connotes some element of primitiveness, I have nevertheless used it in this essay for lack of a better term. Before religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism permeated African societies, African people had an awareness and acknowledgement of a god, a supreme being, greater than all things. Another rite of passage of course is death itself, and so when a person dies, there are certain rituals that are performed that will carefully convey this person into the unseen world and to the world of the spirit world, and there’s all kinds of elaborate funeral preparations that are often done in African societies. The term “juju” comes from a French word which is used for a child’s toy doll. This is another real difference between African society and western culture. Essentials of African Traditional Religions, by Dr. Timothy Tennent, Lecture 1: Introduction to African Traditional Religion, Lecture 2: African Traditional Religion in Practice, Lecture 3: Tier 3: The Role of Ancestors in Yoruba Cosmology, Lecture 4: Christian Interaction with ATR, Essentials of African Traditional Relgions, Introduction to African Traditional Religion. And this allows us to look at it as a structure, and then the particulars can be filled in based on where you are and what you’re looking at. Naming West African Religion. The traditional African religions or traditional beliefs and practices of African people are a set of highly diverse beliefs that includes various ethnic religions. 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. He said “Africans combine a belief in the existence of an omnipotent and omnipresent supreme god, with multitudes of subordinate deities.” So here you have the fact that we just simply cannot easily summarize African religion with a single term like “animism” or “animistic” or “primal” or “fetishism” or whatever. Most converts from Africa are from it: for the rest it has not much to offer. Anthropologists actually contributed to this as well, and oftentimes wrote denigrating studies of these early religious encounters which helped to create false impressions. The people were born, nurtured and they grew in it. African religions, religious beliefs and practices of the peoples of Africa.It should be noted that any attempt to generalize about the nature of “African religions” risks wrongly implying that there is homogeneity among all African cultures.In fact, Africa is a vast continent encompassing both geographic variation and tremendous cultural diversity. The original religions of Africa “are not static”; according to Mayo, “contacts with Christian and Islamic traditions have brought about transformations and syncretism of all three” a perfect example of the triple heritage of Africa… ], where he talks about what he calls “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle” . Thirdly and finally (and these are just some general observations about the different cosmologies), Africans believe that the world was created in a spiritual harmony or equilibrium between all the forms of creation and the sources of power. In other words, it’s like a mirror that gives us a reflection into what’s beyond the wall. Traditional African religion is very popular and arrived here with our North and West African ancestors. Journal description. Elements of African Traditional Religion A Textbook for Students of Comparative Religion by Elia Shabani Mligo and Publisher Resource Publications. This is part of the essential nature of God.". The purpose of this study was to critically examine three different approaches to educational provision in Zimbabwe during the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods. Animism comes from the Latin word anima, which means “soul”, and Tyler maintained that belief in spiritual beings or souls was the root of all African religious faith. Camas, WA 98607 Veneration of ancestors plays a central role in Ijaw traditional religion, while water spirits, known as Owuamapu, figure prominently in the Ijaw pantheon. Traditional/Indigenous African religions are the traditional beliefs and practices of African people including the various traditional religions and customs. It is a tolerant, accommodative and peaceful religion that … But what is the nature of that supreme being who is so near (immanent) and so far away (transcendental) from the realities of traditional African peoples? Africa is a massive continent with diverse religious traditions, to the extent that within the same tradition there have been variations. AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION Religion is a difficult subject to inquiry including attempts at definition and conception. From the viewpoint of cultural content, these religions represent the most extensive blend of African and European traditions and ritual… It’s filled with dramatic geographic differences and cultural diversity. Alchemists eventually associated four triangular symbols to represent these elements. Africa’s a very large and diverse continent; it’s even larger than North America or Australia. There are more than 200 distinct indigenous societies, all with different languages and economic systems and cultures, all very unique. So others have suggested terms like “animism”. African Traditional Religions are still practiced today, along with Christianity and Islam. In this work we shall look at these five elements as the philosophical foundation of African Traditional Religion. 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. He calls this the flaw of the excluded middle. African arts and religious meaning overlap in visual symbols, music, dance, proverbs, riddles, names of people and places, myths, legends, beliefs, and customs. So another term that’s often used in African religion is the term “totem” – you’ve often heard of totem poles and totem links that are used in native traditional cultures. Mbiti says, "So God confronts men as the mysterious and incomprehensible, as indescribable and beyond human vocabulary. 