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African traditional religion pdf
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What is religion? According to (Muzorewa), “Religion is a set of beliefs in a higher being, God, or Gods or higher principle.” All religions come with characteristics such as a set of doctrines, rituals to celebrate certain occasions, sacred literature, and concern for life-after death. African Traditional Religion, or ATR for short, is the world’s oldest religion. African Traditional Religion originated on the continent of Africa because Africa was the only location for human beings to live comfortably during that era. African Traditional Religion has approximately one hundred million supporters. The phrase ‘traditional’ stems from the word “tradition” which is simply defined as long established or “doing” (Muzorewa). Judaism is one of the …show more content…
Jews have specific dietary laws, which allow them on only eat kosher foods that were properly cleaned and prepared (Rich). The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast, African Traditional Religion to Judaism. Being the oldest religion in Africa, African Traditional Religion is a very spirited religion. The supporters of African Traditional Religion believe there is no founding prophet, God revealed himself to his people. The central belief of African Traditional Religion is monotheism, the belief in one God. The Africans believe that God consist of three attributes: God is self-existent, God is merciful and God is everlasting (Muzorewa). “ATR has no sacred writings” (Nnyombi) all sacred teachings are …show more content…
The father of Judaism is Abraham; believed to be called by God. The central belief amongst Jews is also monotheism. Jews believe that God assigned them to be “his chosen people in order to set an example of holiness and ethical behavior to the world” (“Judaism: Jewish Beliefs”). Judaism is a theocratic religion, a system of government ruled by God. To date, there are approximately 14 million Jews around the world. The Holy Scriptures can be found in the Tanakh. The Tanakh consists of the three sections: Pentateuch, which is the five books of Moses – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, The Prophets and The Writings (Muzorewa). The Decalogue, also known as The Ten Commandments of Judaism are: worship one God, do not worship idols, do not use God’s name in vain, remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy, honor your father and your mother, do not commit murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie and do not covet. The primary beliefs of Judaism are: faith pervades all angles of life, religion, history, culture and politics are combined as one and praying, trusting and being faithful leads to holiness. According to (Rich), “Kashrut is the body of Jewish law dealing with what foods we can and cannot eat and how those foods must be prepared and eaten.” This law lists foods that are “kosher”, which means fit or proper for Jews to eat. Passover is a weeklong memorial holiday in
As Judaism has evolved, so has their view on God. Throughout the evolution, their monotheistic belief has remained; believing in one unknowable, universal and imageless being that demands love and justice from its human followers.
To begin, most Africans have come from societies with traditional African religious backgrounds unrelated to Islam or Christianity. As a whole, African religious traditions combine belief in a Supreme Being with the worship of other gods and ancestors and use ritual and magic to mediate between human beings, nature, and the gods. In many African languages, there is no word for God, because in their tradition every thing and place embodies God. Many African religions have common tenets. They share a belief in a community of deities, the idea that ancestors serve as a way to communicate with these deities. They also share the belief...
Religion is “the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship.” (Cambridge Dictionary) Many people believe in something else out of the evidential or scientific view, thinking that good things happen because God says so, or that the universe was not made by the Big Bang. Even though is something that was more present in history years ago, a lot of people still believe and practise a religion. According to Stephen Juan there are about 4,300 religions in the world. About a 75 per cent of the population of the world practises a religion and the two religions most widely spread are the Christianity and the Islam. (2006) They can be divided in believers, adherents or not adherents, agnostics and atheists. People who are believers are the ones who have faith in something great beyond and
Judaism is a religion with an excess of 13 million believers located mainly within the United States and Israel. Of all the religions practiced today, Judaism is one of the oldest. The roots of Judaism can be traced back over 3500 years to the Middle East with a lineage that descends from Abraham as a patriarch. With Abraham as a common ancestor, Judaism is considered one of the Abrahamic faiths alongside Christianity and Islam. The historical events within the Bible of Judaism’s past, all the way back to Abraham, have molded the beliefs and traditions practiced by Jewish adherents today.
