DGEN 699 Thesis The Value of the Continuity between...

The Value of the Continuity between African and Old Testament Worldviews

by

Olena Prokhorenko Ogiozee

A Thesis

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

Master of Arts in Biblical Interpretation (Pre-doctoral Track)

Regent University

Irving, 2009

ii

School of Divinity

Regent University

This is to certify that the thesis prepared by

Olena Prokhorenko Ogiozee

entitled

THE VALUE OF THE CONTINUITY BETWEEN AFRICAN AND OLD

TESTAMENT WORLDVIEWS

Has been approved by her thesis advisor as satisfactory for completion of the thesis

requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Biblical Interpretation, Pre-doctoral

Studies

________________________________________________________________________ Dr Clifton Clarke, Advisor Date School of Divinity

________________________________________________________________________ Dr Donald Tucker, Academic Dean Date School of Divinity

iii

THE VALUE OF THE CONTINUITY BETWEEN AFRICAN AND OLD

TESTAMENT COSMOLOGIES

ABSTRACT

The center of Christianity today has undergone a shift from the global North to the South:

with Africa playing a primary role. The impact of this shift is that the African voice can no

longer be ignored in the global Church. Sharing in many ways in their life and thought with

the worldview of the ancient Israelites, Africans indeed have a lot to offer to the health of the

universal Body of Christ. While there are disadvantages in making too quick a comparison

between the cultural context of ancient Israelite and modern African cultural practices, this

paper will explore the worldview of Africans and compare it to that of biblical Hebrews. This

study will then ultimately show the points of the existing continuity, their contributions and

value to the universal Church.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 1

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ISSUE .................................................................................................................. 1

Importance of Africans to Christianity ............................................................................................. 1

History of Scholarly Treatment of the Issue ...................................................................................... 2

LIMITS TO THE INVESTIGATION.............................................................................................................. 6

LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................ 6

DEFINITION OF SIGNIFICANT TERMS ...................................................................................................... 9

THESIS STATEMENT ............................................................................................................................ 11

LOGICAL STRUCTURE ......................................................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER 2: AFRICAN WORLDVIEW ........................................................................................... 14

COSMOLOGY ...................................................................................................................................... 14

Religiosity ..................................................................................................................................... 14

An Organic or Holistic View of the World ...................................................................................... 15

VIEW OF GOD ..................................................................................................................................... 16

He Is the Creator........................................................................................................................... 16

He Is Uniquely Eternal .................................................................................................................. 17

His Unique Eternal Attributes........................................................................................................ 18

He Is Omniscient.......................................................................................................................................18

He Is Omnipresent ....................................................................................................................................18

He Is Omnipotent......................................................................................................................................19

Is He Transcendent or Immanent?.................................................................................................. 19

VIEW OF MAN..................................................................................................................................... 21

Man as Creation............................................................................................................................ 21

Man’s Role in the World ................................................................................................................ 22

SPIRIT WORLD.................................................................................................................................... 23

Description of the Spirit World ...................................................................................................... 24

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Man and the Spirit World............................................................................................................... 26

ANCESTORS ........................................................................................................................................ 27

Who Are They?.............................................................................................................................. 28

Their Function............................................................................................................................... 28

Worship or Respect?...................................................................................................................... 30

FAMILY/COMMUNITY ......................................................................................................................... 31

CONCLUSION: THERE IS A CONTINUITY................................................................................................ 33

CHAPTER 3: OLD TESTAMENT WORLDVIEW............................................................................ 34

COSMOLOGY ...................................................................................................................................... 34

Religiosity ..................................................................................................................................... 34

An Organic or Holistic View of the World ...................................................................................... 35

Unique Relationship between God, Humanity and Israel ................................................................ 36

VIEW OF GOD ..................................................................................................................................... 37

God Is One .................................................................................................................................... 37

He Is the Creator........................................................................................................................... 38

He is Transcendent and Immanent ................................................................................................. 39

He is Holy ..................................................................................................................................... 40

VIEW OF MAN..................................................................................................................................... 41

Man as Creation............................................................................................................................ 41

Original State ...........................................................................................................................................42

After Sin ...................................................................................................................................................42

SPIRIT WORLD.................................................................................................................................... 44

Biblical Description of the Spirit World ......................................................................................... 45

Under God................................................................................................................................................45

Rigidly Separated......................................................................................................................................45

The Spirits’ Functions ...............................................................................................................................46

Man and the Spirit World............................................................................................................... 47

ANCESTORS ........................................................................................................................................ 49

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Who Are They?.............................................................................................................................. 49

Worship or Respect?...................................................................................................................... 50

FAMILY/COMMUNITY ......................................................................................................................... 52


CHAPTER 4: ASPECTS OF CONTINUITY BETWEEN OLD TESTAMENT AND AFRICAN

WORLDVIEWS ................................................................................................................................... 54

COSMOLOGY: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES.................................................................................... 57

Similarities .................................................................................................................................... 57

Differences .................................................................................................................................... 59

VIEW OF GOD: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES .................................................................................. 59

Similarities .................................................................................................................................... 59

Differences .................................................................................................................................... 60

VIEW OF MAN: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES.................................................................................. 62

Similarities .................................................................................................................................... 62

SPIRIT WORLD: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES ................................................................................. 63

Similarities .................................................................................................................................... 63

Differences .................................................................................................................................... 64

ANCESTORS: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES ..................................................................................... 65

COMMUNITY: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES.................................................................................... 67

Similarities .................................................................................................................................... 67

CONCEPTS RESULTING FROM THE POINTS OF CONTINUITY.................................................................... 68

Divine Origin of the Universe....................................................................................................................69

Reality of the Spirit World .........................................................................................................................71

No Compartmentalisations ........................................................................................................................72

No distinction between physical and spiritual........................................................................................72

No distinction between the sacred and the secular .................................................................................73

Importance of community ....................................................................................................................74


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CHAPTER 5; CONTRIBUTIONS OF OLD TESTAMENT/AFRICAN CONTINUITY TO

AFRICAN AND GLOBAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIES.................................................................. 75

IMPORTANCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TO CHRISTIANITY..................................................................... 76

Old Testament Illuminates the New................................................................................................ 76

Old Testament Establishes the Unity of the Bible............................................................................ 77

Old Testament Emphasizes Certain Religious Thoughts.................................................................. 78

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND AFRICAN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY ................... 79

Original Tension Concerning the Old Testament Study in Africa .................................................... 79

The Need and the Right for African Theology ................................................................................. 81

Initial Development of African Theology..............................................................................................82

African Ambivalence towards African Theology...................................................................................83

Avoiding syncretism. ......................................................................................................................86

Supplying the African need. ............................................................................................................88

CONTRIBUTIONS OF AFRICAN/OLD TESTAMENT CONTINUITY TO GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY ...................... 92

Contributions of Divine Origin of the Universe ..........................................................................................92

No dichotomy in epistemology.............................................................................................................93

Prominence of the Bible .......................................................................................................................93

Contributions of Reality of the Spirit World ...............................................................................................94

The power of God................................................................................................................................94

The power of evil.................................................................................................................................95

Pneumatology of the Spirit-type Churches ............................................................................................95

Contributions of Absence of Compartmentalisations ..................................................................................96

Healthy esteem of humanity .................................................................................................................97

Holistic view of man............................................................................................................................97

No distinction between the sacred and the secular .................................................................................99

Contributions of Importance of Community................................................................................................99

No racism..........................................................................................................................................100

Strong ecclesiology............................................................................................................................100

CONCLUSION: SUMMARY OF AFRICAN CONTRIBUTIONS ..................................................................... 101

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 103

BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................... 107

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Significance of the Issue

Importance of Africans to Christianity

Post-colonial African Christianity, as a project of inculturation of the Christian

faith into an African context, received a massive endorsement by Pope Paul VI at the first

Pan-African meeting of Roman Catholic Bishops at Gaba, Uganda, in 1969. The Pope

declared to the body of African Bishops, “You may, and you must, have an African

Christianity.”1

In 1995, Andrew Walls noted that “the nature of African Christianity might until

recently have seemed recondite and may still appear to be a matter of exotic or specialist

interest.”2 He said, “Anyone who thinks the subject either peripheral to Africa or

peripheral to Christianity needs to reconsider because the expansion of Christianity in

twentieth-century Africa has been so dramatic that it has been called ‘the fourth great age

of Christian expansion.’”3 Thus, we need to realize that there has been “a shift in

Christianity’s centre of gravity from the Northern continents to the South, with Africa

1 Aylward Shorter, African Christian Theology – Adaptation or Incarnation? (New York: Orbis

Books, 1977), 20. 2 Andrew Walls, “Foreword,” in Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion,

Kwame Bediako, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (Orbis Books), 1995), xi. 3 Elizabeth Allo Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa: From Antiquity to the Present, 1,

1995. http://books.google.com/books?id=m897sjXX4JQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA1,M1. [accessed10 December 2008].

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having pride of place in it.”4 Kwame Bediako asserts that this place of Africa in the

present shift is “bound to affect the way the Christian faith is understood, expressed and

perhaps transmitted.”5 Walls echoes, “Christian life and thought are developing from the

interaction with the cultures and traditions of Africa as in past centuries they developed

through interaction with those of the Greco-Roman and Western worlds.” 6 Today,

African Christianity is a global phenomenon, which is not just impacting the African

continent but also the shape of Christianity in the western world. This study seeks to

investigate the impact of African and Old Testament worldviews on African and global

theologies.

In order to investigate this twine impact of ‘African’ and ‘Old Testament

cosmologies’, we need to explore the relationship between African cosmologies and the

Old Testament. William D. Reyburn explains, “One of the most subtle and pervasive

tensions in the Christian African scene is the relation of the Old Testament to the life of

the African church.”7 It is the proper resolution of this tension that is the concern of this

study. To move further, the reason for and history of the tension in the scholarly literature

needs to be reviewed.

History of Scholarly Treatment of the Issue

Discussing the development of scholarship between Africa and Israel, Kwesi

Dickson informs, “the predilection for the Old Testament among African Christians, has

4 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 3. 5 Ibid., 75. 6 Walls, “Foreword,” xi. 7 William D. Reyburn, “The Message of the Old Testament and the African church,” Practical

Anthropology 7, no. 4 (Jul-Aug 1960): 153.

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been long noticed and well documented by scholars.”8 However, its initial treatment was

very negative. Godfrey Edward Philips is an example of the thoughts held by some older

scholars. He notes, “Certainly Africans like the book and take to it like ducks to water,

but like ducks that stay in the water they prefer to remain at Old Testament levels of

morality and religion.”9 Thus, among others, he feared not only a translation of the Old

Testament into vernacular but even its usage in the African church. Bediako comments

on the impact of this initial attitude, “The impact of this largely negative early European

evaluation of African tradition, particularly in religion, upon the African theological

consciousness was to be immense and virtually every African Christian writer of modern

times has responded in one form or other to this ‘European Africaanschauung’.”10

Dickson names Reyburn as the one who started the response in 1960 by “[setting]

out to show how certain religious, social and cultural facets of life in Africa are recalled

in the Old Testament.”11 He assigned the early missionary refusal to admit the Old

Testament as a part of a church’s Scripture in Africa to “the wishful thinking that Greek

thought provides the background for the understanding of the Christian message” saying

that this “desire to diminish the importance [of its] Hebrew background . . . often creates

8 Kwesi A. Dickson, “The Old Testament and African Theology,” The Ghana Bulletin of Theology

IV, no. 4 (June 1973): 32-34. I am indebted to Dickson for providing the chronological list of the authors mentioned at this recalling of the scholarly treatment of the issue. Most of their originals were consulted.

9 Godfrey Edward Phillips, The Old Testament in the World Church, 3, 2002.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ey02vv55YA0C&printsec=frontcover#PPA3,M1. [accessed 5 December 2008].

