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.
In a number of African Traditional Religions there exists a varying sense of morality. In Mama Lola author Karen McKarthy Brown states that Vodou morality is a “survival ethic.” Brown goes further and states that morality in Vodou is tailored to the situation and to the specific person or group involved. Brown elaborates by stating that Each spirit has a moral pull, but no one spirit prevails in every situation (Brown pg.242). One of Brown's best explanations of why this is so is because there is no Golden age in the past and no heaven in the future so nothing is valued higher than survival of oneself and the survival of one's group. (Brown pg.242). Furthermore, Vodou is not a religion that promises a dues ex machina (a god that appears and solves a problem). (Brown pg.242). On the other hand, what Vodou does offer is empowerment to fix or do whatever a person wants and allows them to do it for themselves (Brown pg.242). An example of this tailored morality and survival method for women is when they are pregnant, the naming of a father for their child is a part of their strategy (Brown pg.243). Due to Vodou being a religion of survival, it counsels what it must to ensure survival (Brown pg.254). The downside to this lifestyle Brown shares is that it can become brittle and threatened by inner rage (Brown pg.257).
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.
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...
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.
Although, the Civil war brought about change for Africans, along with this change it brought heart ache, despair and restriction of worship to the African...
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
During the Western Imperialism era there were many changes made in Africa. One of the major changes that took place was that of religion. Most of the African tribes had their own religion and it was most of the time, polytheistic, with many Gods. When the Europeans came to these villages they brought the religi...
Five myths from throughout Africa will be mentioned throughout this essay. They are from the Boshongo, Mande, Shilluk, Egyptian, and Yoruba peoples. For a brief description of these myths please see the appendix. Please remember that these myths do not represent the beliefs and stories of all of Africa.
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.
Along with the belief in a Higher Power comes the belief in the continued existence of the soul after physical death. Many Root-Workers start out working with spirits of the dead in the form of the Ancestors, the spirits of the dead connected to them by blood. It is believed that the dead don’t die, but rather ascend to another level of being, from which they can look on and assist us. From this higher level, the Ancestors can guide us in our daily lives, intercede with the Godhead on our behalf and protect us in times of
The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe details the account of an African tribal named Okonkwo as his life goes from great to horrible. While this book has many lessons that can be learned, I will be primarily focusing on the effect that Christianity had on the population of the African tribe. While Christianity is a religion of peace, its followers often do not follow this basic tenant. The first missionary, Mr. Brown, practiced compromise and tolerance. His replacement, Mr. Smith, was much more aggressive in his tactics. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe shows through the characterization of Mr. Smith a shameful and harmful look at the spread of Christianity during the British empirical period.
Religion and the Igbo People The Igbo are a profoundly religious people who believe in a benevolent creator, usually known as Chukwu, who created the visible universe (uwa). Opposing this force for good is agbara, meaning spirit or supernatural being. In some situations people are referred to as agbara in describing an almost impossible feat performed by them. In a common phrase the igbo people will say Bekee wu agbara.
Magesa, Laurenti. African Religion: The Moral Tradition of Abundant Life. Nairobi: Pauline Pub., Africa, 1998.