523 NE Everett St And it’s fundamental to understand African religions to see that you don’t have the basic western approach which is: Christianity explains that which we cannot see. African traditional religious system has the following components: A. Foundational Religious Beliefs. Later, a well-known writer named Percy Talbot, who wrote in the 60’s a classic multi-volume work entitled The Peoples of Southern Nigeria, refused to characterize African religion with any one word. Normally, when you are born, that is considered a rite of passage, and there are certain kinds of religious activities and rituals and magic chants and various things that are done at the time of birth to protect the child from spiritual danger. Africans are notoriously religious in the sense that all levels of life are filled with religion. And then that shades down once again into various functionaries – mediators, priests, and so forth, herbalists, that mediate this power. As you can see from some of the early reports of Africa, African religion was simply not taken seriously, or it was dismissed wholesale as crude idolatry. African American religions can be studied analytically and historically. connotes some element of primitiveness, I have nevertheless used it in this essay for lack of a better term. So these are real differences, where thankfully we’ve had some correctives in Pentecostals and other more recent Christian groups that have tried to bring in a larger world-view. It is embraced by Africans within and outside the continent despite the various ethnic religious practices and beliefs. But in this case, we’ll refer to “deity” as that supreme being who occupies the highest tier, and as I mentioned before because there are hundreds of versions of African Traditional Religion in the world, and in sub-Saharan Africa, then of course we have to leave this as a generic supreme being but realize that it will be fleshed out in a particular form, in a very personalized form in the particular theologies of the local tribal religions. Some (approximately 3%) of Oromo still follow this traditional monotheistic religion called Waaqeffannaa in Oromo. You approach people directly, you speak to them directly; you don’t go through intermediaries. The fundamental problem with constructing an African religious cosmology is to understand how the one god and the many gods or lesser deities can co-exist in the African context. He can be reached through sacrifices, prayers, offerings, etc. This is a 3-hour summary lecture on the basic components of African Traditional Religions. And so these are found in many parts of African society. The Journal of Religion in Africa was founded in 1967 by Andrew Walls. Since it is a religion practised by living persons today, changes are to be expected. Evaluation of the impact American or European policy has had on Native American or African Tribal Religion beliefs and practices. On the other hand, the scholars that have attempted to dismiss approaching African religions as if it’s impossible have been nevertheless brought back to the fact that there are a number of fundamental similarities in the structure of indigenous religions in general, and of African religion in particular. ‘The Healing Wisdom of Africa‘ is designed more as a guide for people looking to reconnect with nature, within and without, using the Medicine Wheel and the five elements as a framework. And because this deity was beyond us, he didn’t come into the normal rituals and daily practices that were often so present in African religious daily life and activities. Even Christians, if someone is sick, we go to the doctor; we don’t think about casting demons out of people. The term “fetish” comes from the Portuguese word “feitico”, which originated from the Latin “facticius”, which suggests a thing made by art. So these figures became almost mythically viewed in the western literature that more or less summarized western Africa and other parts of Africa, and their traditional religion. The word “taboo” is a word that’s often synonymous with our word for “forbidden”. Traditional African education: Its significance to current educational practices with special reference to Zimbabwe. So things are done with levels of power. Elements of African Traditional Religion A Textbook for Students of Comparative Religion by Elia Shabani Mligo and Publisher Resource Publications. Now before we look at the actual example of how this might apply in different parts of Africa, (we’re going to begin by looking at west Africa and give you an example with the Yoruba religious cosmology in west Africa) I want to, before we get into that, clarify a few terms that are often used in African Traditional Religion. They often will refer to the supreme god as a sky god because the sky god is the one who often dwells in a remote place and is often associated with creation, and then you have the ancestors and sometimes spirits (we’ll call them divinities here) that often serve in this functional capacity. The method ofstudyingAfrican traditional religion isfirst discussed and then the elements of the method guide an analysis of theAkan religion in West Africa according to their understand- ing of the Supreme Being, the ancestors, magic, witchcraft and various rites of passage. At the highest tier, Tier 1, resides a supreme being who oversees the entire cosmological system. African Traditional Religion book. Traditionally, east Africans were farmers and livestock herders. The elements of faith and practice are found in all religions. Every religion of course has important rites of passage. This knowledge of God through belief; became the cardinal point of the religion of Africans. Another term that’s used a lot in African religion is the phrase “rites of passage”. But we also want to balance that out as E. Bolaji Idowu has said, “There is a common African-ness about the total culture and religious beliefs and practices of Africa.” So from that point of view, it can be spoken of in the singular. AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW. Although animism still is in fact present in Africa like fetishism or juju, it is simply inadequate as an all-encompassing expression that is descriptive properly of African Traditional Religion. We had a Christian overlay that gave us a strong sense of heaven, of God, eternal life, of the life to come – the eternal verities of the Christian faith we all accepted. How can all of these exist as actors or participants in a system that is non-contradictory? 