P.

O Box 342-01000
Thika
Email: Info@[Link]
Web: [Link]

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES

COURSE CODE: BHU 1104

COURSE TITLE: AFRICAN CULTURE AND RELIGION

BY:REV. DR. REGINA KINUTHIA

CONTACT :0722487618

e-mail:kinuthiare@[Link]

copyright@2016-All rights reserved for MKU

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MEANING OF SYMBOLS

Objectives

Activity

!
Key note

Summary

Self Assessment Question (SAQs)

Further Reading

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COURSE OUTLINE

Week Topic Lectures

1 African culture  Culture
 Other meanings of culture

2 Cultural Determinants  Fire

 Language
 Covering
 The wheel

3 Components of Culture  Institutions, Customs, Morals and values

 Ideas , Language, Belief
 Technological advancements

4 African Traditional  Definition of Africans, tradition and religion

Religion  Different ATRs according to each communities

Continuous Assessment Test

5 &6 African worldview  God, Spirits

 Human beings
 Animals and plants and Phenomenological
objects
7 Five component of religion  Belief in supreme Deity, morals and values
 Religious Personnel’s and their role in worship
 Practices of worship and sacred objects & places
8&9 African religion or African  Reasons for the study of ATR
traditional religions  Elements to admire in ATR
 Derogatory terms
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Continuous Assessment Test
 Conversion or restructuring Africans?
10 African religion and  View of Africans on conversion
Christianity  Impact of Christianity on ATR

11 Effects of modernity on  African communal culture

African traditional religions  Rites of passage
 Worship
 lifestyles
12 Inculturation  Incuturation
 Indigenization
 Contextualization

13 Gospel values and culture  Class discussions according to their different

culture
 What is the relevance of the gospel values on
your culture?

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Recap of the main points Questions and Answer

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Lecture One

1. Introduction

a. Definition of Culture

Culture is

 The patterned way in which people do things together

 It is the totality of any given society’s way of life,

 The sum total of the material and intellectual equipment, whereby human
beings satisfy their biological and social needs and adapt themselves to
their environment.

 It is the cumulative knowledge of human achievements, which gives them

the ability to live and find their place in the universe.

 It is the mode of thinking and behavior shared by a substantial social

grouping which gives them identity in relation to others.

 It is the agreement spoken or unspoken that leads to common life and

corporate action and it includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals,
customs and all other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as
members of society.

 It is a people’s total social heritage, including language, ideas, habits,

beliefs, customs, social organization and traditions, arts and symbolism,

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 crafts and artifacts all the integrative forces such as religion, learned
behavior and practice.

In many African societies certain elements of culture are communicated orally

through proverbs, myths, folk tales, and various art forms, which become part of
mental furniture of all the members of that particular group. Through language
as a mode of communication, culture is received from the past through
socialization.

Culture is an integrated system of beliefs (about God or reality or ultimate

meaning), of values (about what is true, good, beautiful and normative), customs
(how to behave, relate to others, talk, dress, work, play, trade farm eat, etc.),
and of institutions which express these beliefs, values and customs (government,
laws, courts, temples or churches, family, schools, hospitals, factories, shops,
unions, clubs, etc), which binds a society together and gives it a sense of
identity, dignity, security, and continuity.

b. Other meanings

The term culture has acquired other meanings beside those given to it by
sociologist. For instance, a person is described as cultured or uncultured in
reference to whether or not a person is socially adjusted or refined or civilized
or is a cultural deviant or a misfit. Youth culture has been invented to fill the gap
created by adult who in away seems to have neglected the issues of youth. As a
result a natural grouping among young people has formed along common
interests and sensitivities. The contemporary youth culture is growing
worldwide; functions as peer culture defined by age and is propagated mainly
through music and advertising, satellites and television. The global youth culture
may further be divided among its own ethnic, geographical, and class groupings.

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The pop culture reflects the values and counter values of the masses in a
technological or urban culture. The values of any culture must be reinforced and
passed on to each emerging generation through cultural celebrations that
encourage the internalization of these social values. The customs and festivities
in which traditional cultures celebrated their values are no longer effective in
urban societies. Popular culture provides for the celebration of contemporary
culture. In contrast to elite culture, pop culture stands as the democratic
expression of an urban society. Through its mass media-art and architecture,
music, movies and videos, radio and TV, newspapers and magazines-it informs,
unifies and entertains. These ways of looking at culture differ from the so-called
scientific approach.

The material culture rotates around the development of things or property. It is

the increasing desire to develop and possess materials to make our life happy,
harmonious and sustainable. For instance, cooking fuel has development from
firewood to charcoal to stoves to electricity and eventually to gas; development
of computers and mobile phones; development of transportation to an airplane
etc. In the material culture people are classified with what they have. For
instances, the amount of wealth in terms of vehicles, stone building, computer;
the level of education; the kind of job that a person does; material culture
infiltrate all other cultures and affect them drastically. The world is quickly
moving towards the direction of material culture: the desire to be big, wealthy
and educated

The indigenous culture implies that it is exclusive and peculiar to that society,
but this is invalid because of cultural contact or acculturation. There is no
culture that could be said to be pure. For example Romans and Greek cultures
have influenced other European cultures in many ways, while most African

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cultures have been influenced by western cultures especially in naming of
peoples, places and foods. This difficulty circumvented by the use of the term
“traditional” to imply the pure culture of a place. For the term traditional applied
to the indigenous government or dancing of that part of Africa.

Cultures are never static, but are in a continuous process of change just as
human behavior. Human behavior is passed on and acquired during the process
of socialization. These human behaviors are so institutionalized that they are
part and parcel of people social systems. They are compulsory social facets that
constitute the various institutions which guide and direct our actions in society.
Since ecological factors influence human behavior, cultures have a symbiotic
affinity with environment. For example the ways we use kiss as an expression of
affection vary from one environment to the other. The English man kisses a lady
on the cheek as a symbol of affection or on the lips with deep passion if they are
lovers. The continental European men kiss their fellow men on both cheeks. An
African would consider men kissing their fellow men as ridiculous and feeble. An
English gentleman gets up for the lady to sit but an African lady, unless she is
westernized, gets up for a man. All these various ways of behaving are part of
culture.

Culture should change so gradual as to take place within the accepted norms;
otherwise the culture is disrupted. The worst penalty that can be inflicted on the
rebel is exclusion from the culturally defined social community

Lecture two

Cultural Determinant

There are four main cultural determinants, which develop from the cradle to
death.
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 i. Fire
Fire is important as an ingredient of bringing comfort to the human life. Without
fire people will tend to be confined to the warm region only. Again without fire
people may not very much differentiate different tastes of food- cooked, boiled
and baked. All these types of cooking produce different tastes of food. Fire has
been used by human beings for warming themselves, preparing food, and as
energy producer; metal and stone melting and pottery. Through the modern
technology both electrical and fuel energy has been developed. Culture was
created around fire. Culture did not develop fire but discovered it.

ii. Language
Language is an important cultural determinant that develops and maintains itself
through embodying cultural achievements and traditions. Each society expresses
itself in different languages, which shows what a group has in common, and why
it is different from others. Language is the only clear media of expressing our
culture. It enables us to know what individual members of a society should learn,
the moral conduct, common standards of good, right and wrong.

iii. Covering/ Dressing/ Clothing

This is an important cultural component without which confining people to a cold
or warm place would be the case. Animals grow cover or fur or feathers that
make them adapt easily to climatic changes. Human beings do not have the
capacity. Human hair is not like the animals. It is not enough to sustain them.
Covering is a very important cultural invention that enables people to respond to
different types of weather. Covering developed from the human realization that
they were different from animals and also from their desire to cover their
privacy. The first type of covering was leaves which would dry very quickly
leaving the person naked. Then there was the use of animal skin and bark of a

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tree to the modern day clothing. It is clear that out of the notion of nakedness
invention of how to cover it developed. In cold weather, warm clothes were
discovered to help someone adapt, to a place while in warm weather, light
clothes were invented. In every culture there are ideas that regulate people’s
dressing.

iv. The Wheel

This cultural component is a means through which human mobility is made easy.
The need to find quick means of traveling led to the development of wheels to
enhance transport of both goods and people. The life of the Cave required very
little mobility. As they made new discoveries and distance increased there was a
need to cover this distance with the young and old ones and their goods. The
first wheel to be developed was the animal wheel. This is the taming of animals
for riding. Animals have the capacity to move faster than humans. Secondly, they
developed a wagon to be pulled or pushed by animals or humans. These two
have developed into modern vehicles like bicycle, motorcycles and vehicles.
Vehicles developed into airplanes and ship riders etc. Recently, we have the
supersonic wheels to make human life easier. The development of wheels has
affected every institution, rules and regulations of culture. Through the wheel
we are able to go far and discover new places, animals, trees etc. It has taken us
away from what is familiar affecting our culture, politics and structures. It has
brought different standard of beliefs and action, affected the way human lived.