10 Kwame Bediako, Theology and Identity: The Impact of Culture Upon Christian Thought in the

Second Century and in Modern Africa (Oxford: Regnum Books, 1992), 226.

11 Dickson, “The Old Testament and African Theology,” 34, refers to two of Reyburn’s works: William D. Reyburn, “The Message of the Old Testament and the African church,” 152-56, and “Sickness, sin, and the curse: the Old Testament and the African church,” Practical Anthropology 7, no. 5, (Sep-Oct 1960) 217-22. Both of these works were consulted and are further used.

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a lack of appreciation and understanding of much of African culture which stands in close

formal relation to it.” He concludes, “The Old Testament and not Plato or Aristotle

underlies the New Testament message. African life and thought share in many ways the

cultural life of ancient Israel.”12

Although Reyburn’s main thesis of continuity between Old Testament and

African thought was correct, the ease with which he and many others were making the

comparison at the time was cautioned against by P. E. S. Thompson. In an article entitled

“The Approach to the Old Testament in an African setting”13 he questioned “the

theoretical basis for such comparisons.”14 His concern was echoed by Erich Isaac who

observed the weakness in a methodology of comparing contemporary practices with

ancient ones from a different area.15

In an article written in the 1970s entitled “The Old Testament and African

Theology,” Dickson wrote to a scholarly audience whose opinions ranged drastically

from works following J. J. Williams, who attempted to trace a line of Hebraic influence

12 Reyburn, “The Message,” 153. Reyburn’s positive outlook on such a continuity is shared later

not only by Dickson who wrote extensively on the subject, but also by John S. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion, 190, 1991. http://books.google.com/books?id=i9ezVqxxxqgC&printsec=frontcover#PPA169,M1 [accessed 14 October 2008]; Madipoane Joyce Masenya who added, “Is it not perhaps our non-African and irrelevant, approach to the Old Testament that has contributed to the shocking 155:3 white to black ratio among OTSSA members in a country and on a continent to which the Old Testament has an almost natural appeal”; M. J. Masenya, “Teaching Western-Oriented Old Testament Studies to African Students: An Exercise in Wisdom or in Folly?” Old Testament Essays 17, no. 3 (2004): 462; and others who will be cited throughout the paper.

13 P. E. S. Thompson, “The Approach to the Old Testament in an African Setting,” The Ghana

Bulletin of Theology 2, no. 3 (December 1962): 1-11. 14 Dickson, “The Old Testament,” 34. The quote is Dickson’s summary of Thompson’s work. 15 Erich Isaac, “Relations Between Hebrew Bible and Africa,” Jewish Social Studies (1964): 87-

98.

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from Egypt to West Africa as early as 1930 in his book Hebrewisms of West Africa;16 to

others who believed “that comparing the Old Testament and African religion is an

exercise of at best doubtful value” and, like Thompson and Isaac, cautioned against it; to

some who “stated categorically that there is no value whatsoever in it.”17

Nevertheless, Dickson observed, “Despite these warnings which need to be kept

in mind to guard against facile comparisons, and conclusions therefrom [sic], one has to

take seriously the fact that, rightly or wrongly, there is a tendency among the Independent

Churches to regard the Old Testament atmosphere as more congenial.”18 He proceeded,

“We are inclined to believe that it is the ‘atmosphere’ of the Old Testament, rather than

the matching isolated areas of religio-cultural expression in the Old Testament and

African ‘counterparts’, which makes the Old Testament a source of reference in matters

of faith and practice for some.”19

In my opinion, Dickson laid a foundation for the right methodology of comparing

and thus appreciating the continuity of African and Old Testament thoughts. This

research will follow his suggestion of comparing the ‘atmosphere,’ or worldview of

Hebrew Scriptures to that of traditional Africans. Sharing in his “conviction that, when

the proper safeguards have been applied a comparison between the Old Testament and

16 In his “‘Hebrewisms of West Africa’: The Old Testament and African Life and Thought,”

Legon Journal of Humanities 1 (1974): 23-34, Dickson lists Eva Meyerowitz’ The Divine Kingship of Ghana and Ancient Egypt 1960, J. B. Danquah’s The Akan Doctrine of God 1968, and Mr. E. A. Ammah’s unpublished research as following Williams’ faulty methods “of linking the ancient Hebrews and West Africa,” and lists them as one of the main reason he was writing the review on a book over forty years old.

17 Dickson, “‘Hebrewisms of West Africa,’” 29. Dickson is referring to Professor Parrinder, of the

University of London, who expressed this view at the Congress of the Bible and Black Africa, which took place in Jerusalem, April 24-30, 1972.

18 Dickson, “The Old Testament,” 35. 19 Ibid., 36.

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African life and thought can have very useful consequences,”20 I hope to draw

conclusions from this study that will be valuable for both African and Global

Christianities.21

Limits to the Investigation

African primal worldview will be studied in this research as far as its continuity,

similarities, and differences, with the Old Testament, original biblical Hebrew,

worldview is concerned. Only those areas of African theology and cosmology which

demonstrate continuity between these two traditions will be addressed. African

worldview will be discussed in a general way, without denying the particularism of

different parts of Africa.22 The research will be limited to the worldview of the Old

Testament and will therefore not discuss the New Testament, except by means of an

example. The word “biblical,” in this paper, will refer to the Old Testament portion of

Scriptures. Finally, unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references will be from the New

King James Version of the Bible.

Literature Review

Besides other authors mentioned during the review of the history of the issue, the

biggest contributor towards the thesis of this work is the Ghanaian scholar, Kwesi A.

20 Kwesi A. Dickson, Theology in Africa (New York: Orbis Books, 1984), 160. 21 This thought of the importance of African theology to world Christianity is extensively

supported by Shorter, African Christian Theology, 1, 31, and others who will be referred to later in the paper.

22 Allan Anderson, Moya: The Holy Spirit in an African Context (Pretoria, South Africa: University of South Africa, 1991, 3rd impression 1994), 11.

