Agha gue oko se adase eze obele ma na ghi gua, a ghi ye ekho gua!"
(When you paddle a canoe to the middle of the sea and the paddle fails to move the canoe, you use the mind to move it!)
Obokhian (Welcome)! This is a research Temple of African Mysticism & Holistic Science that is dedicated to the promotion, instruction and preservation of the indigenous religions spiritual sciences and culture of the Great Benin Empire and Africa as a whole.
The Edo people trace their indigenous spiritual sciences to the well known and ancient kingdom of Egypt. It is through Egypt that most African magic and spiritual sciences had its origin. Egypt, an African civilization, spread its spiritual sciences through the continent by traders, scholars and those priest that fled Egypt as a result of several invasions. However, this magic/medicine probably predates Egypt because it was already at a advanced level when it arrived there.
From Egypt spread its spiritual sciences that manifest in one form or another in smaller increments to the rest of Africa and subsequently to the world. Therefore, it is through African spiritual sciences that one can get a closer view at the remnants of Egyptian magic.
Edo cosmology is a unification of monotheism and polytheism. Monotheism because there is a high god that in uncontested. Polytheism because there are lesser deities that assist the high god in carrying out the order of the cosmos. The physical world is a reflection of the spiritual world. In order to understand indigenous African spiritual science, one must look at its deities.
Ebo (Edo Deities)
The deities of Great Benin are very powerful and ancient. Most are aggressive deities and work swiftly.
Osanobua (God Almighty)
Osanobua is the indigenous Supreme Deity of the people of Great Benin. He is truly benevolent and grants most wishes with His powerful Ise (ase). Osanobua is God Almighty. Osa gha mudia ne ihokho, to setin bun ughavban–When God stands with the mushroom, it can break an axe.
Uhunmwun (personal deity of your head)
Uhunmwun is the personal deity of the Head. Your Head controls the implementation of your destiny and good luck. Your Uhunwun enables you to be successful. The Head controls the body or hands. The hands allow the ideas of the Head to manifest. Obo a mien uhumwun, evbie–If the hand does not meet the head it does not sleep! Uhunmwun is what Yoruba worship as Ori and Ori Inu.
Oronmila/Orunmila (deity of wisdom)
Oronmila is an indigenous deity of wisdom. In addition, Oronmila is one of the great oracles of Benin. He is the same as the Yoruba Orunmila or Ifa. Oronmila is a divination deity. There are many divination deities and systems in Africa. The oracle travelled. .
Oguega (deity of wisdom)
Oguega or Iha Ominigbon refers both to the indigenous system of divination in Great Benin, as well as the prophet who brought it to Benin City. Identical to Ifa divination, although more concise and faster. Agan ma bie ukpoko l ra of Oguega egba! Ominigbon/Oguega and Oronmila/Orunmila are brothers. In Great Benin, Oguega is on a higher order of divination than Oronmila/Orunmila.
Esu (deity of confusion)
Esu is an ancient deity in Great Benin and is the messenger who takes sacrifice to erinmwin (spirit world). Sacrifice is essential to indigenous African religion and spirituality. Therefore, Esu place of importance is very lofty. Esu mu iyeke de owa, o no ovbukho. A kpe ghe te o ghi mu ero de ode vbo?–Esu puts his back against the house and asked for a he goat. If he had put his face to the house, what then?Contrary to earlier misinformation by prejudiced scholars, he is not the equivalent of the Western devil. There is no devil concept in indigenous African religion and spirituality.
Olokun (deity of ocean and water)
Olokun is the indigenous deity of Great Benin who represents wealth and children. Olokun is probably the most famous Edo deity. He is the deity of the Ocean and is depicted as a Oba (king). All waters and wealth flow from Olokun. Eze/amen vben eghian–Water has no enemy!
Osun (deity of medicine and magic)
Osun is the indigenous deity of magic and medicine in Great Benin. He owns all the leaves, roots, stems, herbs and instruments employed in medicine/magic. He controls the magic and medicine of the herbalist, native doctors, babalawos, priest, wizards and witches. Osun is represented by the snake–similar to ancient Kmt powerful vital force. Osun’s sacred colors are red and black. Yoruba calls Osanyin (Osain) have many of the same attributes.
Ogun (deity of war)
Ogun Ye! Ogun is the indigenous deity of iron, metals and war. Ogun is the pathfinder. Ogun is the path clearer. Ogun is the trailblazer. Ogun is the innovator, the engineer, the great transformer. Ogun is one of the indigenous national deities of Edo. Every person that works with iron or metal is beholden to Ogun. Ogun is fierce! Ogun is a hot deity, ready to go to war at a moments notice. He will fight for you. Ebo ne o we: Gha re Ogun? Ukpokpo o re a ya gben ya are ere–The gods stay _Who is Ogun?” He is the cutlass that clears the path to the shrine.
However, Ogun brought metal instruments to civilization. He is what makes us civilized by creating the tools that allows us to mold the material world from our dreams. If you want to achieve something, call Ogun. Ogun’s color is scarlet red (ododo). His number is seven (ihinron). He will fight for you!
Esango (deity of lighting/fire)
Esango is the deity of lightning and fire. He represents the ultimate male. He is a hot deity. A strong man and great lover. His voice is thunder! Esango’s colors are red and white. What Yoruba worship as Sango.
Eziza (deity of whirlwind)
Eziza is the deity of the whirlwind and medicine. Just like the wind, he can be all over the world at the same time! Eziza is also associated with the Ason (Night beings). Eziza gie obo se. Eziza gie ebo w’ egbe–Eziza let the medicine be potent. Eziza let the medicine work in the body. His colors are red, white and black. Yoruba worship as Aziza.
Ake (deity of hunting)
Ake is the indigenous deity of hunting and archery. Ake does not miss his target! Ake uses magical arrows during the hunt. He is very similar to Ochossi.
Ovia (river deity)
Ovia is the deity of the Ovia river. She is very similar to Yemaya.
Obiemwen (deity of childbirth)
The eldest child of Osanobua. She bestows wealth, and children. Uhe ne iro–Vulva-opening of the wide road. eEdion (ancestors and Elders)
Edion (ancestors and elders)
Edion are the family ancestors. Edion also serves as a name for the senior elders. This is a reference to the high regard and place of honor this age group is held in. Africa was once administered by a gerontocracy. An elder sitting down can see father that a young man standing up! Emwe n’erha mwen gha ma, Mwen m’ i me gha ya yi. Ede ghe gha rie ota gha gbe eko egbe–It is the words my father tells me that I will always believe. When you become oder, you will understand the inner feelings of others. Yoruba worship as Egun.
Azen (witches and wizards)
Azen is the indigenous word that refers to witches, wizards. Similar to the rest of creation, they asked Osanobua (God Almighty) for permission to come to the world. Azen can help or harm. For there to be day, there also must be night. No oko Azen, Azen gbe! No weghe uloko egbere e ro weghe– He who shakes the iroko tree shakes himself! The same Yoruba call Aje or Brujas.
Ogiuwu (deity of death)
Ogiuwu is the King of Death. He feeds on the human populace. His wives are sickness and disease. Everyone must meet him some day! Divination offers a way to postpone that inevitable encounter. Ede gha gbe ma ghogho ama ghi ren ghe ede ehi oya gba–while we celebrate the dawn of a new day, we do not realise that the day of destiny draws closer.
This is only a short list of Edo deities. There are many others. Some say 201. 201 represents an infinite number for the Edo.
(When you paddle a canoe to the middle of the sea and the paddle fails to move the canoe, you use the mind to move it!)
Obokhian (Welcome)! This is a research Temple of African Mysticism & Holistic Science that is dedicated to the promotion, instruction and preservation of the indigenous religions spiritual sciences and culture of the Great Benin Empire and Africa as a whole.
The Edo people trace their indigenous spiritual sciences to the well known and ancient kingdom of Egypt. It is through Egypt that most African magic and spiritual sciences had its origin. Egypt, an African civilization, spread its spiritual sciences through the continent by traders, scholars and those priest that fled Egypt as a result of several invasions. However, this magic/medicine probably predates Egypt because it was already at a advanced level when it arrived there.
From Egypt spread its spiritual sciences that manifest in one form or another in smaller increments to the rest of Africa and subsequently to the world. Therefore, it is through African spiritual sciences that one can get a closer view at the remnants of Egyptian magic.
Edo cosmology is a unification of monotheism and polytheism. Monotheism because there is a high god that in uncontested. Polytheism because there are lesser deities that assist the high god in carrying out the order of the cosmos. The physical world is a reflection of the spiritual world. In order to understand indigenous African spiritual science, one must look at its deities.
Ebo (Edo Deities)
The deities of Great Benin are very powerful and ancient. Most are aggressive deities and work swiftly.
Osanobua (God Almighty)
Osanobua is the indigenous Supreme Deity of the people of Great Benin. He is truly benevolent and grants most wishes with His powerful Ise (ase). Osanobua is God Almighty. Osa gha mudia ne ihokho, to setin bun ughavban–When God stands with the mushroom, it can break an axe.
Uhunmwun (personal deity of your head)
Uhunmwun is the personal deity of the Head. Your Head controls the implementation of your destiny and good luck. Your Uhunwun enables you to be successful. The Head controls the body or hands. The hands allow the ideas of the Head to manifest. Obo a mien uhumwun, evbie–If the hand does not meet the head it does not sleep! Uhunmwun is what Yoruba worship as Ori and Ori Inu.
Oronmila/Orunmila (deity of wisdom)
Oronmila is an indigenous deity of wisdom. In addition, Oronmila is one of the great oracles of Benin. He is the same as the Yoruba Orunmila or Ifa. Oronmila is a divination deity. There are many divination deities and systems in Africa. The oracle travelled. .