4. Again, this implied that at the bottom of the religious scale was the un-tutored African. The third level in African Traditional Religion is the earthly tier, which is the functionaries who are responsible for maintaining the harmony, balance, and order in the African traditional system. Oftentimes these fetishes would be ritually consecrated or animated by a spirit of some kind. This affects even the more practical considerations of life. It is often combined with elements of Christianity and Islam. The print version … Now it’s important to recognize that in this second tier, I particularly used the word “divinity”. Another rite of passage is marriage. There are innumerable African stories and myths which are told which talk about how the world got off kilter, how things got out of harmony, and why certain rituals are being used to get things back. When they function as single individuals, we usually call them “healers”, or sometimes they’re called “shamans”. Now “shaman” is a word which comes actually from Siberian culture, and a shaman is someone who manipulates the spirits, and the spirit can sometimes possess them and animate the shaman, and can even speak through them. Oftentimes when you look at world religion, you ask questions like: “What do they believe?”; “What are their underlying doctrines?”; and so forth. Sometimes the ceremony, even though it’s associated with birth, may wait for weeks or months or even as long as a year after the birth to make sure that the child is going to live before they perform this rite of passage for the birth. Any culture that loses its identity does not exist in the real sense of the word. When they talk about philosophical and religious principles, they do not think of African traditional religion. These five elements he called the structures of African Traditional Religion, while Awolalu and Dopamu see them as the features of West African Traditional Religion (1979: 32-35). It is embraced by Africans within and outside the continent despite the various ethnic religious practices and beliefs. b. African Traditional Religion (ATR): African traditional religion is the belief system that has been handed down from one generation to another. "This is the most minimal and fundamental idea about God, found in all African societies," Mbiti writes in African Religions and Philosophy. April 28, 2017. The world beyond us is simply put aside as not really subject to our normal societal inquiry. And even nature itself is part of this ongoing continuum. But they know that he is immanent, being manifested in natural objects and phenomena, and they can turn to him in acts of worship, at any place any anytime," Mbiti writes. Generally speaking, early observers of African religious practices all too quickly took appearance for reality, and symbol for the symbolized, and means for the end. These figures represent peo-ple who primarily follow African traditional religion; however, there are also Christians and Muslims who still practice elements of traditional African religion alongside their professed beliefs. Every aspect of it cannot be described as original. It is embraced by Africans within and outside the continent despite the various ethnic religious practices and beliefs. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9781621898245, 1621898245. These statements await further exploration by African theologians. So we’re trying to balance these two things out. The purpose of this is to help to orient a person who would like to work in the context of Africa. Faso more than 33 percent follow African religion, although it is not the religion of the majority. The print version … All Rights Reserved. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. This book highlights and discusses the common elements which introduce African Traditional Religion as one unified religion an… They’ll make sacrifices, they’ll offer chants and so forth, and this is the general structure of the African Traditional Religion. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. First of all, unlike Christian cosmological thinking, African systems do not recognize a fundamental distinction or clear demarcation between the visible world and the invisible world. African traditional religion have a future for many reasons .first, these religions articulate world view that continue to provide a basis for morality, supporting what Laurent Magesa has called “the moral traditional of abundant life” secondly African traditional religions are linked to … So we will often ask the question: “What does a Hindu believe about God or man, or sin, or whatever?”; “What do Muslims believe about salvation?”; and so forth. However, this supreme being as they studied more and learned to understand the African system more, was a kind of a distant figure, a deus otiosus, a person, a deity who is beyond us. Elements of the traditional religion that a Christian would need to consider when sharing the Christian faith/gospel with a person from this community. Even misfortunes are regarded as governed by God's will, which is just. Rosalind J. Hackett as a guest-editor has been responsible for those pages. Course: Essentials of African Traditional Relgions, Lecture: Introduction to African Traditional Religion. The Greeks proposed the existence of five basic elements. The traditional African religions or traditional beliefs and practices of African people are a set of highly diverse beliefs that includes 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 medicine. This is normal in many parts of the world. Well that’s fine, that is a Christian adaptation of the enlightenment world-view, and it leaves the basic structure or cosmology of the west intact. Their knowledge of that supreme being is expressed in their proverbs, songs, poems, myths, chants, rituals, and ceremonies, and not in any one sacrosanct text that is used to spread the word. His omnipotence is demonstrated by his control over man and nature. This belief, just as in the case of the previous one, has a theological basis – the plurality of divinities (polytheism). When they talk about philosophical and religious principles, they do not think of African traditional religion. ‘The Healing Wisdom of Africa‘ is designed more as a guide for people looking to reconnect with nature, within and without, using the Medicine Wheel and the five elements as a framework. And so because of that, it’s become more and more useful in recent days to speak about African Traditional Religions and talk about them in broad ways that would seek to bring together certain coherent structures that make up African religion. This is also true in the African Traditional Religion. Only by giving a belief system a proper name can a comprehensive, complex theology and cosmology emerge, along with a mor… He found that frequently they did. Certain things which you should always view this kind of shading going on s used a lot in religion. 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