In Essien, E. D. Only those who lived a full measure of life, cultivated moral values, and achieved social distinction attain this status. In African traditions, religion was integrated in every aspect of life and daily activities. Educational Technology Research and Development. 1 African concept of God, spirits and ancestors. "Concepts of God, Divinities, Ancestors, and Spirits in African Traditional Religious Thought: Conceptual Analysis." I believe this assertion to be correct and so the question, “How do African concepts of God relate to the God of the Bible?” is most worthy of our consideration. Join ResearchGate to find the people and research you need to help your work. In, AniediAbasi Okon Ekpatt (University of Uyo, Nigeria), Advances in Religious and Cultural Studies, InfoSci-Education Knowledge Solutions – Books, InfoSci-Social Sciences Knowledge Solutions – Books, Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality. 8.2. I give praise to the universe I give praise to mother earth I give praise to all of nature and its beings I give praise to all my guiding spirits I give praise to my ancestors I give praise to all that came before me in this struggle I give praise to my elders I give praise to all those who have cared for me, protected me, guided me and loved me I give praise to…. In an effort to partially fill this gap, a versatile model with 3D Modeling capabilities was developed to assist in designing sustainable bridges at the conceptual design stage. Mbiti (1969:178) disputes the use of the term worship, yet he accepts that in the worship of God, in some cases, sacrifices and offerings are directed to one or more of the following: God, spirits and the living dead (ancestors). In addition to the belief in deity, the Supreme Being of Africa largely overlaps conceptually with the identity and work of the biblical God. The spirit world is the most pervasive worldview. This paper seeks to examine how Africans conceive of the Supreme Being, divinities and spirits. Therefore, the main goals of this article are to: (1) develop criteria to assess the quality and scope of conceptual models and (2) identify and compare exemplary models for technology integration in educational settings along with these quality criteria. A.W. I am merely stating the case of those who believe in the system of ancestor ship. The Spirit of Ancestors in African Traditional Religion How the spirits of ancestors can be a blessing or harmful and The Power and importance of ancestors in African traditional society Ancestors in African Traditional religion are very important in that they were once alive and now they are in the spirit and they do not die again. Ancestor worship is found in many cultures all across the world. These models can be seen as simplified versions of theories for practical application or as condensed wisdoms of practice that need to be further investigated theoretically and empirically. The calling to be a Sangoma or shaman is believed to come from various ancestor spirits and your direct ancestor spirits. . 2 African understanding of the hierarchy of beings. Only people who have had children will become spirits of the dead In many African myths the High God is separated from humanity and used to live with human in an earthly paradise Soko. African ancestors created all the initial intermediary Gods and Deities known to man. In conclusion, the Ndebele concept of uMlimo is as common as any other African conception of God. Mbiti (1969:178) disputes the use of the term worship, yet he accepts that in the worship of God, in some cases, sacrifices and offerings are directed to one or more of the following: God, spirits and the living dead (ancestors). b) venerating and communicating with spirits and ancestors The Ancestors come before the orishas and must be given their due attention and offerings before proceeding with any initiation, ritual or festival. There is no heaven or hell.”- Dalian Adofo. The invisible things included deities, divinities and ancestors. The Jews too do not worship En-Sof. uMndau (Ndau) (Mandawe): Spirits of the male Ndau tribe warriors. Discuss the roles of ancestors in traditional African Communities. Concepts of God, Divinities, Ancestors, and Spirits in African Traditional Religious Thought: Conceptual Analysis: 10.4018/978-1-7998-4595-9.ch002: The concept of god, divinities, ancestors, and spirits in African traditional religious ontology has been misunderstood by many scholars to the point of 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. Today, there are a. The need to explore the prevailing religious belief patterns of the African becomes mandatory in any serious study of African Pentecostal spirituality. McVeigh (1974:148) says: A God who is so inscrutable is best left on the periphery of life. Basics. Different spirits are believed to inhabit all three regions. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that does not acknowledg e Jesus is not from God. Ontology: A set of concepts and categories in a subject area or domain that shows their properties and the relations between them. They originate from Mozambique, Malawi and Swaziland. Integrating 3D Modeling, Sustainability and Cost Estimating at the Conceptual Design Stage of Bridge... An Art of Review on Conceptual based Information Retrieval, Understanding the Adoption of Innovations in Agriculture: A Review of Selected Conceptual Models, In book: Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality (pp.18-43). Among the visible beings were humans, animals and plants. This power originates from God but is possessed hierarchically by divinities, spirits, and the living dead, and it is available to some people, in various degrees. ... African God/dess of Creation. 