Lecture three

Components of Culture

i. Institutions

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Understood sociological institutions are made when groups of people, satisfied
and defined by different kin organize themselves in clusters of rules and
regulation. Every society develops its standards in terms of men and women
institutions. An institution is defined as a frame work acting as an instrument for
the operation or understanding of the people involved. Institutions function as
cluster of rules that indicates how person in particular position of responsibility
should behave or act. For example family institutions enable us to understand
the moral codes that bind the roles of father, mother and children and moral
codes guides the professional roles of doctors, teacher etc. for us to have strong
institutions we need to look at individuals in institutions; what are the socially
necessary tasks that each one is playing. In terms of rule we look at customs
and modes.

ii. Customs

These are conventional practices or conformity to accepted practice which are

appropriate to living. They are not enforced. Failure to be conventional or to
conform may not amount to anything e.g. the standard of dressing. People will
only laugh at you, no more. In terms of marriage (outside the clan), nobody will
be bothered much. In terms of rites of passage e.g. circumcision, one can refuse
to adhere to this custom. Therefore, it is not enforceable.

iii. Morals/values

These are essential rules that are meant to be for the well-being of people or
society. They carry consequences. They are fixed morally binding customs
which should be confined to without failure. Failure contributes to punishment.
No society will condone stealing, killing, raping etc. Respect to parent is
compulsory. Customs are just merited but morals are enforced and carry

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judgment and punishment. Customs are sanctioned by traditions and sustained by
pressure of a group opinion. Morals are loosely enacted by those who exercise
constitutional and political powers and are enforced through the machinery of
the state e.g. Court of law. Simple society will operate with customs. However,
complex societies, especially at national level must be governed by the same
rules. This amount into a well-developed political system that governs the
society harmoniously. This is important because it shows that there are norms
existing in a society as a sign of conformity. Society will exist to constitute
accepted laws and regulations for the well-being of the people. Therefore, all
these norms and customs are supposed to be learned and accepted. In terms of
law we learn by not only observing but also by being taught.

iv. Ideas

The component known as ideas enables us to think about three aspects.

Religion-what we believe, why we believe and where we live in terms of our
relationships between us and nature; between us and our neighbors and between
us and the society. Ideas encompass both the learned and unlearned concepts
such as theology, philosophy or science. Ideas take in emotional responses of
people to the world around them. Through ideas we learn and share our value
systems, which make people, live a unique life, describe the concepts of a group,
and define their goals, objectives and aims. Values passed in term ideas
represent the attitude that we share whether they are negative or positive. The
component of ideas embraces the faculty of reasoning, expressing and
evaluating.

v. Language

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Language is used for communication. It can be written or spoken. Even when a
culture uses the same basic language as another culture, differences in
terminology and inflection create new meanings.

vi. Beliefs

Beliefs fulfill the spiritual needs of a culture. A whole culture can be based on
one set of beliefs, yet a larger cultural group may have many different sets of
beliefs.

vii. Technological advances

Technological advances also change the way cultures behave. Traditions are
norms that a culture holds onto once the norms are no longer common. Wearing
certain clothing for a holiday is an example of a norm that has become a
tradition.

In a summarized way, culture is organized around its component parts. That is, it
is explained, expressed, evaluated and manifested through its customs and
mores or laws. It is organized within the value system embraced by a group of
people and on how people are explained, shaped and projected by their different
status, or laws. People are defined by the way they dress and speak (language
and vocabularies); their main occupations and professionalism. Therefore
different cultural institutions are clearly distinguished by the values, which men
and women pursue the gender division of labor and the place each individual
occupies.

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Lecture four

What is African Traditional Religion?

Definitions

Religion is giving honor, respect and reverence to the Supreme Being. It is a

dutiful honoring of the gods, different from superstition which is an empty fear of
gods. Religion is a system of beliefs; it is belief in god, together with the
practical results of such a belief. It is expressed in worship and rituals.

Who is an African? Africans are people of chocolate color, living south of Sahara.
What is a tradition? A traditional is anything passed on from one generation to
another. It is “the inherited wisdom of the past. It is the ‘delivery’ or ‘handing
down’ facts from one generation; ‘transmission of statements, beliefs, rules,
customs, especially by word of mouth or by practice without writing. It is that
which is handed down,” but the emphasis is more on the process of transmission
than on the content transmitted.

“Written materials” can also be “Traditioned,’ passed from one generation to the
next. Such materials have no inherent authority (like the scriptural religions), but
their authority depend on transmission from “the father.” There can also be
“silent tradition,” passed on by example rather than by words. That is the
younger generation imitates the actions of its elders without necessarily being
‘told’ what to do. In terms of quantity, this is probably the most important form
of “traditioning.”

Therefore, ‘tradition religion’ is the systems of beliefs of African people, which

comes from the past and has been transmitted orally or practically from one
generation to another. It is finds its authority in the relationship to the

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generations. In traditional religion, authority is always ‘alive’ because it depends
primarily on oral communication. The living carrier of tradition is the final, in
fact, the only authority.

The primary method for understanding traditional culture, including religion is

that of ‘listening to the elders’ (‘men of memory’ who serves as ‘depositories’ of
traditional knowledge and are considered to be “intelligent.” Their knowledge is
in the form of fables or myths or traditional stories or songs.

What is ATR? It is the name usually given to indigenous religion of Africa. It was
the religion which was practiced before the coming of Islam and Christianity.

ii) Reasons for the study ATR?

a) Religious tolerance: it enables one to tolerate and appreciate other

religions

b) Values: to highlight good and neglected values eg naming, initiation, food,

dressing and way of worship

c) Membership: all Africans subscribe to ATR either directly or indirectly

d) ATR is as fulfilling as any other religion

e) 10% of the world population live in ATR hence one can’t afford to be
ignorant

f) ATR has influences on every sector of life: educational and constitutional

polices making, dressing, language etc

g) ATR has its own rights just like any other [Link]. opening of National
Assemblies-madaraka day, masujaa day and jamhuri day

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 h) It helps one to reflect on one’s faith

i) Most of ATR works are written by non-Africans

j) ATR is linked with African nationalism. Eg Majimaji rebellion, Maumau

k) Renewal: ATR brings renewal in the world as a whole: eg, inculturation

(making culture part of the Gospel), cultural nights, traditional foods
(balanced and life giving), African dishes-calabash

l) ATR has refused to die

m) Relevance: ATR is a relevant religion – what you don’t have you don’t
have a name for it. Name symbolizes existence, character and identity.

Lesson Five

African Religion or African Traditional Religions

There are as many ATRs as there are African communities. Each African
community is unique and has unique religious system. Thus, a study of these
religious systems is therefore, ultimately a study of the people themselves in all
the complexities of both traditional and modern life. Traditional religions are not
universal; they are tribal, not national. Each tradition is bound and limited to the
people among whom it has evolved. Similarly there is no conversion from one
traditional religion to another. One has to be born in it. An outsider cannot enter.
That is why they are religions.

On the other hand there is only one African traditional Religion which can be
discerned in terms of five major components

Beliefs: Africans believes in a Supreme Being or deity. This being is viewed as

the creator and sustainer of the universe, the source of life in the world.
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Practices: Africans expresses their beliefs in God in varies practical ways. E.g.
singing and dancing, prayers, offerings and sacrifices and blessing
Religious officials: these are the leaders who conduct religious matter such as
ceremonies, sacrifices, prayers, divination and so on. Some are trained as:
Priests: office of priesthood originates from the understanding that the
sacred/divine is dangerous and those defiled must never approach the Holy.
They were to be upright, able to hear the voice of God, self-disciplined, special
dressing, special marks on their bodies (West African priests). Offer sacrifices,
intercessions, cleansing. Witchdoctors: Not witches, undo the works of the
witches, protects the weak, highly respected, do not harm, treat deals with
activities of night walkers, release their clients from pain esp. those who believe
they have been bewitched. Rainmakers: Important people in Africa where
seasons are controlled by rain. Functions-Make rain and stop rains. Add
economic value by controlling floods and drought. They offer sacrifices, prayers,
laments. Divineers/soothsayers: diagnose the causes of problem through divine
inspirations, manipulation, interpret dreams. Use herbs to treat diseases, nuts
and pebbles, purify, tell the future, counselor or advisors, experts in human
relations (mapenzi, dawa ya Boma).
Sacred object and places: these are things and places which people have set
apart as being holy or sacred. While some are human creation like icons,
temples, churches and Mosques, others are natural. For instances, shrines,
graves, hills and mountains, rivers, amulets, charms,
Morals and values: these are the doctrinal part which concerns the dos and
don’ts in religion. They enhance and maintain good relation both vertically
(individual to individual) and horizontally (God to individuals). They cover topics
such as truth, justice, love, right, wrong, good and beauty. They give religious

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systems clarity and intellectual power to what is revealed through belief. It
concerns the behavior of an individual.