Oguega (deity of wisdom)
Oguega or Iha Ominigbon refers both to the indigenous system of divination in Great Benin, as well as the prophet who brought it to Benin City. Identical to Ifa divination, although more concise and faster. Agan ma bie ukpoko l ra of Oguega egba! Ominigbon/Oguega and Oronmila/Orunmila are brothers. In Great Benin, Oguega is on a higher order of divination than Oronmila/Orunmila.
Esu (deity of confusion)
Esu is an ancient deity in Great Benin and is the messenger who takes sacrifice to erinmwin (spirit world). Sacrifice is essential to indigenous African religion and spirituality. Therefore, Esu place of importance is very lofty. Esu mu iyeke de owa, o no ovbukho. A kpe ghe te o ghi mu ero de ode vbo?–Esu puts his back against the house and asked for a he goat. If he had put his face to the house, what then?Contrary to earlier misinformation by prejudiced scholars, he is not the equivalent of the Western devil. There is no devil concept in indigenous African religion and spirituality.
Olokun (deity of ocean and water)
Olokun is the indigenous deity of Great Benin who represents wealth and children. Olokun is probably the most famous Edo deity. He is the deity of the Ocean and is depicted as a Oba (king). All waters and wealth flow from Olokun. Eze/amen vben eghian–Water has no enemy!
Osun (deity of medicine and magic)
Osun is the indigenous deity of magic and medicine in Great Benin. He owns all the leaves, roots, stems, herbs and instruments employed in medicine/magic. He controls the magic and medicine of the herbalist, native doctors, babalawos, priest, wizards and witches. Osun is represented by the snake–similar to ancient Kmt powerful vital force. Osun’s sacred colors are red and black. Yoruba calls Osanyin (Osain) have many of the same attributes.
Ogun (deity of war)
Ogun Ye! Ogun is the indigenous deity of iron, metals and war. Ogun is the pathfinder. Ogun is the path clearer. Ogun is the trailblazer. Ogun is the innovator, the engineer, the great transformer. Ogun is one of the indigenous national deities of Edo. Every person that works with iron or metal is beholden to Ogun. Ogun is fierce! Ogun is a hot deity, ready to go to war at a moments notice. He will fight for you. Ebo ne o we: Gha re Ogun? Ukpokpo o re a ya gben ya are ere–The gods stay _Who is Ogun?” He is the cutlass that clears the path to the shrine.
However, Ogun brought metal instruments to civilization. He is what makes us civilized by creating the tools that allows us to mold the material world from our dreams. If you want to achieve something, call Ogun. Ogun’s color is scarlet red (ododo). His number is seven (ihinron). He will fight for you!
Esango (deity of lighting/fire)
Esango is the deity of lightning and fire. He represents the ultimate male. He is a hot deity. A strong man and great lover. His voice is thunder! Esango’s colors are red and white. What Yoruba worship as Sango.
Eziza (deity of whirlwind)
Eziza is the deity of the whirlwind and medicine. Just like the wind, he can be all over the world at the same time! Eziza is also associated with the Ason (Night beings). Eziza gie obo se. Eziza gie ebo w’ egbe–Eziza let the medicine be potent. Eziza let the medicine work in the body. His colors are red, white and black. Yoruba worship as Aziza.
Ake (deity of hunting)
Ake is the indigenous deity of hunting and archery. Ake does not miss his target! Ake uses magical arrows during the hunt. He is very similar to Ochossi.
Ovia (river deity)
Ovia is the deity of the Ovia river. She is very similar to Yemaya.
Obiemwen (deity of childbirth)
The eldest child of Osanobua. She bestows wealth, and children. Uhe ne iro–Vulva-opening of the wide road. eEdion (ancestors and Elders)
Edion (ancestors and elders)
Edion are the family ancestors. Edion also serves as a name for the senior elders. This is a reference to the high regard and place of honor this age group is held in. Africa was once administered by a gerontocracy. An elder sitting down can see father that a young man standing up! Emwe n’erha mwen gha ma, Mwen m’ i me gha ya yi. Ede ghe gha rie ota gha gbe eko egbe–It is the words my father tells me that I will always believe. When you become oder, you will understand the inner feelings of others. Yoruba worship as Egun.
Azen (witches and wizards)
Azen is the indigenous word that refers to witches, wizards. Similar to the rest of creation, they asked Osanobua (God Almighty) for permission to come to the world. Azen can help or harm. For there to be day, there also must be night. No oko Azen, Azen gbe! No weghe uloko egbere e ro weghe– He who shakes the iroko tree shakes himself! The same Yoruba call Aje or Brujas.
Ogiuwu (deity of death)
Ogiuwu is the King of Death. He feeds on the human populace. His wives are sickness and disease. Everyone must meet him some day! Divination offers a way to postpone that inevitable encounter. Ede gha gbe ma ghogho ama ghi ren ghe ede ehi oya gba–while we celebrate the dawn of a new day, we do not realise that the day of destiny draws closer.
This is only a short list of Edo deities. There are many others. Some say 201. 201 represents an infinite number for the Edo.
[SADLY,
MOST OF THESE EDO DEITIES ARE WORSHIPED AND DOCUMENTED OVER UNIVERSITIES, WEBSITE, BOOKS AND INSTITUTIONS AS YORUBA]
EDO RELIGION
by
Segun Toyin Dawodu
Like the Egyptians, the Binis believe in many gods and life after death. Their religion grew up from many sources. Some gods and beliefs (or the guiding spirits) of every family were inherited from the first people who settled in Benin; Some were introduced by Obas, e.g. Ekoko, Awanuroho, etc, by Oba Ewuare, and Orumworia by Oba Ozolua; others were introduced by priests and religious thinkers, e.g. Osanughegbe by Okhionkpaimwonyi.
Those apart, the Binis also worship those phenomena they did not understand in nature e.g. too much rain, too much sun, thunder, the sky, etc. Altogether, they worship over 800 gods. These can be classified as follow:
 |
DEITIES (ERINMWIN NOHUANREN)
|
|
HERO-DEITIES (IHEN)
|
|
SPIRITS OF THE DEPARTED (ERINMWIN N'OWA).
|
DEITIES (ERINMWIN NOHUANREN)
- OSANOBUA or OSA - The Chief or Supreme God. The god of god. He is also referred to as Oriole, Udazi, Akpama, Okodudu, Oghodua and Ohovba.
- OLOKUN - The god Olokun is to the Binis as Athena is to the Greeks. It is the god of the sea - giver of good luck, riches and children. It is also called EZIZA. The Olokun worshipping is more for the women folk. It is worshipped throughout the year; but its annual festival is regular during which period, the priest/priestess and worshippers pray for peace and plenty for the society, and the women pray for children and money. Its worship is done with songs accompanied with drums (ema olokun), maracass (ukuse) and gongs (egogo), to summon the attention of the god. The Priest/Priestess or worshipper dances to inspiration point and starts visionizing and telling the future.
- OBIEMWEN - Mother of human beings. The goddess in charge of child delivery.
- OGIUWU - The god of death. He eats human flesh and human blood is the fluid he drinks. Ofoe is his chief messenger.
- ESU - Devil. The controller of coup d'etats. He is the god of hell. He is the director of art, power, cunning and all knowledge. He is more feared and better served than the good God who is harmless. Any misfortune is taken as his handwork.
- ISO - Sky. Holder of lights and water.
HERO-DEITIES (IHEN)
These are men or women, some of whom turned themselves into some natural features e.g rivers, ponds, hills, etc.
History holds them as mythical and semi-mythical figures of the past.
The Edos have many of them which they worship with reverence.
These deities have their cults or shrines at their locations of origin, ususally village wide. Although several villages, in some cases worship one deity. Some examples of such are:
DEITIES
|
Villages where worshipped
| |
1
|
OKHUAIHE
|
EVBIEKOI, IKPE, IKHUEN-NIRO, etc
|
2
|
EBOMISI
|
UGO N'EKI
|
3
|
OGIERUMWANBO
|
OKA
|
4
|
ORAVAN
|
IRHIRHI
|
5
|
IZALOGHA
|
ISI
|
6
|
AKE
|
ISI
|
7
|
OVATO
|
IGIEDUMA
|
8
|
OGAN
|
EKHUAE
|
9
|
IREGHEZI
|
EKAE
|
10
|
EZUKU
|
OGAN
|
11
|
EKIORHO
|
IYEKOGBA
|
12
|
IGBAGHON
|
UGO N'IYEKORHIONMWON
|
13
|
EREDE
|
USEN
|
14
|
AWANUROHO
|
UROHO
|
15
|
OVIA
|
UNUAMEN, UHOGUA, OGHEGHE, OKHUNMWUN
|
16
|
EKOKO
|
UTE
|
17
|
ERINMWINDE
|
EGO
|
18
|
ORINMWIORIA
|
UTEKON
|
19
|
ISE
|
UTEKON
|
20
|
ERUMIAN
|
AHOR
|
21
|
OKHUO
|
ISI
|
22
|
IKHOKHO
|
IGUOGHO, UGBAYON
|
23
|
OKPO
|
OZA
|
24
|
ORUE
|
OKA
|
25
|
ADABI
|
ORA, BENIN-CITY
|
26
|
OVBO
|
UZALA
|
27
|
OSA
|
UZALA
|
28
|
EGBAEN
|
IWU
|
29
|
ERUVBI
|
UTEKON
|
30
|
ERHAN VB'IRI
|
UGIEGHUDU
|
31
|
IREWE (Ebo n'uvunokuta)
|
IYEKOVIA
|
32
|
ARO-ISO
|
UGBEKUN
|
33
|
ERHUNMWOGBE
|
UHI
|
34
|
IGBILE
|
UGHOTON
|
35
|
ODIGHI
|
EHOR
|
36
|
OZELA
|
AYEN
|
37
|
EKPENEDE
|
BENIN-CITY
|
38
|
ARENBO
|
BENIN-CITY
|
39
|
EMIHE
|
BENIN-CITY
|
40
|
EKHIBI
|
BENIN-CITY
|
41
|
AGBAGHUZALE
|
BENIN-CITY
|
42
|
EMOTAN
|
BENIN-CITY
|
SPIRITS OF THE DEPARTED (ERINMWIN N'OWA)
This is the ancestral or lineage shrine.