7

Dickson. 23 He laid the right foundation for comparing the Old Testament and African

thoughts. Other writers of European descent considered authoritative in African studies

are Geoffrey Parrinder24, Harold Turner,25 Bengt M. Sundkler26, G. C. Oosthuizen,27 and

Allan Anderson28 whose works have been helpful in both establishing points of and

rightly appreciating the African/Old Testament continuity. Prominent African scholars

such as Bolaji Idowu29 (Nigeria), John Mbiti30 (Kenya), Vincent Gwa Gikala M.

23 The works by Dickson used are “The Old Testament and African Theology,” 32-34;

“‘Hebrewisms of West Africa,’” 31-41; “Continuity and Discontinuity Between the Old Testament and African Life and Thought” in African Theology en Route: Papers from the Pan-African Conference of Third World Theologians, December 17-23, 1977, Accra, Ghana, ed. Kofi Appiah-Kubi and Sergio Torres (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979), 95-108; and Theology in Africa (New York: Orbis Books, 1984). In all four works the author lays the right foundation for establishing the African/Old Testament continuity. Theology in Africa will be used heavily in chapters 2-4. Together with Paul Ellingworth, he also an editor of Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs, eds. Kwesi A. Dickson and Paul Ellingworth (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1969).

24 Geoffrey Edward Parrinder, African Traditional Religion (London: Hutchinson House, 1954),

although I do not agree with Parrinder’s later (1972) negative conclusion regarding the comparison of Old Testament and African thought, some of his earlier observations on African Traditional Religion will be helpful in establishing an African worldview (chapter 2).

25 Harold Turner, “Primal Religions and Their Study,” in Australian Essays in World Religions,

ed. Victor Hayes (Bedford Park: Australian Association for World Religions, 1977). 26 Bengt Sundkler, Bantu Prophets in South Africa, 2nd ed. (London: Oxford University Press,

1961); and The Christian Ministry in Africa (London: SCM, 1960). 27 G. C. Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa: A Theological and Anthropological Study (Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968). 28 Anderson’s works include African Reformation: African Initiated Christianity in the 20th

Century (Trento, NJ: Africa World Press, 2001); and Moya. 29 Bolaji Idowu, “God,” in Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs: 17-29; Olódùmarè: God in

Yoruba Belief (New York: The African Islamic Publications, 1988); summary of his views is also presented by Bediako, Theology and Identity, 267-302.

30 John Mbiti’s, African Religions and Philosophy; Introduction to African Religion; and “The

Biblical Basis for Present Trends in African Theology,” African Theology en Route, 83-94; summary of his views is also presented by Bediako, Theology and Identity, 303-46.

8

Mulago31 (Zaire), Byang H. Kato (Nigeria)32 and Ogbu Kalu33 have been consulted to

establish the proper understanding of African primal worldview.

Finally, starting with Aylward Shorter34 (1977), Mercy Oduyoye (Nigeria,1977),35

and John S. Pobee (Ghana, 1979), 36 “ecumenical African theologian par excellence”37, in

the 70s, joined by Kwame Bediako38 (Ghana, 1995), and Yusufu Turaki (Nigeria, 1999)39

in the 90s, echoed by contemporary works of Justin Ukpong (Nigeria, 2000),40 Knut

Holter (Norway, 2000),41 Madipoane Joyce Masenya (South Africa, 2004), 42 and others,

31 Vincent Mulago, “Vital Participation,” Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs, 137-158; and

La Religion Traditionelle des Bantu et leur vision du monde, (Kinshasa: Faculté de Théologie Catholique, 1980). quoted by Bediako in Theology and Identity; Bediako also presents the summary of Mulago’s views, Theology and Identity, 347-385.

32 Byang H. Kato, Theological Pitfalls in Africa (Nairobi, Kenya: Evangel Publishing House,

1987, 3rd printing); Tite Tiénou, David Gitari, and Comelius Olowola, eds., Theological Perspectives in Africa (Achimota, Ghana: African Christian Press, 1985), vol. 2, Biblical Christianity in Africa: A Collection of Papers and Addresses, by Byang H. Kato; some of his views are also quoted by Bediako, Theology and Identity, 386-425.

33 Kalu’s works consulted are Clio in a Sacred Garb: Essays on Christian Presence and African

Responses , 1900-2000 (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2008); and “Church Presence in Africa: A Historical Analysis of the Evangelization Process,” in African Theology en Route, 13-22.

34 Shorter, African Christian Theology. 35 Mercy Amba Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices for Christian

Theology,” in African Theology en Route, 109-16. 36 John S. Pobee, Toward an African Theology (Nashville: Abingdon, 1979). 37 Anderson, African Reformation, xv. 38 Bediako’s works are Christianity in Africa and Theology and Identity. 39 Yusufu Turaki, Christianity and African Gods: A Method in Theology (Potchefstroom, South

Africa: Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir CHO, 1999). 40 Justin S. Ukpong, “Developments in Biblical Interpretation in Africa: Historical and

Hermeneutical Directions Source,” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, no. 108 (N 2000): 3-18; Ukpong’s other works are commented on extensively by the contributors of Bible and Theology in Africa, ed. Knut Holter (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2000-present), vol. 2, Interpreting the Old Testament in Africa: Papers from the International Symposium on Africa and the Old Testament in Nairobi, October 1999, by Mary Getui, Knut Holter and Victor Zinkuratire. eds.

41 Knut Holter is the main editor of a current series of volumes Bible and Theology and Africa, of

which vol. 1, Yahweh in Africa: Essays on Africa and the Old Testament, by Knut Holter; vol. 2,

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scholars of African theology have been advocating its contextualization and arguing for a

necessity of a dialogue between universal and African Christianity.

Definition of Significant Terms It is important to establish clear definitions of usage of certain key terms

employed in this research.