Lesson six

Elements to admire in African Traditional Religion

Mbiti asserts that “Africans are notoriously religious.”

Religion for an African permeates into all the departments of life so fully that
there is no formal distinction between the sacred and the secular, the religious
and the non-religious and the spiritual and the material areas of life.

Wherever the African is there is his/her religion.

s/he carries it to: the fields where one is sowing seeds or harvesting a new
crop, to the beer party or to attend a funeral ceremony; if one is educated s/he
takes it to the examination room at school or in the university; or if one is a
politician s/he takes it to the house of parliament.

Chapters of ATR are written everywhere in the life of the community.

This means that there are no irreligious people. Traditional religions are the
strongest elements in traditional background and exert probably the greatest
influence upon the thinking and living of the people concerned.

Beliefs and practices.

Not formulated into sacred scriptures or systematic set of dogmas which a

person is expected to accept. People simply assimilate whatever religious ideas
and practices held or observed by their families and communities.

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Creeds to be recited

There are no creeds to be recited; instead the creeds are written in the heart of
the individual, and each one is him/herself a living creed of his/her own religion.
These traditions have been handed over from forefathers and each generation
takes them up with modifications suitable to its own historical situation and
needs.

Founders or reformers

African traditional religions have no founders or reformers. They may however

incorporate national heroes, rulers, leader’s men and women in their body of
beliefs and mythology.

Belief in the continuation of life is found in all African societies.

However, this hope does not constitute a hope for the future and better life. To
live here and now is the most important concern of African religious activities
and beliefs. No distinctly spiritual welfare of humans apart from an individual’s
physical life. No line is drawn between the spiritual and the physical. Even life in
the hereafter is conceived in materialistic and physical terms. There is neither
paradise to be hoped for nor hell to be feared in the hereafter. The soul of man
does not long for spiritual redemption or for a closer contact with God in the
next world. This important element in traditional religion helps us to understand
the concentration of African religiosity on earthly matters, with humanity at the
centre of this religiosity. There is no messianic hope with God stepping in at
some future moments to bring about a radical reversal of the human’s normal
life.

Lesson Seven

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Derogatory Terms used for ATR
A great number of foreign investigators used misleading term in describing the
African’s beliefs. Among such terms can be mentioned; primitive, savage,
fetishism, juju, heathenism, paganism, animism, idolatry, and polytheism.
We need to examine some of these words and bring out their connotations.
(i) Primitive: As ‘pertaining to the beginning or origin; original; first; old
fashioned; characterized by the simplicity of old times.’ This word cannot be
appropriate in describing the religion of Africa or those who practice it. This is
racial pride as the foreign scholar wanted to distinguish between his society
(which is regarded as civilized) and the other society which is not civilized but
old-fashioned-just because such a society does not have or adopt the same
norm as that of the investigator. The use of the word primitive by Western
scholars is derogatory and, therefore, obnoxious
(ii) Savage: As ‘pertaining to the forest or wilderness; wild; uncultured;
untamed violent; brutal; uncivilized; untaught; rude; barbarous; inhuman.’ In one
word, savagery is the opposite of civilization. But, there is an element of
savagery in every one of us and it should not be made the exclusive trait of a
African people.
(iii) Fetishism. From the Portuguese word feitico which means charms and
amulets. A fetish is any ‘object, animate or inanimate, natural or artificial,
regarded by some communities with a feeling of awe, as having mysterious
power residing in it or as being the representative or habitation of a deity’;
hence fetishism is the worship of, or emotional attachment to, inanimate objects.
Africans regard fetishes as part of an emblem of god, but fetish and god are in
themselves distinct. For instance the most important spirit in a god comes
directly or indirectly from the Supreme God, whereas the power or spirit in a
fetish comes from plants or trees, and sometimes directly or indirectly from
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fairies, forest monsters, witches, or from some sort of unholy contact with
death; a god is the god of the many, the family the clan, or the nation. A fetish is
generally personal to its owner.
(iv) Juju: The word juju is French in origin and it means a little doll or toy. How
can divinities, however minor, be described as toys? Africans are not so low in
intelligence as to be incapable of distinguishing between an emblem or symbol of
worship and a doll or toy. Juju is, therefore, one of the misleading and
derogatory terms used by investigators out of either sheer prejudice or
ignorance.
(v) Paganism and Heathenism. The meanings applied to both paganism and
heathenism are similar, if not identical. The word pagan is from the Latin word
paganus meaning peasant, village or country district; it also means one who
worships false gods. But the meaning is stretched further to mean one who is
neither a Christian, a Jew nor a Muslim. A health, is a vast track of land; and a
heathen is one who inhabits a heath or possesses the characteristics of a heath
dweller. It also means is ‘a pagan; one who worships idols or does not
acknowledge the true God; a rude, barbarous and irreligious person.’
These words are not correct in describing the indigenous religion of Africa
because the people are religious and they do believe in the Supreme Being.
(vi) Animism: This means attributing a living soul to inanimate objects and
natural phenomena. True, there are unmistakably elements of animism in many
Traditional African Religions. For instance reverence given to some trees,
Rivers, lightning and thunder-all these are viewed as manifestations of spirits.
Nevertheless, it would be wrong to categorize the whole religion as animism.
Every religion has some belief in the existence of the spirit. Even Christianity
sees “God as Spirit, and they that worship are to worship in spirit and truth”. In

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other words, animism is a part definition of every religion. But to say that the
African Traditional Religion is animistic would not be correct.
(vii) Idolatry: Idol means false god; and so idolatry is the worshipping of false
gods or that which is not real. The word idol is used to describe the object
which is an emblem of that which is worshipped by the Africans. The object may
be a piece of wood or of iron or a stone. These objects are symbolic. Each of
them has a meaning beyond itself, and therefore is not an end in itself. It is only
a means to an end. For instance, if a piece of wood representing god is eaten by
termites, the worshippers of this god will not feel that their god has been
destroyed by the termites, because the piece of wood is only a symbol, serving
as a visible or concrete embodiment of that which is symbolised.
Polytheism
In African society people believe in the gods expressed by different forces of
nature, which they fear or try to propitiate. These gods generally have their own
temples and priests, and their worshippers are polytheists, since they worship a
variety of gods.”

Lesson Eight
vii) Sources of ATR
a) Songs: traditional songs
b) Sayings: African sayings
c) Proverbs: Wise sayings
d) Mythologies: Origin of humanity, death eg. Chameleon
e) Folk tales: Morality
f) Prayer: African Prayers-thai thathaiya Ngai Thai Amen!
g) Shrines, Mountains and Graves
h) Language-
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 i) Programmes via media (Radios, TV)
j) Museums/ Archieves
k) Community Nights
l) Religious experts (witches, wizards, medicine wo/men )
m) Rites and rituals: weddings and Dirges: Mourning songs , burials, laments
n) Books: journals and periodical
o) Monuments -Kimathi, Kenyatta

Lesson Nine

African Worldview

At the Centre of culture is a world-view, a general understanding of the nature

of the universe and of one’s place in it. This may be “religious” (concerning God
and spirits and our relationship to them), or a “secular” concept of reality, as
Marxist society. Thus, African World view is the way Africans perceive
themselves, their environment and the world beyond. It is a religious world view,
where people relate to spiritual beings in their surroundings, and these spirits
wield extraordinary powers over human beings. The first among them is God,
then the ancestors, and other spirits which cause both good and evil.

From this basic Worldview flows both standards of judgment or values (of what
in the sense of desirable, of what is good and acceptable in accordance to the
general will of the community) and standards of conduct (concerning relations
between individuals, between sexes and the generations, with the community
and with those outside the community).

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Africans view of the world is highly ontological. That is, it pertains to the
question of existence or being, which is extremely anthropocentric in the sense
that everything is seen in terms of its relation to human beings.

Mbiti (1969: 16) divides it up into five categories:

1) God- as the ultimate explanation of the genesis and sustenance of both

man and all things.
2) Spirits beings- made up of superhuman beings and the spirits of those
who died a long time ago
3) Human beings-those who are alive and those about to be born.
4) Animals and plants or the remainder of biological life
5) Phenomena and objects without biological life

God or Supreme Being

God is the originator and sustenance of both human and all things. He is outside
and beyond his creation and at the same time He is personally involved in his
creation, so that it is not outside of him or his reach. God is thus simultaneously
transcendent and immanent. That is so far away that humans cannot reach him;
yet, he is so near that he comes close to humans. A balanced understanding of
these two extremes is necessary, since these two are paradoxically
complementary. The most minimal and fundamental idea found in all African
societies without a single exception is that of God as the Supreme Being.

There are both eternal and moral attributes of God.

The Eternal Attributes of God

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God to be Omniscient (All knowing) God is the one who knows everything.
Wisdom commands great respect in African societies (Grey hair is a sign of
wisdom). Africans confer the highest possible position of honor and respect to
God who knows everything. Human’s wisdom, however great, is limited,
incomplete and acquired, while God’s omniscience is absolute and unlimited and
is part of his eternal nature and being. Nothing is hidden can escape his vision,
hearing or knowledge. God knows everything and hears everything, without
limitation and without exception.