When a father or a mother dies in Benin, the children make an altar aro-erinmwin in his or her memory. It is here sacrifices are made. It is composed of Ukhure - Staves, Eroro - Bell, and objects.
EBO (JUJU)
These are also deities - in their special class.
The deities listed in the first paragraph above also fit in here.
 | OGUN - god of iron and war. |
| OSUN - god of medicine and charms (worshipped by professional doctors) |
| OTO - Soil (Edion). The keeper of the peace of the land. -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
The reason for studying African Religion in post-colonial Africa.
Culture, as Jesse Mugambi (1) observes, has six main pillars: politics, economics, ethics, aesthetics, kinship and religion. And out of these, religion "is by far the richest part of the African heritage." (2) It shapes their cultures, their social life, their politics, and their economics and is at the same time shaped by this same way of life.
J. O. Awolalu attempts a definition of African Religion when he says,
J. O. Awolalu attempts a definition of African Religion when he says,
When we speak of African Traditional Religion we mean the indigenous
religion of the Africans. It is the religion that has been handed
down from generation to generation by the forbears of the present
generation of Africans. It is not a fossil religion (a thing of the past)
but a religion that Africans today have made theirs by living it and practising it. (3)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+reason+for+studying+African+Relig...
African Traditional Religion (ATR) as a contested phrase
In most publications, African Religion is commonly referred to as African Traditional Religion (ATR). This designation is, however, a contested description of African religiosity. To some, the term "traditional" betrays Christian bias, meant to portray African religiosity as old fashioned and outdated; hence irrelevant. Some have the view that it should simply be referred to as "African Religion," just as there is, for instance, Muslim Religion or Hindu Religion.
Some have even argued that with the center of Christian gravity having shifted to Africa, it is imprecise to talk of African Religion (AR) since Christianity has also become an African Religion. (4) Others would talk of Islam as an African religion. So how do we tell the difference between Christianity and the pre-Christian or pre-Muslim religious discourses in Africa?
For our purposes African Religion refers to an indigenous system of beliefs and practices that are integrated into the culture and the worldviews of the African peoples. (5) As in other primal religions, one is born into it as a way of life with its cultural manifestations and religious implications.
In general, African indigenous religion
i) Cultivates the whole person. African religion permeates all departments of life.
ii) It provides people with a view of the world.
iii) It answers some questions that nothing else can.
iv) It provides humanity with moral values by which to live.
v) It gives food for spiritual hunger.
vi) It has inspired great ideas.
vii) It is a means of communication.
viii) It pays attention to the key moments in the life of the individual.
ix) It celebrates life.
x) It shows people their limitations. (6)
It is a unique religion whose sources include: sacred places and religious objects such as rocks, hills, mountains, trees, caves and other holy places; rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the people; art and symbols; music and dance; proverbs, riddles, and wise sayings; and names of people and places. In Nigeria, for example, the name Babatunde means "father returns." It is given to a male child born immediately after the death of his grandfather. Beliefs cover topics such as God, spirits, birth, death, the hereafter, magic, and witchcraft. Religion, in the African indigenous context, permeates all departments of life.
Is it African Religions or African Religion?
John S. Mbiti explains that "we speak of African traditional religions in the plural because there are about one thousand African peoples (tribes), and each has its own religious system." (7) He cites the fact that there are numerous different peoples in Africa, each having a very different religious system. Conversely, Mbiti considers African philosophy as another matter; for while the religious expressions in the African context are observable, one cannot claim the same thing about the philosophy behind them. Thus, to Mbiti, the philosophy underlying the religious expression of the African people is singular in form.
This is contested by Nokuzola Mn-dende, a South African, who holds that it should be referred to as "African Religion," as "no religion is monolithic but people look at the common features." She says, "We never hear people talking about Christianities, Islams, Hinduisms etc. We cannot, for example, talk about Zulu Religion or Xhosa Religion (8)--African Religion is one. While there are differences in some of the customs and objects used to perform rituals, the underlying principle remains the same." (9)
Mndende builds on her credentials as an authority in her field of African Religion when she says, "I am writing from the perspective of a believer in and practitioner of African Religion. I am not a Christian. Christianity constitutes one but not the only way to God; there are many ways and African Religion is one of them." (10)
Mndende's contention finds some support from some African Christian theologians who argue, in their diverse ways, that "the God of Africa is as good as the God of Christendom, if not better." They include Samuel Kibicho, John Gatu, Gabba and Gabriel Setiloane. (11)
In general, there is a regular rhythm in the pattern of the people's beliefs and practices. And this regular rhythm is the universal belief in the Supreme Being as "an integral part of African world view and practical religion." (12) And in the words of Bolaji Idowu, "We find that in Africa, the real cohesive factor of religion is the living God and that without this one factor, all things would fall to pieces. And it is on this ground especially--this identical concept that we can speak of the religion of Africa in the singular." (13)
If we take for example, the case of the Xhosa community of South Africa, we will find that their world-view has it that Qamata (God) was approached through the ancestors. In addition, the ancestral spirits have always acted as mediators between human beings, who stood at the bottom, and Qamata, who stood at the top. (14) This imagery, like many others, is a wide-spread notion; for even among the Kikuyu of East Africa the ancestral spirits acted as mediators between human beings and God (Ngai). This shows that the African religiosity has fundamental commonalities that make it African Religion rather than African Religions.
In recent times, most African scholars of African religion, including Mbiti, have agreed that "African Religion is one in essence." (15) for despite its varieties, there is undeniably, a "basic world-view which fundamentally is everywhere the same. (16)
The plural context in doing African Religion
We must acknowledge that any religious discourse in Africa will have to be done within the context of religio-social pluralism; for indeed, Africa is full of plural faith traditions. The dominant ones are: African (Indigenous) Religion, Christianity, and Islam. Even within the traditional religions, John Mbiti rightly says that "Traditional religions are not universal: they are tribal or national. Each religion is bound and limited to the people among whom it has evolved. One traditional religion cannot be propagated in another tribal group. This does not rule out the fact that religious ideas may spread from one people to another. But such ideas, spread spontaneously, especially through migrations, intermarriage, conquest, or expert knowledge being sought by individuals of one tribal group from another. Traditional religions have no missionaries to propagate them; and one individual does not preach his (or her) religion to another." (17)
Even within the Christian churches, African diversity can also be experienced. African Christianity is, too often, described in terms of Catholicism, Protestantism and African Instituted churches. And in view of this diversity in Africa, some African theologians have expressed the view that the terms "Africa" and "African" should be interpreted ideologically rather than racially. (18)
The diversity of the African people is further compounded by the history of the colonial experience in each particular African state. That is, the fact that we have Lusophone Africa, Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, Arabphone Africa and the immediate post-Apartheid South Africa and Namibia, which were under the Boers up to the early 1990s, adds to the diversity of Africa as different powers had different ways of orienting their subjects. (19) The Arab slave traders, for example, in the East Coast of Africa intermarried with the local inhabitants and their intermarriage produced the Swahili people.
Apart from the colonial history, the migrational patterns of the people of Africa themselves also contributes to the diversity of Africa. For example, while colonial powers partitioned Africa after the Berlin Conference of 1884/5, thereby dividing the various African communities, the internal rivalries and warfare among the African people themselves also contributed to the current diversity that defines Africa today. An illustration of this: after colonialism, the Maasai found themselves in Kenya and Tanzania; the Luo found themselves in Uganda, Kenya and Sudan; the Chewa found themselves in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. On the other hand, Shaka the Zulu wars of the 19th century saw the Nguni speakers migrate from South Africa to Malawi, Zambia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, among other places.
Homogeneity in doing African Religion: a pointer to its relevance?
Walter Rodney rightly emphasizes that what has commonly characterized Africa in "recent history is its political and economic exploitation." (20) Rodney was alluding to how Europe was "continuously under developing Africa." Curiously, Africa is still marginalized in the New World Order, as affirmed by Ti-nyiko Maluleke and Mercy Oduyoye. (21)
Africa's religio-cultural diversity can be said to have been exaggerated at the expense of its religio-cultural unity; and this can be explained by addressing the Ubuntu philosophy, which, in my opinion, would best describe the African homogeneity. Augustine Shutte observes that the concept of Ubuntu, which is a Zulu word for human-ness, was developed over many centuries in traditional African culture. This culture was pre-literate, pre-scientific and pre-industrial. (22) The concept of Ubuntu was originally expressed in the songs and stories, the customs and the institutions of the people. As an African philosophy, Ubuntu is well summed up in Mbiti's words, "I am, because we are; and since we are, therefore I am." Mbiti's summary of the African philosophy is sharply opposed to "I think therefore I exist" by Rene Descartes, the French Philosopher who can be said to have summed up the Western philosophy. (23)
Mbiti appears to be building on the Ubuntu philosophy when he says, "Only in terms of other people does the individual become conscious of his (or her) own being, his (or her) own duties, his (or her) privileges and responsibilities towards himself (or herself) and towards other people. When he (or she) suffers, he (or she) does not suffer alone but with the corporate group; when he (or she) rejoices, he (or she) rejoices not alone but with his (or her) kinsmen (or kinswomen), his (or her) neighbors and his (or her) relatives whether dead or living. When he (or she) married, he (or she) is not alone; neither does the wife (or husband) 'belong' to him (or her) alone. So also the children belong to the corporate body of kinsmen (or kinswomen), even if they bear only their father's name. Whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual." (24)
The strength of this philosophy in our modern African society is seen in Shutte's contention that since many of the old customs would be a betrayal to the spirit of Ubuntu in our contemporary society, it is important for us (in Africa) to find a way of "living Ubuntu in a society where the dominant culture is European, not African, and where many other cultures from other parts of the world exist together." Shutte's view, however, does not mean that there is nothing uniquely African today, as this paper is seeking to show, rather, he means that, as a result of socio-historical factors, African cultural systems have been greatly affected by the dominant European culture that mainly came to Africa through the process of acculturation.