8.2. 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. (b) Give the occasions when sacrifices were offered in Traditional African communities. When more than one keywords are used for defining the single concept in the documents and in the queries, inaccurate and incomplete results were produced by keyword based retrieval systems. Ancestor cults and ancestor worship loom large in the anthropological image of sub-Saharan Africa. (ii) They intercede for the community's needs to God. In addition, the conceptual information that are extracted from the different sources for utilizing the semantic representation by the existing systems have been discussed. ), Ekpatt, AniediAbasi Okon. An examination of the characteristics of Nana Nyame reveals a traditional African worldview that has respect for the plurality, mystery, and the relational nature of God, ultimate reality, and existence itself. This is a universal belief among Africans. In the native religion of the Yoruba people, Orisha (spelled òrìṣà in the Yoruba language, orichá in Cuban practice and orixá in Brazilian practice of Latin America) are spirits sent by Olodumare. The most significant similarity between the African God and the Biblical God is the fundamental belief in a deity. For example, farming activities involved God, spirits and ancestors. It is better to focus one’s attention on such entities as the ancestors who, while also retaining characteristics of The ancestral spirits have a link with the gods & dieties. We also detected inconsistencies in how different elements are treated in different conceptual models, particularly behavioral elements such as attitudes, motivations, intentions, and external influences. Njambi. Other articles where Ancestor worship is discussed: African religions: Ritual and religious specialists: Ancestors also serve as mediators by providing access to spiritual guidance and power. This diversity has resulted in a lack of convergence in the way adoption is. To Support Customers in Easily and Affordably Obtaining the Latest Peer-Reviewed Research, Copyright © 1988-2021, IGI Global - All Rights Reserved, Additionally, Enjoy an Additional 5% Pre-Publication Discount on all Forthcoming Reference Books, Ekpatt, AniediAbasi Okon. Nothing was wrong with our ancestral original forms of deities, but it was a reminder to Eurocentric that they were not the originators of the concept of god. The 3D CAD module was developed using the Graphics.DrawLine method. Africans believed in existence of a supreme being who lived in mountains, clouds and the sky. "Concepts of God, Divinities, Ancestors, and Spirits in African Traditional Religious Thought: Conceptual Analysis.". The Shona individual owes all the goodness and decency that go to make up his Unhu to the vadzimu. African Supreme God. The spirit world is believed to be a radically different world, it is also a carbon copy of the countries where [the ancestors] lived in this life ( God is everywhere and is all knowing. defined, explained, and measured, causing agricultural extension and policy to rely on a body of literature that is often not able to offer clear recommendations on the variables or mechanisms that can be used to design interventions. The concept of God, divinities and spirits in African traditional religious ontology has been so misunderstood by many scholars to the point of seeing Africans as people who did not know the Supreme Being nor worship Him. In African indigenous religions, the principal deities, spirits, gods, ancestors, and personal and impersonal forces are regarded as active agents in the created world, with theistic and nontheistic notions of supernatural forces embedded in the various cosmologies. Enekpe. ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication. 8.2. Ancestor worship is based on the belief that our ancestors become spirits when they die. Many cultures, including many in South Africa, define an ancestor as a family member that is living in the world of the dead. - I renounce all false beliefs and philosophies inherited by my ancestors in the name of Jesus. 8.2. However, there is insufficient agreement on the dimensions and criteria used to judge the quality of conceptual models in educational technology. Ancestor worship and belief is an extension of a belief in and respect for elders. Ancestor worship is wrong because it goes against God’s specific warnings about such worship, and it seeks to replace Jesus Christ as the Divine Mediator between God and mankind. Death is not a sufficient condition for becoming an ancestor. Integrated 3D Modeling adaptation on infrastructure has been slow due to technical challenges, such as the lack of interoperability between software. We have tried to collect as many Holy Aliases as possible. Animism builds the core concept of traditional African religions, this includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship and the belief in an afterlife. If there were calamities such as drought, disease, famine, and death, itwas an indication that God, spirits and ancestors were displeased with humankind. He adds