Worldview is defined as “a mental construct that empowers action and endows

rhythm and meaning to life processes. It is the foundation of customs, social norms, and

law.”43 As “an integrated, interpretative set of confessional perspectives on reality, [it]

underlies, shapes, motivates and gives direction and meaning to human activity.”44

Cosmology is defined as “the science or theory of the universe as an ordered

whole, and of the general laws which govern it. [It is] also, a particular account or system

of the universe and its laws.”45

Interpreting the Old Testament in Africa; and vol. 3, Old Testament Research for Africa: A Critical Analysis and Annotated Bibliography of African Old Testament Dissertations, 1967-2000, by Knut Holter, have been consulted.

42 Masenya, “Is White South African Old Testament Scholarship African?” Bulletin for Old

Testament Studies in Africa 12 (2002): 3-8; “Teaching,” 455-69; and “Wisdom and Wisdom Converge: Selected Old Testament and Northern Sotho Proverbs,” in Interpreting the Old Testament in Africa, 133-51.

43 Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 30. 44 B. J. Van der Walt, The Liberating Message: a Christian Worldview for Africa, Potchefstroom:

IRS, 1994 (Series F3, no. 44), 337, quoted in Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 21. Carol A. Hill, “A Third Alternative to Concordism and Divine Accommodation: The Worldview Approach,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 59, no. 2 (June 2007): 129, adds, “[Worldview] becomes a culture’s concept of reality—what is good, what is important, what is sacred, what is real.”44

45 Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., s.v. “Cosmology,” 1989. http://0-

dictionary.oed.com.library.regent.edu/cgi/entry/50051130?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=cosmology&first=1&max_to_show=10 [accessed1 April 2009].

10

Primal Religions46 means “that these religious systems are in fact the most basic

or fundamental religious forms in the overall religious history of mankind and that they

have preceded and contributed to the other great religious systems . . . they are both

primary and prior; they represent a common religious heritage of humanity”47 in

approaching the basic religious problems facing humankind—creation, survival, human

relations, the existence of a spirit world, etc. “these approaches, which designate primal

worldviews, are at the base of all religions and effectively continue to influence the

ordering of society and of individual life.”48

African Indigenous Churches (AICs)49 refer to “independent African Christian

churches that began to emerge at the turn of the twentieth century.”50 Harold Turner

defined them as “a church which has been founded in Africa, by Africans, and primarily

for Africans.”51 They were initially snubbed by Western mission church leaders and other

observers labeling them “sects” and “nativistic”, “messianic”, “separatist”, and

“syncretist” movements. ‘African independent churches’ was the first neutral phrase used

for these new movements. Later, the term ‘African indigenous churches’ was proposed to

46 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 28, prefers this term, and I agree with him, for religious studies in Africa in comparison to ‘traditional religions’ because here Christianity and Islam are as traditional in certain areas as any tribal religion elsewhere.

47 Ibid. 48 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 115. She adds this about

African Primal Religions, “Africa’s approach to the basic religious problems facing humankind . . . was as meaningful and relevant to the pre-scientific age in Africa as were similar approaches all over the world . . . African religious beliefs and practices have provided, and continue to provide, Africa with a philosophical fountainhead for the individual’s life and for the ordering of society.”

49 Anderson, African Reformation, 10-11, prefers term “initiated” to “indigenous”; he lists

“independent,” and “instituted” as other terms used. However, “indigenous” seems to be the most common. 50 Ibid. 51 Turner, Religious Innovations in Africa (Boston, 1979), 92, quoted by Anderson, African

Reformation, 10.

11

distinguish between the newly independent churches in Africa and those that formed

decades before and became autonomous ‘independent’ of European control.52

African Theology “is a theology based on the Biblical faith of Africans, and which

speaks to the African soul. It is expressed in categories of thought which arise out of the

philosophy of the African people.”53 It restates Christian thought in more meaningful

terms, which take into account African thought.54

Thesis Statement

In light of the above, the thesis of this work is that the African worldview, life,

and thought share a rich continuity with that of biblical Israel which is valuable to the

development of Christian theology. Thus, this research will examine the nature of this

continuity of worldviews as well as significant differences. It will also demonstrate how

the simultaneous worldviews of Africa and the Bible feature in the contemporary

postmodern setting.

Logical Structure

Chapter 1, which serves as the introduction, establishes both the importance of

African Christianity and the existence of a rich continuity between African and Old

Testament worldviews.

52 Anderson, African Reformation, 10. 53 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 23, is quoting from AACC, 1969, Engagement, Nairobi. 54 Dickson, “Hebrewisms,” 32.

12

Chapter 2 will proceed to explore the African worldview in detail. The African

cosmology or understanding of the created universe where man is a part of a whole55;

African view of omniscient Creator God who has the highest possible position of honor

and respect56; African outlook on man who, although finite, is a summit of God’s work as

a Creator57; the deep awareness of the spiritual world on the model of which the physical

realm is held to be patterned58; and their appreciations of ancestors and community59 will

be studied.

In chapter 3, the same detailed study will be repeated regarding the ancient

Hebrew Old Testament worldview, where the supremacy of God as the Creator and Lord

of the world is sustained despite the presence of strong angelic and demonic conceptions,

with human existence being the battlefield between them.60

Chapter 4 will expand on the specific similarities that are evident in both

worldviews, being careful to make note of differences that also exist, and show the

valuable underlying concepts they result in: no distinction between sacred and secular61;

no “dualistic dialectic which characterises [sic] Western thought whereby the exaltation

55 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 31. 56 John S. Mbiti, African Religion and Philosophy, 2nd ed., (Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1990), 30. 57 Alexis Kagame, ‘La place de Dieu et de I’homme dans la religion des Bantu’, Cahiers des

Religions Africaines, vol. 3, no. 5 (January 1969): 1, quoted by Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 100. 58 Turner, “The Primal Religions” cited by Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 95. 59 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 103. 60 Petrus J. Gräbe, The Power of God in Paul’s Letters (Tübingen: J C B Mohr (Paul Siebeck),

2000), (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, II/123), 28-29. 61 Dickson, “The Old Testament,” 36.

13

of man would entail the rejection of God”62; no compartmentalizatons in the totality of

human life63, etc.