As a spiritual foundation of African societies, Ubuntu is a unifying vision or worldview enshrined in the Zulu Maxim Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, that is, "a person is a person through other persons." (25) This Ubuntu concept is also found in other African communities, even though there are different vocabularies and phrases that are used to describe it. This African aphorism articulates a basic respect and compassion for others as its bottom line. Ubuntu has a certain Africanness and religious commitment in the welfare of fellow human beings that is manifestly African in essence. Indeed, while Western humanism tends to underestimate or even deny the importance of religious beliefs, Ubuntu or African humanism is resiliently religious. (26)
While to the Westerner, the Maxim "a person is a person through other persons" has no obvious religious connotations, the maxim has a deep religious meaning in African tradition. When Julius Nyerere coined his Ujamaa concept (from Jamii--meaning family), he was talking from this Ubuntu background. He saw Africa as one family and the whole world as an extended family. It is in this same spirit that the whole clan is seen as a family. Most Africans still think of themselves in the context of this extended relationship.
Another distinctive quality of the Ubuntu philosophy is the African emphasis on consensus. Indeed, the African traditional culture has, seemingly, an almost infinite capacity for the pursuit of consensus and reconciliation. (27) Democracy in the African way does not simply boil down to majority rule since it operates in the form of discussions geared towards a consensus.
This view is clearly captured by Jesse Mugambi when he says that, "The traditional court would appreciate the views of every participant, and weigh the opinions of everyone irrespective of social status." Decisions are reached through consensus, as there is no voting. Whenever there are "irreconcilable difference, decision is postponed until a consensus emerges." (28) This important aim of consensus building rather than dividing the people along the lines of "winners versus losers" is expressed by words like twi hamwe (Kikuyu for "we are together") tuko nawewe (Swahili for "you are not alone") Simunye (We are one), (that is, Unity is strength), and slogans like "an injury to one is an injury to all." (29)
Despite Ubuntu's articulation of important values such as respect, human dignity and compassion, it can be exploited to enforce group solidarity and therefore fail to safeguard the rights and opinions of individuals and the minority. True Ubuntu however requires an authentic respect for individual rights and values and an honest appreciation of diversities amongst the people. Whatever the argument, Ubuntu, best illustrates the African homogeneity which can be exploited for the good of Africa in the 21st century.
It is disheartening to note that Ubuntu, in our modern times, is undermined by the violent ethnic and political conflicts that have plagued sub-Saharan Africa. Of course, it is a result of a failure to adhere to the original ideals of the philosophy, which sees every "neighbor" as part of the extended family, and thus treats him or her with lots of African hospitality. Nevertheless, Maphisa argues that South Africans are slowly re-discovering their common humanity. He says, "Gone are the days when people were stripped of their dignity (ubuntu) through harsh laws, gone are the days when people had to use ubulwane (that is, animal like behavior) to uphold or reinforce those laws. I suggest that the transformation of an apartheid South Africa into a democracy is a rediscovery of ubuntu." (30)
Ubuntu is clearly in need of revitalization in the hearts and minds of the African people so that its ethos can be truly a gift that African philosophy can bequeath to other philosophies of the world.
An acknowledgement that every culture has its dark and dangerous side as well helps the Ubuntu philosophy today to absorb the strength of the European cultural emphasis on freedom of the individual while at the same time building on the strength of the African cultural emphasis on the idea of community. This acknowledgement helps to produce a synthesis that is true to the African tradition while at the same time it can also be applied to the new world that European science and technology is in the process of creating."
The influence of African Religion
Apart from the South African religious notion of Ubuntu, whose philosophical emphasis is found in the rest of Africa, the influence of African Religion among the people of Africa is seen in Laurenti Magesa's contention that most of the time, African Christians "seek comfort in their own religious symbol systems, even though these may not correspond exactly to those inculcated and expected by their Christian leaders. Indeed, these are often symbols and rituals that church leaders have explicitly condemned." (31)
Aylward Shorter has described this situation further when he says that the African Christian repudiates "remarkably little of his former non-Christian outlook." Consequently, the African Christian operates with "two thought-systems at once, and both of them are closed to each other. Each is only superficially modified by the other." (32)
Writing in 1960, the Nigerian Chief Obafemi Awolowo made substantially the same point with reference to his own country. He pointed out that "Christian and Moslem beliefs and practices are, with many a Nigerian, nothing but veneers and social facades: at heart and in the privacy of their lives, most Nigerian Christians and Moslems" are African religious traditionalists. (33)
According to John M. Waliggo, Christian evangelizers convinced themselves that the Baganda had been "civilized," that is, completely won over to Christianity. But when Kabaka Mutesa II, their king, was exiled in 1953, many Baganda Christians identified with traditionalists, rejecting Christian prayers as ineffective in bringing him back. Again in 1961, many Buganda Catholics "turned a deaf ear" to Archbishop Kiwanuka's letter against the traditionalist-tinted political party Kabaka Yekka (which literally means Kabaka alone!) and continued to support it. And despite the phenomenal spread of Christianity in Buganda, many expressions of African Religion such as divination and the use of healing practices continue even though Christianity expressly forbids them. (34) This draws its parallelism with Gwinyai Muzorewa's experience. He says: "I was surprised when many Christians in Zimbabwe reverted to traditionalism. Some members of the clergy also turned to traditionalism during the seven years war (1972-1979) in the country. They were persuaded to believe that their ancestor spirit has a major part to play in the whole experience." (35) Similarly, Samuel G. Kibicho shows the role that the Kikuyu conception of God (Ngai) played in their struggle against colonialism in the 1950s and how it has been an important factor in their response to Christian evangelization from the beginning. (36)
In their book, David Chidester, Chirevo Kwenda, Robert Petty, Judy Tobler, and Darrel Wratten have attempted to show the influence of African Religion amongst the indigenous people of Africa when they say that, "The popular version of African traditional religion is what Africans (including some elites, though mostly the masses) do with no regard for what Westerners, or any one else, may or may not think about it. It is what Africans do when they are just Africans. Now this does not mean that such a practice is completely untouched by alien influences, be they religious (such as Christianity or Islam) or secular (such as modernity); what it means is that in full cognizance of their historical context Africans do what they do for their own reasons rather than to impress someone else. In other words, while talking to the West is unavoidable--for the elite--and talking back to the West may be progressive, it is only through turning away from and not talking to the West that the possibility of considering African traditional religion in its own right translates into a reality." (37)
Laurenti Magesa builds on the premise that the importance of African religion in Africa cannot be downplayed, for even the African converts to Christianity (or Islam) still retain their inner motivation for their religious life in African religion. Mbiti graphically captures this view when he says that Africans "come out of African religion but they don't take off their traditional religiosity. They come as they are. They come as people whose world view is shaped according to African religion." (38)
If there are any changes during this process, Mbiti perceptively points out, that they "are generally on the surface, affecting the material side of life, and only beginning to reach the deeper levels of thinking pattern, language content, mental images, emotions, beliefs and response in situations of need. Traditional concepts still form the essential background of many African peoples ..." (39) In other words, their inner religious drive remains overwhelmingly part of African religion. Consequently, the convert may publicly claim the new intended meaning while unconsciously ascribing to them a different one--that is African religion. Thus, there is every need for everyone who is interested in knowing more about the African personality to first and foremost study African religion.
The need to study African Religion is strengthened by the contention that religion is the axis around which life in Africa revolves. It gains further weight in J.S. Mbiti's assertion that "Africans are notoriously religious." (40) This statement has become something of a truism in the study of religion in Africa.
African Religion as an agent of social reconstruction
African Religion provides people with a view of the world that inspires new ideas. That means that African Religion is a good agent of social reconstruction. As Aquiline Tarimo rightly says, "Naturally, all human beings are endowed with the gift of reason and as such are capable of anticipating the future with hope and a certain degree of dynamism. Metaphysical figures of speech, symbols, rituals, and spiritualities can easily demonstrate this assertion. A static culture does not exist. Everything is subject to change. What happened in the course of African history is that external forces of political and religious domination suppressed cultural and religious dynamics. Consequently, concerns about self-defense and self-preservation became important." (41)
Jesse Mugambi sees the notion of social reconstruction as belonging to the social sciences. Consequently, he borrows from Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann (42) who describe social reconstruction as "the reorganization of some aspects of a society in order to make it more responsive to changed circumstances." (43) Like Berger and Luckmann, Mugambi is convinced that religion has an important role in the social reconstruction of a society. As both object and agent of social reconstruction, he feels that, "religion provides the world view which synthesizes everything cherished by the individuals as corporate members of the community." (44) He thus exudes confidence that religion is the most vital project for the people who are undergoing a rapid change, as in post-colonial Africa.