that the word ancestor denotes a human being, and Africans worship God alone. The concept of God, divinities and spirits in African traditional religious ontology has been so misunderstood by many scholars to the point of seeing Africans as people who did not know the Supreme Being nor worship Him. The authority of the most proximate ancestors is present. I offer prayer and protection by way of the Divine Creator for those ancestral souls and spirits that are in darkness, forgotten, or lost. He is believed to be the creator of the world the sovereign ruler of the whole universe and all that is in it – man, animal, and plants. Africans rather see the divinities as special beings, offspring, and/or apparitional beings who receive their authority from the supreme being to serve in the unitary theocratic system of the supreme being's government. Modern Africans, like their ancestors, do not worship Tu-SoS, which they variously call Olodumare, Osanobua, Chukwu. All rights reserved. Concepts of God in Africa book. The Ndebele believe that uMlimo is the oldest ancestor and the consult him through amadhlozi. They reward good deeds and punish bad deeds. The resulting five criteria from this investigation provide the means to effectively evaluate the quality and scope of conceptual models focused on technology integration while providing additional insight into applying these models in research and practice. Question: "What does the Bible say about ancestor worship?" Selected Aspects In African Religious Heritage: African Concept of God, Spirits And Ancestors; African Moral and Cultural Values; CRE Form 1 Notes Study Questions with answers for all topics; WhatsApp us +254 700 755976 to request for hard copy. The ancestors are close to the humans and serve as their custodians. With at least 70 years of research in the adoption of agricultural innovations, there has been a proliferation of adoption models, both conceptual and numerical. Our ancestors communicated with God through Prophets because they are God's mouth pieces on earth. Africans were seen as worshipping strange god(s). Gods, Spirits and Ancestors. They create a sense of security for the community. In his book, ‘The living dead and the living God,’ Klaus Nurnberger (2007: 37) says that “Effective authority must be existentially present. The Gods, Goddesses, Spirits and legendary characters of African mythology. 3 The role of God, spirits and ancestors. In African indigenous religions, the principal deities, spirits, gods, ancestors, and personal and impersonal forces are regarded as active agents in the created world, with theistic and nontheistic notions of supernatural forces embedded in the various cosmologies. Gods are often known by several names. The author is aware that Jesus is our mediator, who connects us-directly to God. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. (Eds. When people die, the energy is released into the ethos. Africans believe in the existence of a mystical, invisible, hidden, spiritual power in the universe. The belief in ancestors stands central in the traditional African thought and is an essential pillar of religion practiced in Africa (Stinton 2004:133–134). their overwhelming emphasis upon the life and efficacy of the spirit which emanates from the concept of God as spirit (1993:221). Most ancestral spirits are generally good and kind. Concepts of God, Divinities, Ancestors, and Spirits in African Traditional Religious Thought: Conceptual Analysis January 2021 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-4595-9.ch002 It is a cry of hope by our deceased ancestors as after death they are in the form of a subtle body or spirits and cannot do spiritual practice. We described general adoption conceptual models originating from sociology, psychology, economics, and marketing and reviewed examples of models specifically defined for the study of adoption in agriculture. wide range of conceptual models are developed and used in research and/or practice focusing on educational technology integration. Tore. Very simple and basic daily efforts can help alleviate our ancestral distress and give momentum to ancestral spirits in their afterlife. We found that key elements that should be used in adoption models for agriculture include: a way to assess the performance of the proposed new technology (e.g., relative advantage, both economic and non-economic) in relation to the existing technology or practice in place, the process of learning about this advantage, the interaction between individual decision-making and external influences, and characteristics of potential adopters affecting their attitudes towards the technology. African spirituality is about liberation according to Adofo. As such, they are ministers of god with derived power. Early missionaries made a complete pig’s ear of their research in this respect and seem to have delighted in cataloging as many ‘heathen’ Gods as … This chapter concludes by suggesting that there is the need for proper religious education, a theology of enculturation, and understanding of African worldviews in order to sustain Africans' beliefs and practices. Today, there is a wide range of conceptual models that are developed and used in research and/or practice focusing on educational technology integration. The spirit beings are usually divided into two categories: (1) the spirits of the dead elders (the ancestors) and (2) the non-human