God is omnipotent (Almighty or powerful). God is omnipotent/ almighty/ all

powerful. This concept is easy to grasp than the other attributes. God’s
omnipotence is seen in his exercise of power over nature. E.g. God is ‘the one
who makes the sun rise and set,’ makes mountains quake and rivers overflow;
the wind blows the rains fall.

God is omnipresent-everywhere at the same time. God is the one who is there
“now as from the ancient times.” He is referred to the “Ancient of Days.” God is
the everlasting One of the forests, based on the African understanding that the
forest has always existed. God is the one who dwells far away in the “sky”, or
“above” beyond the reach of men.

The Moral Attributes of God

God is merciful, kind and compassionate. The mercy or kindness of God is felt in
situations of danger, difficulty, illness and anxiety, when deliverance or
protection is attributed to him, or He is called upon to comfort the people.

God is regarded as essentially good. The goodness of God is seen in his averting
calamities, misfortunes and suffering and providing fertility to people, cattle and
fields.
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God is holy and he cannot be charged with an offence since he is above the level
of fault, failures wrongs and unrighteousness. This evident from the fact that
many African peoples have strict rules in performing rituals directed to God.
Sacrificial animals, for instance, have to be of one sacred color and priests and
officiating elders must refrain from sexual intercourse and certain foods or
activities before and after the ritual. These ritual formalities clearly show that
people regard God as Holy.

God is love. There are practically no direct sayings that God loves. This is
something reflected also in the daily lives of African peoples, in which it is rare
to hear people talking about love. A person shows his love for another more
through actions and through words. In the same way people experience the love
of God in concrete blessings; and they assume that he loves them; otherwise he
would not have created them.

Spirits

This category is made up of superhuman beings, ordinary human spirits of those

who died a long time ago and the living dead. The relationship between the
living members, the spirits and the spiritual world is very important because the
traditional Africans live in constant communion with the spirit of ancestors. The
spiritual universe is one unit with the physical, and that the two intermingle with
each other so much that it is not easy, or even necessary at times to draw the
distinction or separate them. The spirits in general belongs to the ontological
mode of existence between God and humanity.

Broadly speaking we can subdivide the spiritual reality into divinities, ordinary
spirits and the living dead.

a. Divinities
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This group includes ‘nature spirits,’ deified heroes and mythological figures.
Divinities are associated with God and often stand for his activities or
manifestations. Some of them are national heroes, who have been elevated and
deified and is associated with some function or form of nature.

b. Ordinary Spirits

The spirits are the ‘common’ spiritual beings beneath the status of divinities, and
above the status of humanity. They are the ultimate destiny of human beings.
Spirits are invisible, so that human beings do not see them either physically or
mentally. Their memory has slipped off. Sometimes they may make themselves
visible to human beings through their activities and personalities.

Spirits have lost their human names, so they are often referred to as ‘Its.’ The
ontological mode of the spirits is de-personalization and is not a completion or
maturation of the individual.

Spirits as a group have more power than people. Yet in some ways men are
better off because with the right human specialists they can manipulate or
control the spirits as they wish, can drive the same spirit away or use them to
their human advantage.

Spirits are invisible and thought to be everywhere, so that a person is never

sure where they and as such, people fear them.

Although the spirits are everywhere men designate different regions as their
places of abode. These includes the underground an idea derived from the fact
that the bodies of the dead are buried and the ground; above the earth, in the
air, the sun, moon or stars; and in the woods, bush, forests, rivers, mountains or
just around the villages.

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But more importantly the spirit are ontologically nearer to God. It is believed
that where men use or require intermediaries the spirits do not, since they can
communicate directly with God.

Spirits are said to have shadowy form of body though they may assume different
shades like humans, animals, plants forms or inanimate object. People report
that they see the spirits in ponds, caves, groves, mountains or outside their
villages, dancing, singing, herding cattle, working in their fields or nursing their
children. Some spirits appear in people’s dreams especially to diviners’ spirits
medicine men rainmakers to impart some information. These personages may
also consult the spirits as part of their normal training and practice. In many
societies it is said and believed that the spirits call people by names, but on
turning round to see who called them there would be nobody.

As the spirits are invisible and predictable the safest thing is to keep away from
them. Yet, spirit possession is not always to be feared, and there are times when
it is not only desirable but people induce it through special dancing and
drumming until the person concerned experience spirit possession during which
he may eve collapse. Human relationship with the spirit is a real, active and
powerful relationship sustained through placing of food and other articles or
pouring of libation like beer, milk water and even tea or coffee (for the spirits
who have been ‘modernized’).

c. The living-dead

These are those who have departed up to five generation. They are still in the
state of personal immortality, and their process of dying is not yet complete.
They are the closest link that people have with the spirit world.

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The living dead are bilingual: they speak the language of men with whom they
lived until ‘recently,’ and they speak the language of the spirits and of God. They
are still part of their human families, and people have personal memories. The
living dead are still ‘people’, and have not yet become ‘things’ or ‘its.’

They return to their human families from time to time, and share meals with
them, however symbolically. The food and libation given to the living dead are
acts of hospitality and welcome, but also of informing the living dead to move
away.

Lessons Ten

Human Beings

African ontology is basically anthropocentric. Human being is always at the very

centre of existence, and African peoples see everything else in its relation to
this central position of human. God is the explanation of human’s origin and
sustenance. The spirits are ontologically between God and human. Animals,
plants, land, rain and other natural objects and phenomena, describe human’s
environment, and Africans peoples incorporate this environment into their
deeply religious perception of the universe.

Human origin

In relation to other things the majority of African people place the creation of
human towards or at the end of God’s original work of creation. Human also
comes to the picture as husband and wife, male and female. It is generally
acknowledged that God is the originator of man, even if the exact method of
creating man may differ according to the myths of different peoples. But most of
them believe that God created man first and then the wife so that the man would

29
have someone with whom to talk. This first couple bore a son and daughter who
mated and produced male and female children, and so mankind increased upon
the earth. The action method of creating man varies according to the myths.

There are peoples who hold that God used clay and different colors to create
man. The difference in human skins and pigmentation is as a result of this
variation. God brought man out of the ground. That Man and woman come from
the mythical tree of life which is said to be situated underground. That God
brought men out of vessel, which was sealed up in a Canoe, which after being
heated by the sun, its seal melted and human beings came out. The first man
descended from heaven on the spider thread and for this reason the spider is
respected insect; Men came originally from a leg or kneel, which got swollen
until finally it burst letting out a male person on one side and a female on the
other side.

Most Africans believe that God placed humans in a state of happiness, immortality
peace and blessedness where God provided food, knowledge of fundamental
skills, domestic animals, light and fire, weapons and tools, children, on top of
immortality, or rejuvenation or rising again after death.

How this relationship ceased: In that family relationship God gave humans certain
rules or commandments to observe, and so long as they kept these rules, their
relationship with God remained sound and healthy. But this relationship was
disrupted, resulting in the separation between God and human being.

According to the Ashanti people, the mother of humans pounding the traditional
food, fufu; kept on knocking, God and who moved higher. The woman instructed
the men to gather all the mortars, pile them and follow God. As there was a gap
of only one mortar, she advised her children to take the bottom most mortar in

30
order to fill up the gap and the whole tower tumbled down and killed many of
them. The survivors gave up the idea of following God ‘up there.’ Human ate a
forbidden tahu tree; other hid death which God was hunting, while others ate
animals which should have been their brothers. To others a hyena accidentally
cut the rope which bridged the two worlds, and so the direct link or relationship
between God and the humans was severed.

In all these myths God withdrew his presence from the earth, partly because of
human’s disobedience and accidents caused by humans, severing the link
between heaven and earth. When the separation occurred, it brought
disadvantages and tragic consequences to human beings, who became the main
losers. As a result of the separation God left humans alone, death came, and
human beings lost happiness, peace and the free supply of food. In summary, the
African view of a happy life is the one in which God is among the people. It is
remarkable that out of these many myths the loss of their original state, there is
not a single myth, which even attempt to suggest a solution or a reversal of this
great loss. Human beings accepted the separation between them and God, as
such many Africans approach God only in times of crises and needs. There is
no evidence of humans seeking after God for his own sake; or of the human
spirit ‘thirsting’ after God as the pure and absolute expression of being. Thus,
Africans in their acts of worship search primarily for the lost paradise rather
than for God himself. Because Africans in their traditional worship are in search
for something else apart from God, it follows therefore that there cannot be
myths about the future recovery of the lost paradise. When individuals and
communities get satisfactory amount of food, children, rain, health and
prosperity, they do not generally search for in worship as much as they do when
these items are at stake. Africans have no solution for the loss of human

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immortality and the monster of death. Perhaps, this is the greatest point of
weakness and poverty of our traditional religions compared to world religions
like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. These traditional religions be nationalistic,
since they do not offer for the humankind at large, a way of ‘escape’, a message
of ‘redemption’, the very issue that the world religions have made a universal
appeal and won adherents from all humankind.