In his theology of reconstruction, Mugambi is greatly influenced by Karl Jaspers' positive appraisal of mythical thinking; for according to him, "the myth tells a story and expresses intuitive insights, rather than universal concepts." (45) This prompts him to argue that, "a society which is incapable of making its own myths or re-interpreting its old ones, becomes extinct." (46) In view of this, Mugambi defines the vision of the theology of reconstruction, in Africa, as a project of "re-mythologization, in which the theologian thus engaged, discerns new symbols and new metaphors in which to recast the central Message of the Gospel." (47)
Consequently, he differs strongly with scholars like Bultmann whose theory of demythologization is contrasted with his "re-mythologization." He says, of Bultmann, "In (his) attempt to satisfy scientific positivism by denouncing myth (he) ends up destroying the reality of religion as a pillar of culture." For Jesse Mugambi, as with Jaspers, "myth is indispensable in cultural constructions of reality." For him, therefore, the idea of social reconstruction in post apartheid South Africa or in post Cold War Africa is tantamount to beginning to make new myths, and reinterpreting the old ones, for the survival of the African peoples. He says that, "a vanishing people must be replaced by the myth of a resurgent, or resilient people," while the myth of a "desperate people must be replaced by the myth of a people (who are) full of hope. The myth of a hungry people must be replaced by the myth of a people capable of feeding themselves, and so on." (48)
All in all, the proponents of religion as an agent of social transformation fail to acknowledge that religion can also be misused to cause division in society. It can equally be used to "underdevelop" people. It can be used as a tool of instability where blind adherence to religious convictions leads to suspicions, pride and even violence.
Conclusion
The significance of religion in African society should not be downplayed; and as Paul F. Knitter notes, nothing comes before people's religious identity and convictions. If this identity is threatened, everything must be sacrificed or ventured in order to preserve it. (49) This also agrees with Paul Tillich's assertion that, "Religion is our Ultimate Concern. Nothing is more ultimate."
A study of African Religion is tantamount to a religious dialogue. If it is done by Christian theologians, it amounts to a dialogue between Christianity and African religion. As Hans Kung says, "There will be no peace among nations without peace among religions. And no peace among religions without greater dialogue among religions." (50) He goes on to say, "We need a more intensive philosophical and theological dialogue of theologians and specialists in religion which takes religious plurality seriously in theological terms, accepts the challenge of the other religions, and investigates their significance for each person's own religion." (51)
This dialogue is crucial considering that the dialogue between, for instance, Christianity and African religion has never been a real conversation. For as Laurenti Magesa says, the "Contact between Christianity and African Religion has historically been predominantly a monologue, bedevilled by assumptions prejudicial against the latter, with Christianity culturally more vocal and ideologically more aggressive. Therefore, what we have heard until now is largely Christianity speaking about African Religion, not African Religion speaking for itself." (52)
Thus there is need to study African Religion as a way of making it enter into a form of dialogue with other religions--as it is in this way that Africa will experience genuine shalom. It is this shalom that will bring wholeness in the Africa of the twenty-first century. We all have a duty to usher in a new dawn in Africa today.
(1.) Jesse Mugambi. Religion and Social Construction of Reality (Nairobi: University Press, 1996), 32; and African Christian Theology: An Introduction (Nairobi: Heinemann, 1989), 128.
(2.) John S. Mbiti. An Introduction to African Religion (London: Heinemann, 1975). 9.
(3.) J.O. Awolalu. "Sin and its Removal in African Traditional Religion." JAAR 44 (1976), 275.
(4.) See Kwame Bediako. Theology and Identity: The Impact of Culture Upon Christian Thought in the Second Century and Modern Africa (Oxford: Regnum, 1992).
(5.) See A. O. Hance and H. A. O. Mwakabana, eds., Theological Perspectives on. Other Faiths, LWF Documentation 47/1997 (Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 1997). 21-24.
(6.) See J.S. Mbiti, An Introduction, to African Religion (London: Heinemann, 1975); E. Bolaji Idowu, African, 'traditional Religion: A definition (London: S.C.M Press, 1973).
(7.) J.S Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (Nairobi: E.A.E.P, 1969), 1; cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, Comparative Studies of African Traditional Religions (Onitsha, Nigeria: IMICO Publishers, 1975), 5-10.
(8.) If we look for example at the concept of God in various regions of Africa we will find more commonalities than differences. For example the terms (for God) uMdali, uHlanga, uMenzi, iNkosi yezulu, uMvelingqanqi and uNkulunkulu were commonly found among the branches of the Nguni, the Zulu-speaking as well as the Xhosa-speaking people (See Janet Hodgson. The God of the Xhosa: A study of the origins and development of the traditional concepts of the Supreme Being (Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1982), 62.
(9.) Nokuzola Mndende. "Ancestors and Healing in African Religion: A South African Context" in Ancestors, Spirits and Healing in Africa and. Asia: A Challenge to the Church (ed. Ingo Wulfhorst; Geneva: The Lutheran World Federation, 2005), 13.
(10.) Mndende, "Ancestors and Healing," 13.
(11.) Tinyiko Sam Maluleke. "The Rediscovery of the Agency of Africans: An Emerging paradigm of Post-cold war and Post-apartheid Black and African thelogy," Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 108 (2000), 25.
(12.) P.A. Dopamu, "Towards understanding African Traditional Religion" Readings in African Traditional Religion: Structure, Meaning, Relevance, Future fed. E. M. Uka; New York: Peter Lang, 1991), 23.
(13.) Bolaji ldowu, African Traditional Religion: A definition (London: S.C.M Press, 1973), 6-8.
(14.) Janet Hodgson, The God of the Xhosa; A Study of the Origins and Development of the Traditional Concepts of the Supreme Being (Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1982), 85.
(15.) Laurenti Magesa, African Religion, The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life (Mary Knoll; Orbis, 1997), 16.
(16.) John V. Taylor, The Primal Vision: Christian Presence amid African Religion (London: SCM Press, 1963), 19.
(17.) J.S Mbiti. African Religions and Philosophy, 4.
(18.) See Jesse Mugambi, Christian Theology and Social Reconstruction (Nairobi: Acton, 2003), 113.
(19.) See Jesse Mugambi, African Christian Theology: An Introduction (Nairobi: Heinemann, 1989), 4.
(20.) Quoted in Jesse Mugambi 1989, 6.
(21.) Tinyiko Sam Maluleke. "The Rediscovery of the Agency of Africans," 25, and M. A. Oduyoye, introducing. African Women's Theology (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001). (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001).
(22.) Augustine Shutte, Ubuntu: An ethic for a New South Africa (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001), 9.
(23.) See Julius Gathogo Mutugi. The Truth About African Hospitality: Is There Hope for Africa? (Mombasa: The Salt, 2001), 21.
(24.) John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 108
(25.) Augustine Shutte, Philosophy for Africa (Rondebosch, South Africa: UCT Press, 1993), 46.
(26.) E.D. Prinsloo, Ubuntu from a Eurocentric and Afrocentric Perspective and its Influence on Leadership (Pretoria: Ubuntu School of Philosophy, 1995), 4.
(27.) J. Teffo, The Concept of Ubuntu as a Cohesive Moral Value (Pretoria: Ubuntu School of Philosophy, 1994), 4.
(28.) Jesse Mugambi, From Liberation to Reconstruction: Africa after the Cold War (Nairobi: E.AE.P., 1995), 132.
(29.) See J. Broodryk, Ubuntu Management and Motivation (Johannesburg: Gauteng Department of Welfare, 1997), 5, 7, 9.
(30.) S. Maphisa. Man in constant search of Ubuntu: a dramatist's obsession (Pretoria: Ubuntu School of Philosophy, 1994), 8.
(31.) Laurenti Magesa, African Religion, 7.
(32.) Aylward Shorter. "Problems and Possibilities for the Church's Dialogue With African Traditional Religion," in Dialogue with the African Traditional Religions (ed. A. Shorter; Kampala: Gaba Publications, 1975), 7.
(33.) V. E. A. Okwuosa, In the Name of Christianity: The Missionaries in Africa (Philadelphia and Ardmore: Dorrance & Company, 1977), 26.
(34.) J.M. Waliggo. "Ganda Traditional Religion and Catholicism in Buganda, 1948-75," in Fashole-Luke et al., eds. 1978. Christianity in Independent Africa (Bloomington & London: Indiana University Press, 1978) 34-42.
(35.) Gwinyai Muzorewa, "The Future of African Theology," Journal of Black Theology in South Africa 4, 1990, 50-51.
(36.) Samuel G. Kibicho. "The Continuity of the African Conception of God into and through Christianity: A Kikuyu Case-study," in E. Fashole-Luke et al., Eds 1978. Christianity in Independent Africa (Bloomington & London: Indiana University Press, 1978), 370-88.
(37.) African Traditional Religion in South Africa: An Annotated Bibliography (London: Greenwood Press, 1997), 2.
(38.) B.W. Burleson, John Mbiti: The Dialogue of an African Theologian with African Religion (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1986), 12.
(39.) Mbiti, An Introduction to African Religion, xii.
(40.) J.S Mbiti, An Introduction to African Religion, 1.
(41.) Aquiline Tarimo. Applied Ethics and Africa's Social Reconstruction (Nairobi: Acton, 2005), 20.
(42.) See Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. Social Reconstruction of Reality (New York: Penguin Books, 1967).
(43.) J. Njoroge wa Ngugi, Creation in " The catechism of the Catholic Church": A Basis for Catechesis in post-colonial Africa (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa. 2007), 73.
(44.) Jesse Mugambi. From Liberation to Reconstruction, 17.
