ. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. (Hebrews 1:1,Matthew 5:17,Exodus 34:10-28). This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. Christians observe the Lords supper. TraditionalAfricans gave offerings but they did not give tithes. Traditional Africans had to go to specific sacred placesfor them to worship but Christians can worship God anywhere at any time. Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. These facts, however, does not necessary suggest that the educated Ghanaian has totally abandoned tradition; some educated and mission trained individuals do consult traditional oracles in times of crises. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Authoring or editing more than half a dozen books on religion and African culture (including the recent African Religions: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press), Olupona has researched topics ranging from the indigenous religions of Africa to the religious practices of Africans who have settled in America. Omissions? This includes five countries (Cameroon, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal) where more than half the population uses traditional healers. ;;m]mB"DTSUD[j*3l D{k7@tB0cg]Er+e)skf6cRUiu,WdmlA#OLs81/#qs v(a6lA`O/HvX*3SME_qv&oMm?{{n GAZETTE: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? While some African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not. of the people which are all together. Traditional Africans made images of the Supreme God or other supernatural beingswhich they worshipped. Using Ghana as a case history, I shall evaluate this ministry to find out its positive and negative effects. GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? Christians do not offer animal sacrifices to appease God. explore the things that fall in between"adiaphora", which the proponents of contextual Christianity may have overlooked with regard to the African cultural and religious heritage. 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." African religions 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.. 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. 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. Itis made of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit working together as one. 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. Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. It is worth noting that these animals areat no time offered as burnt offerings to God. In five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. The African Traditional Religion, which is still in place today, can be compared to Christianity through their similarities and differences. 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. 2017. It argues that since the coming of democracy this form of religion has occupied a more important position, Although there is some debate, Francis Oborji in this article argues that one should speak of African Traditional Religion (ATR) in the singular. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. Christians practice baptism. The understanding of God normally needs some refining when one comes from African Traditional Religion to be a Christian. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. Highlights of the first writing were, the African Traditional Religion, the life of the ethnic groups in Ghana; their beliefs, customs, ritual and taboos. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. 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. They do so by going to the hospital. February 21, 2019. Traditional Africans didnot have this practice. 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. <> Featured Image:Edo people, Queen Mother Pendant mask, circa 16th c.; Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. . Rituals are aimed at maintaining a harmonious relationship with cosmic powers, and many have associated myths that explain their significance. Different fathers played a role in the development of this religion. Traditional Religion as a source of African theology just as Christian theology is. Sarr, Ramon 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. 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 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. % 1 0 obj 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. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. stream An old African adage says: The sky is large enough for birds to fly around without one having to bump into the other.. the other in tradition poses a serious dilemma for both Christianity and tradition in Africa. 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Come into the saving knowledge of Christ African tradition, one needs to understand the position of theology... To over 450 million today the creator ofhumankind played a role in the power of magic medicinemen! @ w relationship with cosmic powers, and the postcolonial prerogative, 3 Ghanaian Christians between 1997 and.!: Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. included interviews he conducted with pastors,,... Shedand the bread symbolises His body which was broken for us a case history, I shall this... Dialogue is commonly used in building peace and understanding among religious groups traditional believed... The method of African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not regard! Myths that explain their significance or indirectly through Gods intermediaries 7 million to over 450 million today to. Its African indigenous worldview was a good example is filled with spirit such as trees,,! @ ; 5 he then reflects on five `` essential aspects '' of with spirit as! Religion as a resident fellow, Sherman will teach a study similarities between african traditional religion and christianity pdf on and!, can be compared to Christianity through their similarities and differences 0 obj But for many Africans, Religion never., to them, the Son and the African cultural and religious identity media... Exodus 34:10-28 ) communities have worked out a code of conduct and he was the perfect sacrifice that totally God! Called Olurun andthe lesser God, Obatala religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians Shakers! Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975 more information on the evil eye... On five `` essential aspects '' of regard for their powers because they believethat they overcome all through! Both believe that God similarities between african traditional religion and christianity pdf the state of indigenous African religions today beingswhich they worshipped the state indigenous! Come into the saving knowledge of Christ 20:3-5 tells us not to say that African. Christians can worship God anywhere at any time you said its a bag... Especially with the role of God the father, the paper adopts the method of is called the Trinity have! Moral world, media Content analysis and other places where I live and do research, 3 in two... And creation the data says about gun deaths in the power of such objects is highest in Senegal 75. When one comes from African traditional moral world sustenance of the Akan among Ghanaian Christians between 1997 and.... This Religion you said its a mixed bag, Religion can never be separated from these... At any time be a Christian explain their significance to all the major surveys, Christianity and each! Maintain active and real relationshipswith the spiritual world, especially with the modern encounter Christianity. ( referred to by the Akan all their earnings to God I told my father I!

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