Religions become universal only when they make a breakthrough towards the
future, with all the promises of redemption involving rescue from the monster of
death, regaining immortality and attaining the gift of the resurrection. It is in
sense that the world religions may hope to conqueror African traditional
religions and philosophy. Only a three dimensional religion can hope f to last in
modern Africa which is increasingly discovering and adjusting to a third
dimension of time. Without the concept of a distant future, these religions would
have remained, like African religions, only tribal or national.

Animals and Plants

Animals and plants constitute human food. Among the Zulu both men and cattle
sprang from the same spot, and god instructed humans saying, “Let them be
your food; eat their flesh and their milk!” The Akamba holds that that cattle,
sheep and goats accompanied the first human being whom God lowered from the
sky. The Masai firmly believe that since god gave them cattle from the
beginning, nobody else has the right to own cattle. As such it is their duty to raid
cattle from their neighboring peoples, without feeling that they are committing
theft or robbery.

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Cattle, sheep and goats are used for sacrificial and other religious purposes, and
examples of this are found all over the continent. Many people have a scared
attitude towards their animals.

Although we still have many wild animals in Africa, there is little information
about their religious significance. Fierce animals like the buffalo and lion, are
associated with God, by Langi and Turu, who considers them to be God’s
manifestation in his immanent aspect.

Some animals are blamed for causing a separation between the two worlds. Eg
the Fajulu, Nuer and Madi, blame the hyena for having cut off the cow/skin rope
which once joined the earth to heaven.

Some animals are thought to be immortal eg. the snake is thought by Luo people
to be immortal (Compare Omweri). Some people have sacred snakes, especially
pythons, which may not be killed by people. A considerable number of societies
associate snakes with living dead or other human spirits, and as such snakes are
given food and drink when they visit people’s homes. The lizard is featured as
the messenger who brought news from god that men should die. The chameleon,
on the other hand, is featured as the messenger who should have brought news
of immortality or resurrection, but either lingered on the way, or altered the
message slightly or stammered in delivering it. Meanwhile the lizard or the
Parrot or another animal that is swift but malicious arrived in the scene and
delivered the tragic and contrasting news to what God had said, thus allowing
death to come. Birds and specifically chickens are used in most societies for
religious purposes, chiefly as sacrifices, either to God or lower spiritual beings
and the living dead. The spider is viewed as a symbol of wisdom among some
African communities like the Akan and the Ashanti.

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Mythical trees feature in a number of stories. For example, the Herero speak of
their ‘tree of life’ located in the nether land and believed to be the source from
which all life emanates. The wild fig tree is considered sacred by many societies
all over Africa people makes offerings, sacrifices and prayers around or under it.
Both the sycamore and the baobab trees are used for religious purposes or
associated with God and other spiritual beings.

Natural Objects and Phenomena

Africans view the universe in a religious way. They give life even where natural
objects and phenomena have no biological life. God is seen in and behind these
objects and phenomena: they are his creation, they manifest him, and they
symbolize his being and presence. This deep religious insight is one of the most
fundamental religious heritages of African peoples and should not be ridiculed,
or naively presented as ‘nature worship’ or ‘animism.’ For instance, African
people associate God with the sky or heaven. Majority of them believe that God
lives there. Among many societies, the sun is considered to be a manifestation of
God Himself and the same word is used for both. Among others, the sun is
personified as a divinity or spirit, and thought by some to be one of God’s sons.
There is no concrete indication that the sun is considered to be God, or God
considered to be the sun, however closely these may be associated. At best the
sun symbolizes aspects of God, such as omniscience, His power, His everlasting
endurance and even his nature. Similar concepts exist concerning the moon.
Among Akan and Luo, the moon is personified as a female divinity, or a
companion of God, or the mother of the sun, or simply as a spirit.

A few societies personify the stars as spirits; while some considers them to be
God’s children. Rain is regarded by African peoples to be one of the greatest
blessings of God. Many societies make sacrifices, offerings and prayers to God
34
in connection with rain, especially during the time of drought. Rain makers are
reported in all parts of the continent, their duties to solicit God’s help in
providing rain, or in halting it if too much falls. Thunder is taken by many to be
God’s voice. For example the Gikuyu people interpret it to be the voice of God.
Concepts about lightening are similar to those held about thunder, since these
two phenomena are closely associated. The Gikuyu takes lightening to be God’s
weapon by which he clears the way when moving from one sacred place to
another; while the Zulu look upon lightning as God’s instrument by means of
which he punishes wrong doers or accomplish his intentions.

The wind is associated with God. God is described metaphorically as being like
the wind or air , moving like the wind; other think that the wind is one of the
vehicles by which God travels in great power through the sky.

Storms are considered to be God’s manifestation and indication of his anger. The
Bambuti believes that the storms are used by God to punish wicked talk and
actions. They believe that earth quakes are caused by God walking on the earth
and causing it to tremble. The great floods, rivers and streams, oceans, seas,
lakes and permanent ponds, which cause much damage to human life and
property, as well as to animals of the forest, are often thought to be inhibited by
the spirits or divinities. Rocks are also viewed as manifestation of God. For
example the Akamba believes that rocks are sacred and that the first men were
brought by God out of a rock which can still be seen today. As such there are
some sacred stones and rocks, which are used for religious rites and
observances. Sacred stones are often employed in rainmaking ceremonies. Many
consider rocks to be the dwelling places of the spirits, the departed or the
living/dead.

35
Outstanding mountains and hills are generally regarded as sacred, and are given
religious meaning. For example the Gikuyu and Shona people consider mountains
to be the place of God’s special manifestation. Mountains are viewed as sacred
and the dwelling places of God when he visits the earth. The Gikuyu make
players facing Mount Kenya, the chief of their sacred mountains. These elevated
places are in no way thought to be God; they imply give a concrete manifestation
of his being and his presence. Further more they are often closer to the sky than
ordinary ground, and in that sense it is easy to associate them with God. Certain
caves and holes are given religious meaning. Among the Akamba it is believed
that God brought the first men out of a hole or cave. The Shona have their
famous sacred caves from which God is supposed to speak.

Colors have a religious significance among the African people. This evident
during religious rites where only a one colored (black or white) animal or bird
were used for religious ceremonies.

Numbers too have a religious significance. For example the number four is
sacred among the Nandi, the number seven is sacred among the Kamba and the
number nine (full) is sacred among the Gikuyu people. Counting people and
livestock is forbidden in many African societies, partly for fear that misfortune
would befall those who are numbered, and partly, also because people are not
individuals, but corporate members of society which cannot be defined
numerically.

From these examples it is clear that traditional African people have always been
conscious of the spiritual dimension of existence, which is so deep, so rich and
beautiful. The physical and spiritual dimension dovetail into each other to the
extent that at times and in places one is apparently more real than, but not
exclusive of the other.
36
In African worldview God is the originator and sustainer of man; the spirits
explains the human destiny; The human being is at the centre of this ontology;
the animals and plants and natural phenomena and objects constitute the
environment in which humans live, provide a means of existence and, if need be,
human beings establish a mystical relationship with them.

In addition to the five categories, there seems to be a force, power or energy

permeating the whole universe. God is the source and the ultimate controller of
this force; but the spirits have access to some of it. A few human beings have
the knowledge and ability to tap, manipulate and use it, such as the medicine
men, witches, priests and rainmakers, some for the good and others for ill of
their communities

This anthropocentric ontology is a complete unity or solidarity which nothing can

break up or destroy. To destroy or remove one of these categories is to destroy
the whole existence including the destruction of the creator, which is impossible.
One mode of existence assumes/accept all the others, and a balance must be
maintained so that these modes neither drift too far apart from one another nor
get too close to one another.