(45.) K. Jaspers, "Myth and Religion" in Kerygma and Myth: A Theological Debate (E. HansWerner Bansch, ed.; London: SPCK, 1972), 144.
(46.) Jesse Mugambi. From Liberation to Reconstruction, 37.
(47.) Jesse Mugambi. "The Bible and Ecumenism in African Christianity," in Hannah Kinoti and John Waliggo (Eds) 1997. The Bible in African Christianity (Nairobi: Acton Publishers, 1997), 75.
(48.) Jesse Mugambi. From Liberation to Reconstruction, 37-38.
(49.) P.F. Knitter, "Religion, Power, Dialogue" in Swedish Missiological Themes, 93, 1 (2005), 30.
(50.) Hans Kung. Global Responsibility: In search of a New World Ethic (New York: Crossroad, 1991), xv.
(51.) Hans Kung, Global Responsibility, 137-8
(52.) African Religion, 5.
Julius Mutugi Gathogo, Ph. D.
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
African Traditional Religion (ATR) as a contested phrase
In most publications, African Religion is commonly referred to as African Traditional Religion (ATR). This designation is, however, a contested description of African religiosity. To some, the term "traditional" betrays Christian bias, meant to portray African religiosity as old fashioned and outdated; hence irrelevant. Some have the view that it should simply be referred to as "African Religion," just as there is, for instance, Muslim Religion or Hindu Religion.
Some have even argued that with the center of Christian gravity having shifted to Africa, it is imprecise to talk of African Religion (AR) since Christianity has also become an African Religion. (4) Others would talk of Islam as an African religion. So how do we tell the difference between Christianity and the pre-Christian or pre-Muslim religious discourses in Africa?
For our purposes African Religion refers to an indigenous system of beliefs and practices that are integrated into the culture and the worldviews of the African peoples. (5) As in other primal religions, one is born into it as a way of life with its cultural manifestations and religious implications.
In general, African indigenous religion
i) Cultivates the whole person. African religion permeates all departments of life.
ii) It provides people with a view of the world.
iii) It answers some questions that nothing else can.
iv) It provides humanity with moral values by which to live.
v) It gives food for spiritual hunger.
vi) It has inspired great ideas.
vii) It is a means of communication.
viii) It pays attention to the key moments in the life of the individual.
ix) It celebrates life.
x) It shows people their limitations. (6)
It is a unique religion whose sources include: sacred places and religious objects such as rocks, hills, mountains, trees, caves and other holy places; rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the people; art and symbols; music and dance; proverbs, riddles, and wise sayings; and names of people and places. In Nigeria, for example, the name Babatunde means "father returns." It is given to a male child born immediately after the death of his grandfather. Beliefs cover topics such as God, spirits, birth, death, the hereafter, magic, and witchcraft. Religion, in the African indigenous context, permeates all departments of life.
Is it African Religions or African Religion?
John S. Mbiti explains that "we speak of African traditional religions in the plural because there are about one thousand African peoples (tribes), and each has its own religious system." (7) He cites the fact that there are numerous different peoples in Africa, each having a very different religious system. Conversely, Mbiti considers African philosophy as another matter; for while the religious expressions in the African context are observable, one cannot claim the same thing about the philosophy behind them. Thus, to Mbiti, the philosophy underlying the religious expression of the African people is singular in form.
This is contested by Nokuzola Mn-dende, a South African, who holds that it should be referred to as "African Religion," as "no religion is monolithic but people look at the common features." She says, "We never hear people talking about Christianities, Islams, Hinduisms etc. We cannot, for example, talk about Zulu Religion or Xhosa Religion (8)--African Religion is one. While there are differences in some of the customs and objects used to perform rituals, the underlying principle remains the same." (9)
Mndende builds on her credentials as an authority in her field of African Religion when she says, "I am writing from the perspective of a believer in and practitioner of African Religion. I am not a Christian. Christianity constitutes one but not the only way to God; there are many ways and African Religion is one of them." (10)
Mndende's contention finds some support from some African Christian theologians who argue, in their diverse ways, that "the God of Africa is as good as the God of Christendom, if not better." They include Samuel Kibicho, John Gatu, Gabba and Gabriel Setiloane. (11)
In general, there is a regular rhythm in the pattern of the people's beliefs and practices. And this regular rhythm is the universal belief in the Supreme Being as "an integral part of African world view and practical religion." (12) And in the words of Bolaji Idowu, "We find that in Africa, the real cohesive factor of religion is the living God and that without this one factor, all things would fall to pieces. And it is on this ground especially--this identical concept that we can speak of the religion of Africa in the singular." (13)
If we take for example, the case of the Xhosa community of South Africa, we will find that their world-view has it that Qamata (God) was approached through the ancestors. In addition, the ancestral spirits have always acted as mediators between human beings, who stood at the bottom, and Qamata, who stood at the top. (14) This imagery, like many others, is a wide-spread notion; for even among the Kikuyu of East Africa the ancestral spirits acted as mediators between human beings and God (Ngai). This shows that the African religiosity has fundamental commonalities that make it African Religion rather than African Religions.
In recent times, most African scholars of African religion, including Mbiti, have agreed that "African Religion is one in essence." (15) for despite its varieties, there is undeniably, a "basic world-view which fundamentally is everywhere the same. (16)
The plural context in doing African Religion
We must acknowledge that any religious discourse in Africa will have to be done within the context of religio-social pluralism; for indeed, Africa is full of plural faith traditions. The dominant ones are: African (Indigenous) Religion, Christianity, and Islam. Even within the traditional religions, John Mbiti rightly says that "Traditional religions are not universal: they are tribal or national. Each religion is bound and limited to the people among whom it has evolved. One traditional religion cannot be propagated in another tribal group. This does not rule out the fact that religious ideas may spread from one people to another. But such ideas, spread spontaneously, especially through migrations, intermarriage, conquest, or expert knowledge being sought by individuals of one tribal group from another. Traditional religions have no missionaries to propagate them; and one individual does not preach his (or her) religion to another." (17)
Even within the Christian churches, African diversity can also be experienced. African Christianity is, too often, described in terms of Catholicism, Protestantism and African Instituted churches. And in view of this diversity in Africa, some African theologians have expressed the view that the terms "Africa" and "African" should be interpreted ideologically rather than racially. (18)
The diversity of the African people is further compounded by the history of the colonial experience in each particular African state. That is, the fact that we have Lusophone Africa, Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, Arabphone Africa and the immediate post-Apartheid South Africa and Namibia, which were under the Boers up to the early 1990s, adds to the diversity of Africa as different powers had different ways of orienting their subjects. (19) The Arab slave traders, for example, in the East Coast of Africa intermarried with the local inhabitants and their intermarriage produced the Swahili people.
Apart from the colonial history, the migrational patterns of the people of Africa themselves also contributes to the diversity of Africa. For example, while colonial powers partitioned Africa after the Berlin Conference of 1884/5, thereby dividing the various African communities, the internal rivalries and warfare among the African people themselves also contributed to the current diversity that defines Africa today. An illustration of this: after colonialism, the Maasai found themselves in Kenya and Tanzania; the Luo found themselves in Uganda, Kenya and Sudan; the Chewa found themselves in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. On the other hand, Shaka the Zulu wars of the 19th century saw the Nguni speakers migrate from South Africa to Malawi, Zambia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, among other places.
Homogeneity in doing African Religion: a pointer to its relevance?
Walter Rodney rightly emphasizes that what has commonly characterized Africa in "recent history is its political and economic exploitation." (20) Rodney was alluding to how Europe was "continuously under developing Africa." Curiously, Africa is still marginalized in the New World Order, as affirmed by Ti-nyiko Maluleke and Mercy Oduyoye. (21)
Africa's religio-cultural diversity can be said to have been exaggerated at the expense of its religio-cultural unity; and this can be explained by addressing the Ubuntu philosophy, which, in my opinion, would best describe the African homogeneity. Augustine Shutte observes that the concept of Ubuntu, which is a Zulu word for human-ness, was developed over many centuries in traditional African culture. This culture was pre-literate, pre-scientific and pre-industrial. (22) The concept of Ubuntu was originally expressed in the songs and stories, the customs and the institutions of the people. As an African philosophy, Ubuntu is well summed up in Mbiti's words, "I am, because we are; and since we are, therefore I am." Mbiti's summary of the African philosophy is sharply opposed to "I think therefore I exist" by Rene Descartes, the French Philosopher who can be said to have summed up the Western philosophy. (23)
Mbiti appears to be building on the Ubuntu philosophy when he says, "Only in terms of other people does the individual become conscious of his (or her) own being, his (or her) own duties, his (or her) privileges and responsibilities towards himself (or herself) and towards other people. When he (or she) suffers, he (or she) does not suffer alone but with the corporate group; when he (or she) rejoices, he (or she) rejoices not alone but with his (or her) kinsmen (or kinswomen), his (or her) neighbors and his (or her) relatives whether dead or living. When he (or she) married, he (or she) is not alone; neither does the wife (or husband) 'belong' to him (or her) alone. So also the children belong to the corporate body of kinsmen (or kinswomen), even if they bear only their father's name. Whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual." (24)
The strength of this philosophy in our modern African society is seen in Shutte's contention that since many of the old customs would be a betrayal to the spirit of Ubuntu in our contemporary society, it is important for us (in Africa) to find a way of "living Ubuntu in a society where the dominant culture is European, not African, and where many other cultures from other parts of the world exist together." Shutte's view, however, does not mean that there is nothing uniquely African today, as this paper is seeking to show, rather, he means that, as a result of socio-historical factors, African cultural systems have been greatly affected by the dominant European culture that mainly came to Africa through the process of acculturation.
As a spiritual foundation of African societies, Ubuntu is a unifying vision or worldview enshrined in the Zulu Maxim Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, that is, "a person is a person through other persons." (25) This Ubuntu concept is also found in other African communities, even though there are different vocabularies and phrases that are used to describe it. This African aphorism articulates a basic respect and compassion for others as its bottom line. Ubuntu has a certain Africanness and religious commitment in the welfare of fellow human beings that is manifestly African in essence. Indeed, while Western humanism tends to underestimate or even deny the importance of religious beliefs, Ubuntu or African humanism is resiliently religious. (26)
While to the Westerner, the Maxim "a person is a person through other persons" has no obvious religious connotations, the maxim has a deep religious meaning in African tradition. When Julius Nyerere coined his Ujamaa concept (from Jamii--meaning family), he was talking from this Ubuntu background. He saw Africa as one family and the whole world as an extended family. It is in this same spirit that the whole clan is seen as a family. Most Africans still think of themselves in the context of this extended relationship.
Another distinctive quality of the Ubuntu philosophy is the African emphasis on consensus. Indeed, the African traditional culture has, seemingly, an almost infinite capacity for the pursuit of consensus and reconciliation. (27) Democracy in the African way does not simply boil down to majority rule since it operates in the form of discussions geared towards a consensus.
This view is clearly captured by Jesse Mugambi when he says that, "The traditional court would appreciate the views of every participant, and weigh the opinions of everyone irrespective of social status." Decisions are reached through consensus, as there is no voting. Whenever there are "irreconcilable difference, decision is postponed until a consensus emerges." (28) This important aim of consensus building rather than dividing the people along the lines of "winners versus losers" is expressed by words like twi hamwe (Kikuyu for "we are together") tuko nawewe (Swahili for "you are not alone") Simunye (We are one), (that is, Unity is strength), and slogans like "an injury to one is an injury to all." (29)
Despite Ubuntu's articulation of important values such as respect, human dignity and compassion, it can be exploited to enforce group solidarity and therefore fail to safeguard the rights and opinions of individuals and the minority. True Ubuntu however requires an authentic respect for individual rights and values and an honest appreciation of diversities amongst the people. Whatever the argument, Ubuntu, best illustrates the African homogeneity which can be exploited for the good of Africa in the 21st century.
It is disheartening to note that Ubuntu, in our modern times, is undermined by the violent ethnic and political conflicts that have plagued sub-Saharan Africa. Of course, it is a result of a failure to adhere to the original ideals of the philosophy, which sees every "neighbor" as part of the extended family, and thus treats him or her with lots of African hospitality. Nevertheless, Maphisa argues that South Africans are slowly re-discovering their common humanity. He says, "Gone are the days when people were stripped of their dignity (ubuntu) through harsh laws, gone are the days when people had to use ubulwane (that is, animal like behavior) to uphold or reinforce those laws. I suggest that the transformation of an apartheid South Africa into a democracy is a rediscovery of ubuntu." (30)
Ubuntu is clearly in need of revitalization in the hearts and minds of the African people so that its ethos can be truly a gift that African philosophy can bequeath to other philosophies of the world.
An acknowledgement that every culture has its dark and dangerous side as well helps the Ubuntu philosophy today to absorb the strength of the European cultural emphasis on freedom of the individual while at the same time building on the strength of the African cultural emphasis on the idea of community. This acknowledgement helps to produce a synthesis that is true to the African tradition while at the same time it can also be applied to the new world that European science and technology is in the process of creating."
The influence of African Religion
Apart from the South African religious notion of Ubuntu, whose philosophical emphasis is found in the rest of Africa, the influence of African Religion among the people of Africa is seen in Laurenti Magesa's contention that most of the time, African Christians "seek comfort in their own religious symbol systems, even though these may not correspond exactly to those inculcated and expected by their Christian leaders. Indeed, these are often symbols and rituals that church leaders have explicitly condemned." (31)
Aylward Shorter has described this situation further when he says that the African Christian repudiates "remarkably little of his former non-Christian outlook." Consequently, the African Christian operates with "two thought-systems at once, and both of them are closed to each other. Each is only superficially modified by the other." (32)
Writing in 1960, the Nigerian Chief Obafemi Awolowo made substantially the same point with reference to his own country. He pointed out that "Christian and Moslem beliefs and practices are, with many a Nigerian, nothing but veneers and social facades: at heart and in the privacy of their lives, most Nigerian Christians and Moslems" are African religious traditionalists. (33)
According to John M. Waliggo, Christian evangelizers convinced themselves that the Baganda had been "civilized," that is, completely won over to Christianity. But when Kabaka Mutesa II, their king, was exiled in 1953, many Baganda Christians identified with traditionalists, rejecting Christian prayers as ineffective in bringing him back. Again in 1961, many Buganda Catholics "turned a deaf ear" to Archbishop Kiwanuka's letter against the traditionalist-tinted political party Kabaka Yekka (which literally means Kabaka alone!) and continued to support it. And despite the phenomenal spread of Christianity in Buganda, many expressions of African Religion such as divination and the use of healing practices continue even though Christianity expressly forbids them. (34) This draws its parallelism with Gwinyai Muzorewa's experience. He says: "I was surprised when many Christians in Zimbabwe reverted to traditionalism. Some members of the clergy also turned to traditionalism during the seven years war (1972-1979) in the country. They were persuaded to believe that their ancestor spirit has a major part to play in the whole experience." (35) Similarly, Samuel G. Kibicho shows the role that the Kikuyu conception of God (Ngai) played in their struggle against colonialism in the 1950s and how it has been an important factor in their response to Christian evangelization from the beginning. (36)
In their book, David Chidester, Chirevo Kwenda, Robert Petty, Judy Tobler, and Darrel Wratten have attempted to show the influence of African Religion amongst the indigenous people of Africa when they say that, "The popular version of African traditional religion is what Africans (including some elites, though mostly the masses) do with no regard for what Westerners, or any one else, may or may not think about it. It is what Africans do when they are just Africans. Now this does not mean that such a practice is completely untouched by alien influences, be they religious (such as Christianity or Islam) or secular (such as modernity); what it means is that in full cognizance of their historical context Africans do what they do for their own reasons rather than to impress someone else. In other words, while talking to the West is unavoidable--for the elite--and talking back to the West may be progressive, it is only through turning away from and not talking to the West that the possibility of considering African traditional religion in its own right translates into a reality." (37)
Laurenti Magesa builds on the premise that the importance of African religion in Africa cannot be downplayed, for even the African converts to Christianity (or Islam) still retain their inner motivation for their religious life in African religion. Mbiti graphically captures this view when he says that Africans "come out of African religion but they don't take off their traditional religiosity. They come as they are. They come as people whose world view is shaped according to African religion." (38)
If there are any changes during this process, Mbiti perceptively points out, that they "are generally on the surface, affecting the material side of life, and only beginning to reach the deeper levels of thinking pattern, language content, mental images, emotions, beliefs and response in situations of need. Traditional concepts still form the essential background of many African peoples ..." (39) In other words, their inner religious drive remains overwhelmingly part of African religion. Consequently, the convert may publicly claim the new intended meaning while unconsciously ascribing to them a different one--that is African religion. Thus, there is every need for everyone who is interested in knowing more about the African personality to first and foremost study African religion.
The need to study African Religion is strengthened by the contention that religion is the axis around which life in Africa revolves. It gains further weight in J.S. Mbiti's assertion that "Africans are notoriously religious." (40) This statement has become something of a truism in the study of religion in Africa.
African Religion as an agent of social reconstruction
African Religion provides people with a view of the world that inspires new ideas. That means that African Religion is a good agent of social reconstruction. As Aquiline Tarimo rightly says, "Naturally, all human beings are endowed with the gift of reason and as such are capable of anticipating the future with hope and a certain degree of dynamism. Metaphysical figures of speech, symbols, rituals, and spiritualities can easily demonstrate this assertion. A static culture does not exist. Everything is subject to change. What happened in the course of African history is that external forces of political and religious domination suppressed cultural and religious dynamics. Consequently, concerns about self-defense and self-preservation became important." (41)
Jesse Mugambi sees the notion of social reconstruction as belonging to the social sciences. Consequently, he borrows from Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann (42) who describe social reconstruction as "the reorganization of some aspects of a society in order to make it more responsive to changed circumstances." (43) Like Berger and Luckmann, Mugambi is convinced that religion has an important role in the social reconstruction of a society. As both object and agent of social reconstruction, he feels that, "religion provides the world view which synthesizes everything cherished by the individuals as corporate members of the community." (44) He thus exudes confidence that religion is the most vital project for the people who are undergoing a rapid change, as in post-colonial Africa.
In his theology of reconstruction, Mugambi is greatly influenced by Karl Jaspers' positive appraisal of mythical thinking; for according to him, "the myth tells a story and expresses intuitive insights, rather than universal concepts." (45) This prompts him to argue that, "a society which is incapable of making its own myths or re-interpreting its old ones, becomes extinct." (46) In view of this, Mugambi defines the vision of the theology of reconstruction, in Africa, as a project of "re-mythologization, in which the theologian thus engaged, discerns new symbols and new metaphors in which to recast the central Message of the Gospel." (47)
Consequently, he differs strongly with scholars like Bultmann whose theory of demythologization is contrasted with his "re-mythologization." He says, of Bultmann, "In (his) attempt to satisfy scientific positivism by denouncing myth (he) ends up destroying the reality of religion as a pillar of culture." For Jesse Mugambi, as with Jaspers, "myth is indispensable in cultural constructions of reality." For him, therefore, the idea of social reconstruction in post apartheid South Africa or in post Cold War Africa is tantamount to beginning to make new myths, and reinterpreting the old ones, for the survival of the African peoples. He says that, "a vanishing people must be replaced by the myth of a resurgent, or resilient people," while the myth of a "desperate people must be replaced by the myth of a people (who are) full of hope. The myth of a hungry people must be replaced by the myth of a people capable of feeding themselves, and so on." (48)
All in all, the proponents of religion as an agent of social transformation fail to acknowledge that religion can also be misused to cause division in society. It can equally be used to "underdevelop" people. It can be used as a tool of instability where blind adherence to religious convictions leads to suspicions, pride and even violence.