Judaism, the religion of the Jews, is one of the oldest religions in the world. Judaism, in fact, is the oldest of the three major religions that believe in a single God. The other two, Christianity and Islam, have been strongly influenced by Judaism, which is a big part of western civilization today. In the beginning, Jews were a tribe, a band of nomads, more than likely shepherds that may have died out if they would have remained merely shepherds. Jews were one of many “nations” to be found in the ancient Near East.
The African empires, kingdoms, and cities had many achievements before the arrival of the Europeans. Some of these achievements had influences many other places in the world. Three major achievements were the trading systems, their military forces and strengths of its people, and the wealth and success.
Judaism, which originated in the middle east, is one of the oldest religions in the world. Judaism is the religion from where Catholicism and Islam have their roots. The main difference between Judaism and the previously mentioned religions is that Judaism is based on the old testament entirely excluding the new testaments in its teachings. Jews believe that they are the people chosen by God and that because of the covenant they have the duty, more than any other group of people, to keep the law of God. The law of God in Judaism comes in the form of the Torah. The books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, which are said to have been written by Moses, form the Torah.
Religion has existed since the dawn of civilization and over time has evolved into the religions we have today. Today the most prominent religions are monotheistic, having one omnipotent god, and despite having many differences they share basic tenets of respect and kindness. Religions, such as Judaism, give explanations for the unknown, provide hope, and bring about a sense of community.
Religion is the basic belief in a set of rules on how to live, generally accompanied by a belief and worship of a superhuman being with supernatural powers. There are many religions that have been picked up throughout the world. Most of these religions rise from some basic religions that have relationships with the belief. Some of the most known religions are Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism among many others. Hinduism is a polytheistic religion and is India's main religion. Unlike many religions Confucianism does not have a higher power they worship, instead, it is an ethical system of philosophical teachings founded by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher and then developed by Mencius (Doniger, 2009).
Traditions are practices/beliefs that are passed down from generation to generation. In traditional African societies, a kinship ties people through birth or marriage. There are two kinds of relationships in customary African tradition; those bound by blood, which are called consanguine, and those constructed by marriage, called affilial. There are four key descents that determine inheritance and marriage. However, the most common descent is patrilineal, which traces ancestry through one's father. While in America, we are vary tolerant of tracing our descent from both parents.
The spread of Islam in Africa had taken course from a number of factors, including external and internal forces. After my analyzing of the spread of Islam in Africa, I have gather three main themes that stuck out during the expansion of Islam: Islam and trade, the conversion conditions of Islam, and the economics/political development involving Islam. These three themes provide great insight on how Islam started to spread through out Africa. Through trade the culture and religion of Islam was spread to many different areas. This correlates to the conversion of different people, which helped spread Islam. By these conversions Islam was able to establish Islamic states, which played a factor in the development of strong economic and political
Judaism is a monotheistic religion. According to Wikipedia, G-d gives the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai (“Torah” 1). The Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible. The entire Torah is not written down; some Jews believe
Judaism is one of monotheistic faiths and is considered by Jews as the oldest religion as it gave birth to Christianity and Islam. These three religions follow the teachings of Abraham and Sarah, and their offspring. However, Judaism differs from Islam since their holy scripture, called the Tanakh features 24 books, most of them similar to the books of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Judaist teachings are based on the Tanakh and Pentateuch. The Jewish house of worship is called the Synagogue. Alike Islam, Abraham and Sarah are seen as the early saints however, Islam’s religious teachings are mostly from people that came from the line of Ishmael and not Isaac.
According to the definition found in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary states that religion is the belief in a god or in a group of gods: an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods or an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group.
Kaduna: Baraka Press, 2004. Magesa, Laurenti. A. African Religion: The Moral Tradition of Abundant Life. Nairobi: Pauline Pub., Africa, 1998. Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion.