In many societies, religious beliefs are the foundation that serves as the guide for how people should live their lives. At the core of most religious beliefs is the belief in God as the Creator of mankind. The religion of Christianity is one in which Christians believe in God as the heavenly father and Jesus Christ as his son and savior. Africa religions encompass a wide variety of traditional beliefs. This religious group shares many of the same aspects of Christianity. However, there are also some customs and principles that are in stark contrast to Christian beliefs. Although African religious customs are sometimes shared by many local societies, they are usually unique to specific populations or geographic regions.
One of the main tenets of both African religions and Christianity is the view of God as omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Throughout the article, Mbiti demonstrates the many similarities between African religions and Christianity. He asserts that numerous African cultures have special names that are referenced to describe God. Different tribes use names such as “the Wise One”, “the Watcher of everything”, “He Who is everywhere”, “the All-powerful”, and “the Almighty” which are also qualities that Christians use to describe their God. It is generally conceived that both the God of African religions and the God of Christianity is one of Spirit and one who has created the universe. The concept of God as the Creator is depicted in the Bible in Genesis: Chapter 1, verses 1 and 3, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” This concept is also depicted in the African tribe of The Akan. Their title for God, Borebore, means “Excavator, He...
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...ing issues about Africa and its religious life. The main misinterpretation when it comes to Africa and their religion is that all Africans worship idols and small deities. That delusion is suppressed in the article
We know that Africans strongly believed in the living dead and how influential spirits can be on daily life. That’s why they have a great esteem for their ancestors. Ancestors are still remembered by their families, they can contact the living, shelter them from misfortune, and help them as intermediaries to God. In a sense, people don’t worship their ancestors, but they are asking for their help. The living dead can be readily involved in the lives of the living. The living-dead are the medium between man and God, and between man and the spirits. Human beings keep the relationship flowing through libation, offerings, prayers, and the through proper rites.
Yahweh, B. L. (2013). Jewish and african affairs. In B. Yahweh (Ed.), Jews and the African
Fiero, Gloria K. "Africa: Gods, Rulers, and the Social Order." The Humanistic Tradition. 6th ed.
Throughout history, the rise and fall of empires in Europe had become so prevalent that it was hardly a surprise anymore. There were a great deal of changes in rulers, land ownership, and religion in all the areas of Europe. The area that I plan to focus on is Afro-Eurasia between the times of 300-600 CE. During this time, new borders were made, religions were traded from area to area, and new empires came to be.
The terms voodoo, hoodoo, black magic and conjure arouse different ideas and interpretations such as fear, fascination, or repugnance. For some, the image of voodoo dolls, which are used to bring pain to the one’s enemy are associated with these words. Others might consider curses and spells used for evil intentions to be at the heart of voodoo. A more innocent notion of voodoo encompasses the idea that it is to be used for the communal good. All of these ideas came together and merged with Christian and Catholic beliefs after Africans were transported to the Americas and subjected to unimaginable horrors as slaves. Many historians define voodoo as “a syncretism between the African religion Vodu and Catholicism.” Voodoo is an entirely new creation, which was born as the African slaves were confronted with New World religions. These new ideas were “camouflaged as European saints, the Orisha divinities continued to be invoked, fed, and celebrated by their transplanted New World devotees, who in turn expected protection and assistance from their ancient spiritual guardian.” In some cases, slaves used the culturally accepted Catholic saints as a cover for their ancestral beliefs which were often seen as foolish and heretical by their masters. This new belief system “met new world needs that the settled and passive African modes could not match.” Voodoo held an important part in many slaves’ lives as remnants of their African beliefs evolved into a meaningful and powerful force. Voodoo was an essential element of survival for many slaves because it helped them cope psychologically with the physical torment they endured, it gave them a sense of power in impossibly difficult situations, and it served as a unifying force.
Religion was and remains a vital part of the lives of most Africans. For some it encompassed their entire existence. It substantiated and explained their place in the universe, their culture, and their relationship to nature and humankind. It also dictated their roles in the community and society at large. Religion among most African ethnic groups was not simply a faith or worship system, it was a way of life, a system of social control, a provider of medicine, and an organizing mechanism.