Lesson Eleven

A Critical Study of the relationship between African Religion and Christianity

a) African as the content of many Religions: Christianity; Ancient African
Christianity; Christianity in later centuries; Present day African
Christianity; Divisions in the Christian Church

b) The Modern Missionary work

In this chapter we will, discuss some of the problems that were encountered due
to some conflicts between local religions and Western Christianity. Kwame
37
Bediako [one of the key modern African scholars on the history and theology of
mission] in his book Christianity in Africa: the Renewal of Non-Western Religion
observes that in order to gauge the state of Christian missionary thinking of our
century, we need not look further than the World Missionary Conference of 1910
held in Edinburgh. The main concern in relation to Africa was the conflict
between the Christian Gospel and Animism. The general view was that there
was no religious content in animism and neither was there any preparation for
Christianity. Other non-Christian religions existed in the mission field namely:
Chinese religions, religion of Japan, Islam and Hinduism, but of all these, the
most difficult religion for missionaries to penetrate was Animism. Not only did
Animism lack any written literature to be studied but it was also considered to
be the religious beliefs of more or less backward and degraded peoples all over
the world. Bediako observes that the problem was not just with Animism; the
real stumbling-block was the Animist. At the beginning of the missionary
movement in the West, the common question was “Can the Animist be
converted?” For the Animist was held to be the same as ‘the savage and the
uncivilised’. Bediako contends that in retrospect, the African is asking, “can the
West be converted?”
Thus, the modern missionary movement was the inheritor of a territorial
Christianity which saw Europe as extensions of its ways of life that existed, as
the embodiment of the Christian religion. This view created the idea of ‘a great
chain of being’, which ranked ‘White’, ‘Red’, Yellow’ and ‘Negro’ races in that
descending order in a grand scheme of humanity. This order places the Black
person in the category of ‘the savage and barbarous heathen’. This view puts the
European religion to a superior level. This religious superiority was perceived
as having been the contribution of the civilized culture and institutions of
Europe.
38
Paganism was seen to constitute lack of monotheism and created a big problem
to the missionary movements of the West. Peoples of Africa and Asia equally
qualified to be called Pagan. Indians and Chinese however, qualified to be
‘civilized’ pagans for possessing literature and for being literate. Having being
short of this, and also for being cannibalistic, Africans were reckoned to be
‘savage and barbarous pagans’. Such was the general view of the West towards
the mission field that also put Africa at the bottom of both religion and general
‘civilization’. These views were strengthened by the intellectual climate of the
19th century and the evolutionary and racially-based theories of human
achievement. Such life situations attracted some European humanitarians and the
awakened missionaries of the late 18th century. This group wanted to show their
detractors [who believed that Africans cannot be changed] that the Gospel itself
was ‘the great civilizer of the barbarous man’.
But it is worthy noting that it was not easy to overcome the fear of going to
change the ‘ignorant, superstitious and barbarous savage’. It, for example, took
the Church of Scotland a long time to embark on reaching out the above group of
human race. Even after the General Assembly had passed resolutions ‘to spread
abroad the knowledge of the Gospel among barbarous and heathen nations’, it
was to be found impossible to do so to ‘uneducated and barbarous people’. The
Church of Scotland was later to give priority to education work. One missionary
for example, Alexander Duff going to India carried with him a library of 800
books, which unfortunately got lost in a ship wreck on the Atlantic that left him
with only two books, a Bible and a Scottish Psalter.
The CMS on its part had to establish a scheme of sending missionaries to the
ignorant people. The first candidate to take the challenge was a young man, a
graduate of Cambridge University, Henry Martyn. But the question that arose
was whether such a bright university graduate could possibly be allowed to go
39
and serve among the ignorant people. And as Martyn was not ordained, he could
only become a chaplain. But some qualifications were to be set on missionary
recruitment shortly before the society`s foundation by Rev. John Venn, rector of
Clapham and later its President:
….Episcopal ordination is necessary for missionaries. Episcopal
ordination, bearing respect to the present improved state of society in this
island, is justly conferred upon those only, whose education and learning
qualify them for the rank of English clergy hold in society. It is evident
however, that a missionary, dwelling among savages, rude and illiterate,
does not require the same kind of talents, manner or learning as
necessary in an officiating minister in England.
The CMS dilemma was whether they needed to send well trained and ordained
missionaries. John [not Henry] Venn thought a missionary ‘dwelling among
savages, rude and illiterate’ would be of a lower order. Henry Martin according
to Venn was over qualified. In Sierra Leone for example whose CMS activities
started in1804, an ordained missionary was not sent there until 1824.
c) Conversion or Restructuring Africans

The missionaries saw conversion as nothing less than restructuring Africans

from what was familiar to that which was western. Simply converting Africans to
Christianity was not enough for the missionaries. This is because they expected
physical changes to correspond to the spiritual changes, which took place in the
converts. These changes included:

a. Favouring rectangular house structures over round huts.

b. Women wearing a dress instead of goatskin, and men were expected to
put their skins down and put on clean shirts and clean trousers.

40
 c. Some were taught how to ride bicycles for this was considered more
fashionable than walking by foot.
d. Use of spoons and fork for eating over bare hands.
e. Women were expected to wash away their traditional facial decorations of
ash and other forms of soil, put on a dress and tie-on a headscarf.
f. Those who had their ears pierced and enlarged for beauty were required
to have them sewn.
g. Africans were expected to know how to use salt, sugar, sheets and
blankets for the cold nights.
h. Both men and women were expected to have a new name, and none of the
Christian followers would use an African name. This was because one was
considered a non-believer and primitive if one used an African name. And
so African Christian men and women had Jewish or Biblical names, and
names after popular English cities, which sounded even more elegant.
i. Converts were expected to learn new skills of communication like reading
and writing western medicine
j. Converts used western medicine/hospitals/doctors not herbs.
k. Those who had their ears pierced and subsequently enlarged for
decoration had them sewn up in keeping with the prevailing spirit of
Christian modesty.
All these would then qualify them as Christians and civilised people.

African women: Missionaries identified the work among African women as very
crucial to the success of Christianising the whole Africa society. They were
convinced that their efforts would create a family environment in which African
Christianity could grow. The task of restructuring women in order to creating a
conducive environment for Christianity took on certain urgency because from

41
the missionaries’ perspective African women were part of the problem of
spreading Christianity. They had to literally become like the missionary women
for their conversion claims to be accepted by the missionaries. They had to
dress, cook and speak like them.

Conversion meant a drastic physical relocation of women converts. The

missionaries were particularly protective of girls and women whom they
perceived as being especially vulnerable. Therefore they resolved that all
female converts be removed from familiar ‘pagan’ homes to reside within
mission compounds

They had to fight some of the most important cultural practices. The most
important ones were polygamy, female circumcision and bride price. When these
missionaries were confronted with polygamous societies in Africa, they assumed
that conversion and monogamy would go hand in hand. So polygamy and almost
every facet of social life bound up with it, was regarded as morally inferior,
contradicting Christian doctrines and ethics and offensive to the mores of a
civilised society. However, they did not have a lasting solution especially for the
polygamous wives and their children who were thrown out simply because they
or their husbands accepted to become Christians in the missionaries’ definition.

The View of Africans on Conversion: Africans saw the missionaries as unique,

powerful, superior and kind people who used to help the sick, mix with the
villagers, speak local languages; even if you woke them up at midnight with the
weirdest problem they could come to your help.

Above all, conversion was linked with freedom: from the bondage of traditions
like female genital mutilation, freedom not to have to abandon your twin
children, freedom not to be married to a rich old polygamist, freedom to be

42
valued sufficiently and equally and to be taught in school, freedom to choose
your husband, freedom to woo in secret before your father knows, freedom to
choose not to marry at all, freedom to live an independent existence as women”.

This was partly due to the impression that the missionaries communicated in life
as well as by formal message, that woman were equal, free, and capable of
independent responsibility. Thus, the gospel appealed to women with a special
intensity related in a broad way to the issue of female freedom evident in the
missionary women’s lives. Christianity presented attractive prospects.

Conversion was a symbol of a female fellowship, which liberated and elevated

them. Conversion gave those escaping from cruel husbands and a marriage a
sense of belonging. Some women converted to Christianity because they
admired the external changes that the converts underwent. For instance an
African woman who converted to Christianity had to be stripped of her
traditional attire and jewelry. These were immediately replaced with clothes of
some more or less European sort.

For most Africans conversion involved more than a religious conversion, into
cultural and social transformation”. Conversion meant rejecting the familiar and
well-balanced indigenous life patterns and adopting new socio- cultural and
religious structures. They were caught in a dialectical process. They were
presented with a new religion, western medicine, literacy, and new ways of
dressing, new way of life, new values, different routines and social rhythms
among other things.