In Chapter 5, I will demonstrate the importance of this study for Christianity. First

of all, I will establish the importance of the Old Testament as a Christian document. I will

show its proper relations to developing African theology. Consequently, I will agree with

Aylward Shorter that “The [universal] Church needs the African contribution for her own

theological health.”64 Since Shorter further suggests that this contribution is corrective,

this paper will attempt to demonstrate the ways in which it is.

Finally, Chapter 6 will serve as a conclusion where I will draw the three main

points of African theological contributions, namely, religiosity, transcendence, and

integration elaborating on their importance.

62 Gwa Gikala M. Mulago, La Religion Traditionelle des Bantu et leur vision du monde,

(Kinshasa: Faculté de Théologie Catholique, 1980), 166, quoted by Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 101. 63 Masenya, “Is White South African Old Testament Scholarship African?” 7. 64 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 31.

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CHAPTER 2

AFRICAN WORLDVIEW To properly assess and appreciate the continuity between African and Old

Testament worldviews, their cosmologies will be examined beginning with the African

worldview. A detailed study is beyond the scope of this work, nonetheless, I will give an

overview of the main features of the African cosmology, view of God, view of humanity,

view of the spirit world, ancestors, and family/community in this chapter.

Cosmology

Religiosity

Primary observations of African peoples demonstrate that their worldviews are

underlined by a common structure of religiosity: “each is couched in religious, numinous

terms: creation was the act of a Supreme Being utilizing the services of subaltern gods.”1

Consequently, as Mbiti observes, “Africans are notoriously religious . . . Religion

permeates into all the departments of life so fully that it is not easy or possible always to

isolate it.”2 Thus, two important concepts arise: religion permeates all aspects of life, “the

1 Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 30. Dickson, Theology in Africa, 161, adds that Akan (Ghana) word

equivalent to nature is Nyame n’abɔdze, which translates “God’s created things.” 2 Mbiti, African Religion and Philosophy, 1. Kalu’s and Mbiti’s observation is supported by many

scholars: Dickson says, “Religion and life are inseparable in African life and thought.” Dickson, Theology in Africa, 156; Pobee echoes, “African traditional life ‘is intensely and pervasively religious’ . . . It is difficult to distinguish sharply between the religious and the nonreligious, between the sacred and secular. In African societies, religion stares people in the face at all points—at birth, at puberty, at marriage, at death, and at national or tribal festivals. Thus religion is as vocal as it is dynamic in African society and cannot be meaningfully sidestepped.” Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 26; Idowu concurs, “The keynote of their life is their religion. In all things they are religious. Religion forms the foundation and all the governing principles of life for them. As far as they are concerned, the full responsibility of all the affairs of life belongs to the Deity; their own part of the matter is to do as they are ordered through the priests and diviners whom they believe to be the interpreters of the will of the Deity. . . The religion of the

15

divine origin confers a sacred shroud on the created beings and social order”3; and “at the

head of all, and controlling all is Olódùmarè”4—God, the Supreme Deity, is in control of

all aspects of life. These concepts will make valuable contributions towards the

African/Old Testament continuity established in detail in chapter 4.

An Organic or Holistic View of the World

In his Six Feature Analysis of primal worldview, Turner lists as a first feature “a

profound sense in many primal societies that man is akin to nature, a child of Mother

Earth and brother to the plants and animals which have their own spiritual existence and

place in the universe.”5 This feature not only reinforces “a profoundly religious attitude to

man’s setting in the world,”6 but also testifies to traditional Africans having a holistic or

an organic view of the world. 7 Four things come out of this organic worldview:

Yoruba permeates their lives so much that it expresses itself in multifarious ways. It forms the theme of songs, makes topics for minstrel, finds vehicles in myths, folktales, proverbs and sayings, and is the basis of philosophy.” Idowu, Olódùmarè, 5. These are but a few examples.

3 Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 30. 4 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 50, Olódùmarè is the name of Yoruba’s Supreme God. This truth will be

discussed more under View of God. 5 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 30. In his, Christianity in Africa, Bediako references Turner’s

Six Feature Analysis commenting on each point, 93-95; Masenya agrees with Turner, “Elsewhere I have argued that traditional African people have always been closely linked with nature. They therefore know how to respond to Earth’s signals and voices accordingly.” Masenya, “Teaching,” 466; and Gerrit van Steenbergen, "Worldview Analysis: An exegetical Tool for Bible Translation. Part 2: A case study," Bible Translator(Ja, Jl Technical Papers) 58, no.3 (July 2007): 135, also adds, commenting on the meaning of pӧghisyӧ, a word important in Pӧkot (Southern-Nilotic language, spoken in Northwestern Kenya) worldview translated into English as ‘peace’ or ‘harmony’, “There is perfect peace and harmony between human beings and nature.”

6 Ibid. 7 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 97. Masenya puts it this way, “There is an

interrelatedness between religion and the natural realm which also comes into the picture as part of this whole: an outlook which reminds us of the holistic African outlook on life.” Masenya, “Teaching,” 466; P. M. Steyne puts it like this, “The world interacts with itself. The sky, the spirits, the earth, the physical world, the living and the deceased all act, interact and react in consort. One works on the other and one part can’t exist nor be explained without the other. The universe, the spirit world and man are all part of the

16

spirituality is the essence of life; supernatural possibilities saturate life; all life is

influenced by and responds to the spirit world; life is to be understood spiritually.8 To

summarize, as stated aptly by Mbiti, “Africans look at the universe in a religious way.”9

View of God

Most scholars support the continuity of God between “the pre-Christian religions

and Christian belief.”10 As Idowu claims, “. . . surely, God is one not many; and to that

one God belongs the earth and all its fullness.”11 Below I will outline African traditional

views of God.