The afterlife can be described as the belief that an essential part of an individual's identity or the stream of any consciousness continues to show after the death of the physical body. In African culture and religion, life does not end with death, but it continues in another realm. The concepts of "life" and "death" are not mutually unique concepts, and there are no clear dividing lines between the two. Death does not end the life or change the personality of that individual, but it does cause a change in its conditions. This is expressed in the concept of the term ancestors. Ancestors are people who have died but who continue to live in the community and communicate with their families in reference to many African cultures. Death is usually
The novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe highlights the many important historical events that happened during the period of colonialism, spread of religious fervor to Africa from Europe, and the importance of the native religion among African societies. Achebe shows that religion holds a major influence in many African societies and influences the daily life of the natives. Furthermore, the novel introduces a major event that happen during pre-colonial Africa, the spread of the Christian faith, which forever changed and affected the natives in Africa, more specifically the Igbo society located in Nigeria. Things Fall Apart vividly describes and explains how the Christian faith that arrived in Africa changed both the individuals in the Umoufia and society. To add on, the novel shows how the spread of Christianity ultimately leads to the destruction of the many native African cultures, and shows what redeeming qualities that arise from the destruction of their culture. Achebe describes how the Christian faith acts as a guide to the Igbo society and at the same time acts as the inevitable downfall of the Igbo society.
The African idea of the High God per Hopfe states that “there is a supreme High God who created the world and then withdrew from active participation.” (Hopfe, page 51, 20007), as well as that “there is a common belief that beyond all of the minor gods, goodness, spirits, and ancestors there is only one God who created and in some sense still governs the world.” African religions are generally considered polytheistic. In addition, it is also believed that this High God resides in a distant place and only returns when in time of need. Meanwhile the High God is so distant Hopfe states that the High Good is “too great to pay attention to prayers and petitions of human beings.” (Hopfe, pg. 53, 2007), therefore they rather pray to lesser spirits and ancestors.
Nnolim, Charles E. "The Missionaries." Approaches To the African People: Essays in Analysis. London: Saros International, 1992.
A common aspect of African culture is our mediating of deities, ancestors, and spirits, by performing rituals and contacting ancestors or historical ideals. This spiritual combination creates a non-Western idea of movement in art. I enjoy this part of our culture, where we create a less static environment. We become other beings, through our usage of art, dance, and costume with mask and headwear. Our artistic creators are forgotten. Our original artwork are eventually forgotten. The work goes back to the Earth, for the only true matter is how the spirits are manifested in the objects at the current time; eventually even this wears out. At the time of the spiritual manifestation in the objects, they are some of the most powerful aspects in our society.
In conclusion, it is clear that the coming of Christianity to Africa was not greeted with open arms. While it granted Africans the chance to acquire new teachings, it also insinuated itself within politics, family, and traditions, utterly destroying them from the inside out. Having been detailed within novels by Achebe, Oyono, and Thiong’o, it is easy to see how these “pacifying” roles eventually led to a total conquest for all of Africa.
Shawn Mark. The Kingdom of God in Africa:: A Short History of Africa Christianity,(Grand Rapids: Baker
What is Christianity all about? What are the basic beliefs of Christianity and how did it begin? According to (AllAboutReligion, 2010),” Christianity began about 2000 years ago in Judea, [presently known today as Israel] with Jesus Christ and His faithful group of disciples”. This paper will address the viewpoint of the Christian faith and its outcome. The central message of Christianity is based upon the teachings of Jesus and his promises. Christianity teaches that there is merely one God in all existence and that God created the universe. It also teaches that Jesus is the only way to be set free from the coming judgment of God and that Jesus desires his values and his standards to abound. Moreover, Christianity is the only religion that offers a savior. Religion has been in every culture since the beginning of human society and there are many religions competing for the heart of humanity throughout the world at large.The following characterizations are based on the Christian faith: redemption, covenant and grace. Although Christianity is a matter of choice for the human race, what type of influence did it have on the China, Africa, and Rome inhabitants?
In worship and sacrifice there is co-responsibility. Each person contributes his share in a spirit of participation. Symbols bridge the spheres of the sacred and secular and so make possible a balanced and unified view of reality. An important part of the African traditional religion is the presence of spirits. The Spiritual Sphere In the African world spirits are everywhere in persons, trees, rivers, animals, rocks, mountains, automobiles and other personal effects.
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.