Therefore Africans linked conversion with missionaries who exemplified all the
above qualities.

d) First African Missionary

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Ironically the CMS work produced probably the most widely known African
Christians of the 19th century, Samuel Ajayi Crowther [1806-1890]. Rescued
from a slave ship at the age of 13, he attended early school education in
Freetown, Sierra Leone before his ordination in 1843. Crowther had to travel to
London for his ordination as that was the nearest diocese. His reactions towards
questions given to him during his examination by the Regius Professor of Greek
in Cambridge proved Crowther to be a man of brilliant mind. His courage was
later proved when he returned to England in 1851 to speak for the trading
interests among the Yoruba communities in Western Nigeria. Presenting a paper
on “The significance of Christianity in Africa”. Andrew Walls commented on
Crowther:
When the [Link], later to be Bishop [in 1864], came to London,
and the people heard this grave and gracious black clergyman address
public meetings in excellent English, when he visited the Palace and
answered Prince Albert`s intelligent questions about African trade,
missionary work appeared to have reached its final justification. Its aims
henceforth must be to produce more of the same. An African clergyman
and an English clergyman should be identical in everything except colour
[Bediako, p.199].
Undoubtly, Crowther`s achievement in the mission field was more than any
white missionary had achieved. He evangelized his enormous Niger Delta
Diocese with a team of clergy and catechists trained in Sierra Leone. He tried to
make each mission house and school the centre of a new way of life based on
Christian values, but at the same time he increasingly appreciated African values
and culture. He was a major contribution in literary culture in some of West
Africa`s important languages. In Crowther, the dream of the Rev. Henry Venn
[1796-1872] was fulfilled who in his report to CMS contended that the western
44
missionary should aim at the possibilities of churches being self-supporting,
self-governing and self-propagating in hands of Africans. This proved that a
converted ‘Animist’ could achieve far much more in the area evangelism using
some of the positive values of ‘Animism’.
This advancement towards the acceptance of an African evangelizing their
fellow Africans by some white missionaries was interrupted by the imperial
experience of the late 19th century. Edinburgh 1910 International Missionary
conference proceeded as if there had not been Samuel Ajayi crowther. Kwame
observes that, the conference relied on theories written by writers who had
never been in Africa rather than researching on what had been done in some
parts of Africa. The notion of Animism had not changed, or even what it could
give to Christianity.

Although the white missionaries were the majority this was the first Conference
that was attended by Africans representing their churches and mission
communities. Le Zoute 1926 recognised that “Africans have been prepared by
previous experience for the reception of the Gospel and that their experience
contains elements of high religious value”. Among those who contributed in the
Conference in issue of the value of Africa`s past was Dietrich Westermann who
posed the following questions:
Can a system of life which a race has lived through many centuries be
entirely useless? Must it not contain elements of divine education and
guidance that should not be destroyed but be brought to full evolution?
May it not be a preparatory stage for fuller life?
This contributor and others in the Conference made the Conference declare that:
Surely the day has gone when the best men could be picked out for India
and china and the rest sent to Africa, as if any man or woman were good
45
 enough for Africa. The time for amateurs has passed…….if it ever existed.
Nothing is too good for Africa.
The Conference also recommended mission boards, committees and agencies
that they provide full opportunity and time to African missionaries, by means of
recognized courses at home or on the field, to study native languages, customs
and religion, that they may make an effective approach to the African mind.
With the above understanding, the modern missionary movement ensured that
Africans had the means to make their own responses to the Christian message.
The story of Samuel Ajayi Crowther is an indication that this dynamism of
African evangelising themselves had been there only that it had not achieved
European missionary recognition. Due to some frustration mainly created by
European missionary paternalism and control, Africans were set to establish
what came to be called African independent churches. Kwame observes that the
contributing factors were not mainly religious but sociological and political. Good
examples of African prophets are Joseph Kimbangu in Congo/Zaire and Isaiah
Shembe of Southern Africa who were to become living testimonies that the
making of Christian Africa in the twentieth century has been to a surprising
extent the result of African initiatives. It is worth noting that, since
Independence the church growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has been faster than
during the missionary era. In Kenya for example some Protestant churches
established missionary area:
The churches carried on with the legacy of evangelism geared towards
individual salvation. The Church laid its emphasis on self-propagation as
Western missionaries gradually began to return home. In recognition of
the missionary zeal in spreading the gospel to the unreached people,
churches in the early 1960s started creating missionary areas with a
purpose of sending African missionaries to places where European
46
 missionaries had not reached. In the Anglican Diocese of Mount Kenya for
example, a Sunday was set aside each year to raise enough money from
the Christians to meet the salaries of the African missionaries in the
Maasai and Boran areas who were now receiving the gospel for the first
time. The Diocese set up a department of the Diocesan Missionary
Association [DMA] with a full time coordinator with roles of raising funds
and coordinating the missionaries [Githiga, Phd thesis on Church and
State, p.88].
Other protestant churches have their program with African missionaries
reaching out those societies that were difficult for the European missionaries to
reach. The PCEA has an arrangement of evangelizing the Nedeni area mainly
those people who used to lead nomadic lives. It is worth noting that the African
missionaries have been able to understand peoples’ culture and language faster
than the European missionaries.
Lesson Twelve

Inculturation
This is a relatively new term in missiology. It has been best defined by the
Catholic theologians especially after 32nd General Congregation of the Society of
Jesus.
“Inculturation means honest and serious attempt to make Christ and his message
of salvation evermore understood by peoples of every culture, locality and time.
It means the reformulating of the Christian life and doctrine into the very
thought patterns of each people. It is the conviction that Christ and His Good
News are even dynamic and challenging to all times and cultures as they become
better understood and lived by each people. It is the continuous endeavour to

47
make Christianity truly “feel at home” in each culture of the people”. [ Mary
Waliggo, “ Making a Church that is truly African” in Waliggo et. al.
Inculturation : Its Meaning and Urgency, p.12].
Inculturation may be understood as an expression of the dynamic relation
between the Church and the variety of cultures. It is close to other terms as
“adaptation” and “accommodation”. It also carries the cultural dimension of
contextualization. The term however may not be confused with enculturation.
The latter is the process by which an individual becomes inserted in his own
culture. Inculturation is the process by which the Church becomes part of the
culture of the culture of the people.
Ary Roest Crollius , S.J. in his article on “ Inculturation: Newness and Ongoing
Process” in Waliggo [Link]. [eds], Inculturation: Its Meaning and Urgency,
explains the term as
a] The growth in one`s culture: --the local Church is a church incarnate in a
people, a church indigenous and inculturated. The church in continuous, humble
and loving dialogue with the living traditions, the culture, religions—in brief, with
all the life realities of the people in whose midst it has sunk its roots deeply and
whose history and life it gladly makesits own. The discussion on inculturation
has to be seen in the context of the new awareness of the reality and the
mission of the local Church. The ensuing cultural plurality [out of this local
accommodations], far from being a contradiction with the unity of the Church,
may be seen as the “expression of the very unity”.
b] An ongoing process: --the culture in which the Church is rooted is such a
vast and complex reality, that its exploration and assimilation can hardly ever be
said to have reached its fulfillment. A culture is living reality, that is in a
continuous process of change. The changes [customs and values] in the local

48
cultural environment need to be addressed in order to represent new choices for
the church.
c] Cultural stability and change
Inculturation also recognizes the dynamics of cultural change. For example when
large numbers of local people join the Church, and especially when local clergy
develops, the Church is bound to assimilate the culture of the surrounding
society. Proper inculturation process then begins, of which the principal agent is
mainly the surrounding culture. Thus, three stages of developments take place:
translation of the gospel, assimilation and transformation. The entire process of
inculturation is one of integration, both in the sense of integration of the
Christian faith and the life in the given culture and integration of a new
expression of the Christian experience in the life of the universal Church.

Indigenization
Indigenisation is the process of incarnating Christianity by immersing it in the
African culture. [Link] in his book The Christian Church at the crossroads:
Strategy for Indigenisation observes:
It expresses the concept drawn from Christology, that is, as much as
Jesus became human in order to redeem humanity, Christianity must also
become African in order to liberate Africa. The idea is closely
associated with inculturation, for it means that Christianity must grow
within the African soil and acquire the characteristics and trappings of
the African environment. Thus the term is interchangeably used with
inculturation. In other words, the question raised is, “how can a Christian
theology reflect the tradition ethos of the African people, be concerned
about their joys and tribulations, and at the same time, remain authentic
Christians”?
49
Indigenization is an attempt to make Christianity to be seen mushrooming from
the African soil and not imported from Rome, or Europe, or America or be seen
to have been the vested interest of the western missionaries. It is interesting to
note [Link]`s plan of indigenization [as is quoted in Nthamburi] cover the
whole of Church`s life, including evangelism, Christian literature, theology,
dress, vestment, offices etc.
Indigenisation attempts to go back to original source of Christianity, without
borrowing any cultural ingredients from the western paths where it passed
through. It endeavour to recapture the spirit and life of the primitive Christianity
in order to capture Christianity inits pure form. According to Nthamburi, it looks
upon the African religion and culture for insight and format, while hold on at the
same time, to the scriptures. It also looks for contemporary African situation in
order to be relevant to the current African situation.
Nthamburi further brings about the concept of the distinction between the “core
of the gospel” and Christianity per se. It is assumed that in the process of
transmission, Christianity acquired cultural elements which were incorporated
into the gospel. Around them were woven `cultural vestments` which were not
separated from the “core” during transmission from one culture to another. To
achieve authentic African Christianity, western cultural forms that came with
western missionaries to Africa must give way to Authentic African forms that
would place African Christianity in its relevant setting. But given the
conservative stance of the Church, it may take a whole generation befire
tangible results are achieved. It would be the hierarchy more than any party that
would hold the dynamics of change back.
Nthamburi concludes by emphasizing that we must go beyond African theology
in an African robe while the inside is full of western concepts and forms:
“Indigenisation must start from the focal point of faith, which is the profession of
50
faith in Christ. African theology would do well to emancipate itself from foreign
expression in order to be incarnated within African culture and religion. Only
then can it hope to be both authentic and relevant. [Nthamburi, p.54].