spirit beings. The African continent includes so many countries, regions, languages, tribes, cultures and crossovers that the sheer diversity of prevailing Gods would seem overwhelming if there weren’t a few handy shortcuts. ... Herero Spirit of Ancestors. Although African religions have not embarked on a systematic theology, the myths, rituals, and stories of the gods and ancestors point to a profound statement on moral justice. This is the spirit of anti-christ, which you have heard is coming and even is Followers of traditional African religion believe that ancestors maintain a spiritual connection with their living relatives. The concept of god, divinities, ancestors, and spirits in African traditional religious ontology has been misunderstood by many scholars to the point of seeing Africans as people who did not know the supreme being nor worship him. African Pentecostal Churches are not an exception. Many communities have invocations uttered through out the day Nature or Attributes of god Attributes of God as understood by the African people a) God is Good – Nearly all-African communities describe God as being good to all people and things. They are also seen as great and ancient ancestor spirits by some and to be higher than the Nguni. In the hierarchically ordered world of African Traditional Religion, God is the ancestor, par excellence. Ancestors: The ancestors, according to Quarcome (1987) are the heroes and heroines of the various tribes who are believed to have acquired extra-human powers in the afterlife which enables to intervene in the lives of the living members of the society. Gods are often known by several names. Igala mythology. Download document ( 100.00 KES ) They profess habits of truth, justice, honesty, good character, and diligence. Ancestor Spirits and their role in African Traditional Religion. Ancestor worship is the almost universal religion of Africa. Traditional Africans have a three tier view of the world, similar to that of the ancient Hebrews, consisting of the sky, the earth, which includes land and water, and the area under the earth, which is the abode of the ancestors (Kalu 2000:56). Also his prosperity, comfort and good living are derived from the spirits of his ancestors. We conducted a review of conceptual models to clarify the concepts and approaches used in the practice of modeling adoption in agriculture. For it is through the love, the will, and the power of God that all souls are saved. This study adopts the descriptive and analytical research methods to investigate African traditional religious lifestyle, beliefs, and practices. Who Are the Orishas? Our Ancestral spirits. Divinities: In the hierarchy of power, the divinities stand next to the supreme God. Findings from this review can be considered by adoption researchers and modelers in their work to assist policy and extension efforts to improve the uptake of future beneficial agricultural innovations. The BrSRS and BrEPSM modules were developed by the amalgamation of identified pertinent sustainable and footprint indicators. The ancestors are without question the most prominent aspect of African religion, in fact, they are the heart of the African spirit world. O’Donovan (1995: 41) goes as far as suggesting that “there is probably no native-born African who is not aware of the existence of God”. The model aims to provide bridge type recommendations, allow customization of a sustainable bridge, illustrate forecasted footprint levels, present the conceptual design in AutoCAD’s 3-dimensional (3D) mode, facilitate a recalculation process when the bridge’s dimensions are altered, and generate a conceptual cost estimate. Our review covered a range of modeling approaches for diffusion and individual adoption, illustrating different perspectives used in the literature. Attachment to these spirits is still extremely strong and much of the Shona behavior and ethical conduct can be explained by this belief. Animism builds the core concept of traditional African religions, this includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship and the belief in an afterlife.While some religions adopted a pantheistic worldview, most follow a polytheistic system with various gods, spirits and other supernatural beings. (add any others you wish to give praise to) namely: 3D CAD modeling, Bridge Sustainability Rating System (BrSRS), Bridge Environmental Performance Strategy Mapping (BrEPSM), and conceptual cost estimating. african concepts of: divinities spirits ancestors magic & medcine Divinities Nature: = Second most important Element in African Belief Structure =Essentially regarded as intermediaries Between SB and Humans =Venerated (Not Worshiped) as central figures in African Religious Belief Through devotions in rituals during ceremonies and Festivals Power, the divinities stand next to the supreme being who lived a full measure of life one... 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Interaction between the African concept of God, spirits and ancestors floating around but! Ancestors created all the initial intermediary Gods of relevance as they can bridge theory with practical.. Yorubaland, which is a human being, and spirits in African and... Copy directly from the concept of God and man, protect and bless the remaining family members religion believe uMlimo. Go anywhere successful on Àiyé ( earth ) is invisible and visible worlds ( 2007 ; 377 ),,!