He Is the Creator

To an African mind, by being the Creator, God is the one who not only gives but

controls all issues of life and death.12 God is viewed as the “Creator who has put his

same fabric. Each needs the other to activate it.” P.M. Steyne, Gods of Power; a Study of the Beliefs and Practices of Animists (Houston: Touch, 1990), 58, quoted in Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 97. Turner agrees, “The one set of powers, principles and patterns runs through all things on earth and in heavens and welds them all into a unified cosmic system.” Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 32,

8 Ibid., 281. 9 Mbiti, Introduction, 35, explains that it is demonstrated by a belief that the universe was created

by God. 10 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 97, is an agreement with Idowu’s following comment. Shorter,

African Christian Theology, 97, also agrees with them, “In most African Traditional theologies the idea of a supreme being is more or less distinctly present ” and further, “the idea of the supreme being is strong enough and ubiquitous enough to make nonsense of the term ‘animism’ which is so frequently and mistakenly applied to African religions.”

11 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 31. Turaki confers, “. . . theologians and scholars have confirmed that

generally, traditional African has a belief in the existence of the Supreme Being . . .” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 146.

12 Idowu, “God,” 27.

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imprint on his Creation.”13 Or as Idowu says, God is “the Creator . . . Everything in

heaven and on earth owes its origin to Him.”14 Therefore, as the Creator, God is both the

author of all life,15 the Origin, the Giver of life,16 the genesis,17 and the sustainer of all

things,18 the Deity who is in control,19 “the Disposer Supreme to whom belongs the

ultimate sanction of anything proposed, the acceptance of any act of worship, the blessing

of any enterprise, and the credit for the success of any priest’s mediation or

performance.”20

He Is Uniquely Eternal

Since God is the Originator of creation, no one created Him; hence the Congo

tribes call Him, “Beginner and Unending, Almighty and Inexplicable.”21 Nupe express

his eternity by singing, “A being which Soko did not create, neither did the world create

it.”22 To Youruba, the existence of Olódùmarè eternally has been a fact beyond question

13 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 74. Turaki also calls the Supreme Being in whom all

traditional Africans believe, the Creator. 14 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 39. 15 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 33. 16 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 39. 17 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 30. 18 Ibid. 19 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 5. 20 Ibid., 52. 21 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 34. 22 Ibid.

18

and the whole superstructure of their belief rests on God’s eternity and immortality.23 The

three eternal attributes of God’s unique nature that distinguish Him from any other are his

omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.24

His Unique Eternal Attributes

He Is Omniscient

Turaki states, “The Supreme Being is usually assumed to know all about the

activities of the lesser beings and human beings.”25 So to Yoruba, “He is All-wise, All-

knowing, All-seeing. He Alone is perfect in wisdom and is infallible . . . No secrets are

hid from Him. He knows all things because He sees all.”26 Mbiti adds that considering

God to be omniscient, African peoples confer upon Him the highest possible position of

honor and respect, “for wisdom commands great respect in African societies.”27

He Is Omnipresent

Pobee names omnipresence and immanence as a third element of the doctrine of

God in natural revelation.28 In, expressing God’s nature of omnipresence, Ila say that

‘God has nowhere and nowhen, that He comes to and end’; the Bamum call Him Njinyi

or Nnui which means ‘He Who is everywhere’ and Barundi and Kono say that God is met

everywhere. Others, however, convey the idea of God’s omnipresence differently. To

23 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 18. He elsewhere explains the importance of this, “In a sense, this is a comfort and encouragement to the worshipping soul. It is necessary to know that the Deity is alive for evermore, that He is unchanging in the midst of all changes and decay which have been the constant experience of man, if religion and life are to have any ultimate meaning”; Olódùmarè, 43.

24 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 30. 25 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 252. 26 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 41. 27 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 30. 28 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 75.

19

Akamba, the presence of God protects people; to Yoruba and Kono, the wrong-doers

cannot escape His judgment. Shilluk and Langi say that God is like the wind or air29; and

in Pokӧt God’s visible blessings seen in nature and people are explained as symbols for

His omnipresence.30

He Is Omnipotent

Mbiti says that God’s omnipotence is seen in practical terms all over Africa,31

such as His exercise of power over nature.32 It is for this reason that the “Yoruba believe

that Olódùmarè is most powerful in heaven and on earth. He is able to do all things; He is

the Enabler of all who achieve any ends. Things are possible only when and because they

are ordered by Him; they are impossible when He does not permit them or give His

aid.”33 Thus, to all Africans, “The power of God is supreme; all flows from him and

inheres in him.”34

Is He Transcendent or Immanent?

Some scholars argue for a transcendent remoteness of the African Supreme Being.

Parrinder says that He is great and remote: to Mende of Sierra Leon—distant; to

Rhodesians—too far and fearful; Nigerian Ibo rarely sacrifice to Him and Ovambo of

29 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 31. 30 Steenbergen, “Worldview Analysis,” 138. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid., 32. 33 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 40. 34 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 24.

20

South-West Africa rarely pray to Him.35 Turaki summarizes, “. . . this Supreme Being is

not actively or ‘intimately involved with or concerned for man and his world.’”36 At the

same time, many of these scholars admit that such a belief about Divinity fails to coincide

with African holistic views of life, which, as Turaki himself states, “should have

produced an active God in Africa.”37 Idowu, however, argues that God is so real to

Africans, that they call Him by names which are descriptive both of His nature and of His

attributes;38 “Their Deity is not an abstraction but a Reality, a Being.”39 Mbiti echoes:

In some places, God is called Friend, or the Greatest of Friends. This is an image which shows great confidence in God. People feel at home with him, believing that he is trustworthy, faithful, close to them and ready to help them just as a true human friend would do. Because he is their Friend, they can speak to him or with him as freely as they wish. They know that he is always there for them.40

Thus, our question of whether in Africa God is transcendent or immanent should be

answered—both transcendent and immanent. Africans believe in a personable eternal

35 Ibid., 38-39; Kato, Theological Pitfalls, 33-35, agrees with Parrinder saying that there is a

concept of a Supreme Being among Africans, but He is neither close to nor worshipped by them; “. . . there obviously are many religious systems in Africa in which . . . the supreme being [is] not directly experienced by the believer.” Shorter, African Christian Theology, 105; “For the most part God is unknown, and no relationship exists with him.”Anderson, Moya, 74.