Contextualization
The word refers to the process of relating ‘message’ to the ‘Context’. J.N.K
Mugambi observes that with regard to international politics and economics,
contextualization would mean the transfer of concepts invented in one culture to
another culture: For example concepts of democracy, as evolved in the
Westminister model, have been exported to other countries and contextualized,
sometimes with success and sometimes with alarming failures. The debate on
political pluralism has its background in such efforts contextualization.
Mugambi, J.N.K., from liberation to reconstruction : African Christian Theology
after the Cold-War. East Africa Education Publishers, Nairobi, 1995, p. 671. We
need to ask ourselves whether a concept evolving from some other people for
their own use should be borrowed then contextualized by other recipients. One
would argue that increasingly losing that which belonged to it. We would still
need to isolate the ourselves from that which is good for our use, without
discarding that which is valuable; and also ask ourselves that which we can give
to the world.

In relation to mission, the gospel becomes rooted when the converts live it in
their lives with full appreciation of their cultural religious heritage. Jesus
encounters every individual and every community, and offers challenges which
may be accepted or rejected (Mugambi, p. 67). Joseph Healey and Donald
Syberts, Towards an African Narrative Theology gives the journey to Emmaus
as a good example of contextualization.
51
The Emmaus story is a model for generalization and catechists in Africa today.
It emphasizes the importance of, even more the necessity of contextualization.
Jesus began the proclamation of the good news of resurrection. Jesus began the
proclamation of the good news of the resurrection from the situation of
hopelessness of the two disciples. All preaching and teaching has to take into
account the concrete situation of the daily lives of the African people; urban or
rural, rich or poor, Sunday catholic or daily communicant. Like Jesus on the
road, modern day pastoral workers need to speak to the ‘African Peoples’
questions, concerns, needs and desires. This includes addressing the burning
questions of the struggle for survival, realistic marriage laws, and the
inculturation of the liturgy, …….. The first stage in proclamation therefore, must
be to identify the concrete situation of the lives of the people so that in the light
of the scriptures and especially the good news of Jesus, they may come to
recognize the life-giving presence of God even situations that seem hopeless, as
the two travelers to Emmaus did (Healey, p. 267).
For full definition of Contextualization, see David Bosch, pp. 426-432.

Lesson Thirteen

Relevance of the Gospel values to the African Culture and Religion

Gospel and Culture: Cultural barriers and cultural sensitivity to the

communication of the Gospel; an analysis of missionary humility; the incarnation
as a model for Christian witness

We hare already defined terms like contextualization, inculturation and

indigenization in our general introduction of missiology. These terms have
something to do with making the gospel relevant people’s cultural contexts. In

52
this section, we will just give an example of Kenyan case study of making the
gospel relevant to the people in the so called ‘missionary area.’ We will examine
an article by David Gitari of Evangelism among the nomadic communities of
Northern Kenya.

The Boran, the Gabbra and Rendille of Marsabit Disrtict Within the CPK Diocese
of kirinyaga move from one area to another search of fresh grazing area and
water. They therefore have no permanent places and so like the Maasai build
temporary houses.

Their culture revolves around these movements and their economy depends on
their animals. Gitari argues that there could be cultural conflicts between the
gospel and culture, for example the Maasai believe that all the cows in the world
belong to them. They thus believe if other tribes keep the cows, then the cows
are in the wrong hands and are always proper to retrieve them from these
tribes. For example the Maasai would match into the Wakamba country or the
Kikuyu neighbours and ‘take back’ that which they believe belonged to them. But
if Jesus was to visit them he would tell the Maasai, “You have heard it was said
of the old, ‘All cattle belong to the Maasai, and that to take the Wakamba’s cattle
is not stealing.’ But I say to you, ‘if you love the Wakamba, do not take their
cattle.”

There are other cultures which are hostile to God’s divine providence. For
example, in the Gabbra culture, when a woman gives birth to twins, the two
children are killed as this is considered to be a bad omen. Gitari observes that
the first African missionary among the Gabbra, Rev Andrew Adano [now the late
Bishop Adano] joined hands with a Roman Catholic Father in saving a certain
lady’s twins, by teaching the community that one of the key commandments are
‘thou shall not kill.’ The gospel became good news to the community.
53
Gitari observes that, it’s prerequisite for the missionaries to understand the
communal cultures of many African communities by reminding his readers
Mbiti's emphasis that an individual in the African cultured can only exist in the
context of his community. “I am because we are and because were are therefore
I am.”

We have inherited from the Western culture the concept of evangelism as

winning individuals to Jesus Christ. This concept of individualism is foreign to
African communities. For example a young person could not be left alone to
make decisions concerning the rites of passage because the ceremony would
involve the whole community. Among the nomadic tribes in Northern Kenya, just
as much as they move together in their nomadic exodus, they also have to make
decisions as communities concerning accepting Christ. Gitari observes: We are
convinced that in our primary evangelism among these nomadic peoples, our
approach must not be of rescuing individuals from a sinking boat, but rather
winning communities to Jesus Christ.

Gitari sites the work of one Roman Catholic missionary who went to evangelize
the Maasai of Northern Tanzania. His approach was to build boarding schools so
that he could indoctrinate the children with Christianity. But any time the
children went home to the parents they returned to their traditional way of
living. According to the missionary, ‘no catholic child after leaving school
continued to practice his religion’.

After this failure the Catholic Missionary asked his bishop to allow him to go and
talk to the Maasai communities in their Manyattas. His approach then was to
request the chief to gather his people together so that he could talk to them as a
community in the presences of the chief. They appeared to listen attentively.
When he asked them whether they would make the decision to become
54
Christians and be baptized, they did not immediately make a decision. He was to
leave them for several months to thank about this challenge.

When he returned after sometime, five of the six communities had already made
the decision to become Christians. When the time came for baptism, the
missionary refused to baptize some of them who had failed to attend some
classes. But the elders told the missionary, ’you either baptize all of us or none
of us. We refuse to be divided.’ The missionary had no alternative but to baptize
all of them.

The gospel among the Rendille or Boran of Northern Kenya has to be preached
to the community. One must be ready to visit the household, respecting and
preserving the communal cultures that hold the people together. The message
that is aimed at dividing the people and plucking out individuals is considered
hostile. This communal cohesiveness may be seen as a positive Christian ideal
of belonging to one body of Christ.

Gitari observes that the missionaries have been working in Northern Kenya for
many years but the break-through of the gospel among the Gabbra people was
not until the ordination of the first Gabbra priest/missionary in 1977. He
received from them a camel, a mule and 40 goats, a sign of accepting him as a
community leader.

The work among the Turkana of Isiolo District began in 1981. The
Vicar/missionary made an impact by visiting the communities in their Manyattas
and would always start by inviting the community elder to begin the proceedings
with a traditional prayer. He would say something about Jesus after which he
would receive a lot of religious questions like ‘who exactly Jesus is and why God

55
allows draught amongst them?’ After answering their questions, the Vicar again
invited the community elder to close with a word of prayer.

When the Vicar performed his initial baptism other members of the Manyatta
would follow.

In 1985, 180 Turkana were baptized in one service. Work among the Rendille
began in 1986, when an entire community of 100 Rendille people turned to
Christ and were baptized. Another 500 were baptized in another community.

The above results were attributed to some of the following factors:

1. The kikuyu missionaries who went to serve among these people were to
leave their cultures behind and presented the gospel and culture that were
meaningful to the Turkanas’, Rendille, Samburu and the Gabbra.
2. Allowing the communities flexibility in allowing converts to develop new
forms of Christian prayer rather than insisting on the 1662 Book of
Common Prayer.
3. Community self-help projects like literacy classes were started to help
the local communities develop holistically.

But the main factor as Gitari puts it was “we cannot be effective unless we are
willing to become ‘Gabbras to the Gabbra, the Rendilles to the Rendille’ so that
we may receive the blessing of the Lord with them” [cf. 1cor. 9.22b-23.]

56
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2. David Westlund, African Religion in African Scholarship (Stockholm 1988)

3. A. Shorter, African Christian Theology (London; Geoffrey Chapman, 1975)

4. Okot [Link], African Religions in Western Scholarship (Nairobi, Kenyan

Literature Bureau, 1971).

5. E. Ikenga-Metuh, African Religions in Western Conceptual Schemes: the

Problem of Interpretation (Jos, IMICO Press, 1991).

6. Talal Asad (ed.) Anthropology & the Colonial Encounter (London, Ithaca
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Ithaca Press, 1976).

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12. E. Ikenga-Metuh, Comparative Studies of African Traditional Religions
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14. E.B. Idowu, African Tradition Religion; A Definition (London SCM Press Ltd,
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