Conclusion
The significance of religion in African society should not be downplayed; and as Paul F. Knitter notes, nothing comes before people's religious identity and convictions. If this identity is threatened, everything must be sacrificed or ventured in order to preserve it. (49) This also agrees with Paul Tillich's assertion that, "Religion is our Ultimate Concern. Nothing is more ultimate."
A study of African Religion is tantamount to a religious dialogue. If it is done by Christian theologians, it amounts to a dialogue between Christianity and African religion. As Hans Kung says, "There will be no peace among nations without peace among religions. And no peace among religions without greater dialogue among religions." (50) He goes on to say, "We need a more intensive philosophical and theological dialogue of theologians and specialists in religion which takes religious plurality seriously in theological terms, accepts the challenge of the other religions, and investigates their significance for each person's own religion." (51)
This dialogue is crucial considering that the dialogue between, for instance, Christianity and African religion has never been a real conversation. For as Laurenti Magesa says, the "Contact between Christianity and African Religion has historically been predominantly a monologue, bedevilled by assumptions prejudicial against the latter, with Christianity culturally more vocal and ideologically more aggressive. Therefore, what we have heard until now is largely Christianity speaking about African Religion, not African Religion speaking for itself." (52)
Thus there is need to study African Religion as a way of making it enter into a form of dialogue with other religions--as it is in this way that Africa will experience genuine shalom. It is this shalom that will bring wholeness in the Africa of the twenty-first century. We all have a duty to usher in a new dawn in Africa today.
(1.) Jesse Mugambi. Religion and Social Construction of Reality (Nairobi: University Press, 1996), 32; and African Christian Theology: An Introduction (Nairobi: Heinemann, 1989), 128.
(2.) John S. Mbiti. An Introduction to African Religion (London: Heinemann, 1975). 9.
(3.) J.O. Awolalu. "Sin and its Removal in African Traditional Religion." JAAR 44 (1976), 275.
(4.) See Kwame Bediako. Theology and Identity: The Impact of Culture Upon Christian Thought in the Second Century and Modern Africa (Oxford: Regnum, 1992).
(5.) See A. O. Hance and H. A. O. Mwakabana, eds., Theological Perspectives on. Other Faiths, LWF Documentation 47/1997 (Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 1997). 21-24.
(6.) See J.S. Mbiti, An Introduction, to African Religion (London: Heinemann, 1975); E. Bolaji Idowu, African, 'traditional Religion: A definition (London: S.C.M Press, 1973).
(7.) J.S Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (Nairobi: E.A.E.P, 1969), 1; cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, Comparative Studies of African Traditional Religions (Onitsha, Nigeria: IMICO Publishers, 1975), 5-10.
(8.) If we look for example at the concept of God in various regions of Africa we will find more commonalities than differences. For example the terms (for God) uMdali, uHlanga, uMenzi, iNkosi yezulu, uMvelingqanqi and uNkulunkulu were commonly found among the branches of the Nguni, the Zulu-speaking as well as the Xhosa-speaking people (See Janet Hodgson. The God of the Xhosa: A study of the origins and development of the traditional concepts of the Supreme Being (Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1982), 62.
(9.) Nokuzola Mndende. "Ancestors and Healing in African Religion: A South African Context" in Ancestors, Spirits and Healing in Africa and. Asia: A Challenge to the Church (ed. Ingo Wulfhorst; Geneva: The Lutheran World Federation, 2005), 13.
(10.) Mndende, "Ancestors and Healing," 13.
(11.) Tinyiko Sam Maluleke. "The Rediscovery of the Agency of Africans: An Emerging paradigm of Post-cold war and Post-apartheid Black and African thelogy," Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 108 (2000), 25.
(12.) P.A. Dopamu, "Towards understanding African Traditional Religion" Readings in African Traditional Religion: Structure, Meaning, Relevance, Future fed. E. M. Uka; New York: Peter Lang, 1991), 23.
(13.) Bolaji ldowu, African Traditional Religion: A definition (London: S.C.M Press, 1973), 6-8.
(14.) Janet Hodgson, The God of the Xhosa; A Study of the Origins and Development of the Traditional Concepts of the Supreme Being (Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1982), 85.
(15.) Laurenti Magesa, African Religion, The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life (Mary Knoll; Orbis, 1997), 16.
(16.) John V. Taylor, The Primal Vision: Christian Presence amid African Religion (London: SCM Press, 1963), 19.
(17.) J.S Mbiti. African Religions and Philosophy, 4.
(18.) See Jesse Mugambi, Christian Theology and Social Reconstruction (Nairobi: Acton, 2003), 113.
(19.) See Jesse Mugambi, African Christian Theology: An Introduction (Nairobi: Heinemann, 1989), 4.
(20.) Quoted in Jesse Mugambi 1989, 6.
(21.) Tinyiko Sam Maluleke. "The Rediscovery of the Agency of Africans," 25, and M. A. Oduyoye, introducing. African Women's Theology (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001). (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001).
(22.) Augustine Shutte, Ubuntu: An ethic for a New South Africa (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001), 9.
(23.) See Julius Gathogo Mutugi. The Truth About African Hospitality: Is There Hope for Africa? (Mombasa: The Salt, 2001), 21.
(24.) John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 108
(25.) Augustine Shutte, Philosophy for Africa (Rondebosch, South Africa: UCT Press, 1993), 46.
(26.) E.D. Prinsloo, Ubuntu from a Eurocentric and Afrocentric Perspective and its Influence on Leadership (Pretoria: Ubuntu School of Philosophy, 1995), 4.
(27.) J. Teffo, The Concept of Ubuntu as a Cohesive Moral Value (Pretoria: Ubuntu School of Philosophy, 1994), 4.
(28.) Jesse Mugambi, From Liberation to Reconstruction: Africa after the Cold War (Nairobi: E.AE.P., 1995), 132.
(29.) See J. Broodryk, Ubuntu Management and Motivation (Johannesburg: Gauteng Department of Welfare, 1997), 5, 7, 9.
(30.) S. Maphisa. Man in constant search of Ubuntu: a dramatist's obsession (Pretoria: Ubuntu School of Philosophy, 1994), 8.
(31.) Laurenti Magesa, African Religion, 7.
(32.) Aylward Shorter. "Problems and Possibilities for the Church's Dialogue With African Traditional Religion," in Dialogue with the African Traditional Religions (ed. A. Shorter; Kampala: Gaba Publications, 1975), 7.
(33.) V. E. A. Okwuosa, In the Name of Christianity: The Missionaries in Africa (Philadelphia and Ardmore: Dorrance & Company, 1977), 26.
(34.) J.M. Waliggo. "Ganda Traditional Religion and Catholicism in Buganda, 1948-75," in Fashole-Luke et al., eds. 1978. Christianity in Independent Africa (Bloomington & London: Indiana University Press, 1978) 34-42.
(35.) Gwinyai Muzorewa, "The Future of African Theology," Journal of Black Theology in South Africa 4, 1990, 50-51.
(36.) Samuel G. Kibicho. "The Continuity of the African Conception of God into and through Christianity: A Kikuyu Case-study," in E. Fashole-Luke et al., Eds 1978. Christianity in Independent Africa (Bloomington & London: Indiana University Press, 1978), 370-88.
(37.) African Traditional Religion in South Africa: An Annotated Bibliography (London: Greenwood Press, 1997), 2.
(38.) B.W. Burleson, John Mbiti: The Dialogue of an African Theologian with African Religion (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1986), 12.
(39.) Mbiti, An Introduction to African Religion, xii.
(40.) J.S Mbiti, An Introduction to African Religion, 1.
(41.) Aquiline Tarimo. Applied Ethics and Africa's Social Reconstruction (Nairobi: Acton, 2005), 20.
(42.) See Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. Social Reconstruction of Reality (New York: Penguin Books, 1967).
(43.) J. Njoroge wa Ngugi, Creation in " The catechism of the Catholic Church": A Basis for Catechesis in post-colonial Africa (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa. 2007), 73.
(44.) Jesse Mugambi. From Liberation to Reconstruction, 17.
(45.) K. Jaspers, "Myth and Religion" in Kerygma and Myth: A Theological Debate (E. HansWerner Bansch, ed.; London: SPCK, 1972), 144.
(46.) Jesse Mugambi. From Liberation to Reconstruction, 37.
(47.) Jesse Mugambi. "The Bible and Ecumenism in African Christianity," in Hannah Kinoti and John Waliggo (Eds) 1997. The Bible in African Christianity (Nairobi: Acton Publishers, 1997), 75.
(48.) Jesse Mugambi. From Liberation to Reconstruction, 37-38.
(49.) P.F. Knitter, "Religion, Power, Dialogue" in Swedish Missiological Themes, 93, 1 (2005), 30.
(50.) Hans Kung. Global Responsibility: In search of a New World Ethic (New York: Crossroad, 1991), xv.
(51.) Hans Kung, Global Responsibility, 137-8
(52.) African Religion, 5.
Julius Mutugi Gathogo, Ph. D.
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
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