University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and has specialised in the field of the African Traditional Religion. Most practitioners of African Traditional Religion have an understanding of a creator God, but this normally refined and broaden when one becomes a Christian. Traditional authority from an African point of view is very central and important because, despite the fact that it is a uniting force, the community leader is seen as a steward with divine authority over land. By way of contrast, the intent and theological assumptions of the conservative evangelical missionaries are examined to uncover the causes of the weakness of Christian mission in Karamoja. that threaten individual or community survival, good health and general 16, No. © 1999 Sage Publications, Ltd. Experiences can be internal and effable, such as a vision, or internal and ineffable, as is claimed by some mystics. The S… Access supplemental materials and multimedia. ©2000-2020 ITHAKA. Animism builds the core concept of traditional African religions, this includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship and the belief in an afterlife. of God in any African Traditional Religion is asking for trouble, because the meaning of the English terms come with such a long his-tory, from the Latin, of theological baggage, that it is not at all natural to give space to the African meanings in their context. Religion, in this view, constitutes an element within culture, as religion is seen as a way of life. Idowu calls the Yoruba religion “diffused” monotheism. Atheistic tendencies in Africa are minimal. It provides to scholars and practitioners an international forum for discussion on Mission Studies, particularly focusing on the Majority World. Christian mission still needs to stimulate a trinitarian understanding of God making as full use as possible of the traditional concept, so that the culture may be redeemed rather than opposed. AJOL and the millions of African and international researchers who rely on our free services are deeply grateful for your contribution. African peoples do not consider God to be a man, but in order to express certain concepts, they employ languages and images about God as an aid to their conceptualization of him whom they have not seen and about whom they confess to know little or nothing. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the journal. Please use the link above to donate via Paypal. Revelation can be link… Google Scholar Samuel, Vinay & Chris Sugden (eds.) African identity and culture are preserved in African Traditional Religion. To access this article, please, Vol. The most significant similarity between the African God and the Biblical God is the fundamental belief in a deity. It is the most popular for decoration and can often be seen printed on cloth or stamped on pottery.The rapid spread of Pentecostal Christianity and fundamentalist Islam has greatly affected the role of indigenous religion in African society. The concept of the universal creator God in Karamojong traditional religion is analysed with respect to the culture and other African beliefs, and the prevalence of this faith is assessed. African Traditional Concept of God: A Critical Analysis Gikuyu, the Zulu and the Bambuti groups. Original papers in the following fields are welcome: Mission and Theology; Bible and Ethics; Religions and Culture; Faith Based Development. God. 1, pages 17-32: "Peace and Reconciliation in African Religion and Christianity." African Traditional Religion: A Definition (1973), Omosade Awolalu in Yoruba Belief and Sacrificial Rites and John Mbiti in The Concept of God in Africa (1970) are a few examples of postcolonial scholars of religion who have resisted and denounced colonial idea that Africans do not know God. ... a confused culture and a hope that God and their ancestors were still with them in their pain and happiness. AJOL is a non-profit, relying on your support. ----- Please Subscribe! This study attempts and examines what some scholars have written about African traditional religion, its beliefs and practices, and brought it together to form what may be called the worship of God in the religion. Your donation is guaranteed to directly contribute to Africans sharing their research output with a global readership. The works of African scholars for the past three decades have established the fact that Africans have a concept of an universal God and the Creator (Idowu, 1962; Mbiti, 1975). 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