36 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 263. 37 Ibid., 150. He concludes that the above transcendence lies in God’s hierarchal and communal

religious functions. Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 100, agrees with Turaki’s point of view; Steenbergen, "Worldview Analysis,” 138, also comments on this seeming contradiction saying this about the name for God in Pokӧt, “As can be discerned from the origins of the name [‘the High One’ or ‘the Exalted One’], distance is associated with Tororӧt . . . At the same time . . . ‘he appears very close’. His presence is recognized in many things: a good harvest, water, shade, in people when they are in good relationship, when people walk.”

38 Idowu, “God,” 24. 39 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 30. He argues that they have and can have the saving knowledge of this

“living, present, loving God.” 40 Mbiti, Introduction, 54.

21

Creator who in His omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence rules over the world of

man. The views that Africans hold about the world of man will now be examined.

View of Man41

Several things stand out as unquestionable realities in African beliefs about man.

First, man is a spirit, as reinforced by Parrinder, “That there is a spiritual nature in man

no African peoples doubt.” 42 Secondly, although the myths of creation differ, the fact

that God is the originator, and thus sustainer, of man is acknowledged in all of Africa. 43

Originally, man’s destiny was one of “happiness, childlike ignorance, immortality or

ability to rise again after dying”; man lived in a state of paradise. Then, again stories

differ as to why and how, but the separation of man from this state to his current state

occurred. What is clear is that this separation “brought disadvantageous and tragic

consequences to men” disrupting his original happy and harmonious relationship with

God.44 So what is man’s role and destiny under the current circumstances?

Man as Creation

Africans know that since only God is God, men are merely creatures.45 However,

to properly understand man’s relationship to God as His creation in the African

41 The use of the word ‘man’ here and elsewhere in this work is not gender-related: it is used to

refer to all humanity, both its male and female representatives; thus, the male pronouns when relating to the word ‘man’ are only used to ease the language, not to be gender exclusive.

42 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 134; Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 223;

Idowu, Olódùmarè, 169. 43 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 91; Idowu, Olódùmarè, 18. 44 Ibid., 93-95. 45 Idowu, “God,” 23.

22

worldview, we need to heed to Mulago’s admonition to “set aside the dualistic dialectic

which characterises [sic] Western thought whereby the exaltation of man would entail the

rejection of God . . . African primal religious viewpoint has as its two fundamental

notions and vital centres [sic]: God and man.”46 Alexis Kagame reiterates, “The high

place that God occupies is . . . seen as the basic presupposition which underlies the

purpose of the Creator who has oriented everything towards the perpetuation of the

summit of his work: humankind.”47 Bediako summarizes: God and man are in an abiding

relationship “which is the divine destiny of humankind, and the purpose and goal of the

universe.”48 Here is how man is to achieve his divine role and destiny in this world.

Man’s Role in the World

To fully grasp African view of man’s role and destiny, one must realize that being

the center49 does not make man the master of the universe.50 As the center, man lives on

the earth as a sovereign vital force made to have dominion and whose duty is to be

fruitful. 51 This makes human existence the real object of wisdom, religion, social,

political and cultural institutions, everything we call civilization.52 On the other hand,

46 Gwa Gikala M. Mulago, La Religion Traditionelle des Bantu et leur vision du monde,

(Kinshasa: Faculté de Théologie Catholique, 1980), 166, quoted in Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 101. 47 Alexis Kagame, ‘La place de Dieu et de I’homme dans la religion des Bantu’, Cahiers des

Religions Africaines, vol. 3, no. 5, January 1969,1, quoted in Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 100. 48 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 101. 49 Italics from here on in the main document and footnotes are used to indicate prior usage of the

words quoted. 50 Mbiti, Introduction, 44. 51 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 25. 52 Engelbert Mveng, “African Liberation Theology,” in Convergences and Differences, eds.

Leonard Boff and Virgil Elizondo, (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1988), 29.

23

African religious sensitivity is coupled with a realistic assessment of man’s finitude,

weakness and impurity.53 His finitude makes man too weak to tame the forces of nature,54

vulnerable to the spirit-beings, scared of death and prone to evil.55 In other words, he

needs to rule the world in harmony obeying its natural, moral and mystical laws,56 but he

cannot do it by himself and thus will seek help from every available power, spirit and

god.57 This leads us to the study of the world of spirits that is given paramount

importance in African worldview.58

Spirit World

To an African, “. . . the whole universe in which human existence takes place is

fundamentally spiritual”59; the spirit world pervades the whole of life,60 therefore its

every circumstance has a spiritual cause behind it.61 In other words, there is no argument

among scholars regarding the paramount importance that this world plays in African

53 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 31, identifies, “the deep sense that man is finite” as a second

feature of primal religions’ analysis; Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 51, agrees that man’s finitude is the third element of African worldview.

54 Kalu, “Church Presence in Africa,” 16. 55 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 51. 56 Mbiti, Introduction, 44. 57 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 25; Turaki adds “Man needs power to do many things

in life . . . Man in traditional Africa turns to (1) spirit beings and (2) mystical and unseen powers and forces, for help, guidance, and protection and also to meet his needs and purposes.” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 282.

58 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 151. 59 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 176. 60 Anderson, Moya, 75. 61 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 281.

24

worldview. However, due to the fact that the spirit world is “the supersensible world

beyond us,”62 providing an adequate description for it is nearly impossible. Its exact

nature is thus subject to many scholarly arguments. Nevertheless, the current findings

will be summarized and disagreements between the scholarly views will be attempted to

be resolved.

Description of the Spirit World

The structure of the spirit world itself is the first and foremost point of dispute.

Some say that this world of spirit beings, gods and divinities is classified “into a

hierarchy of status, power, influence and territoriality.”63 Such a hierarchy would in turn

remove any confusion between the different forces and provide a suitable explanation as

to why certain powers are effective and others are not.64 On the contrary, others claim

that the primal spiritual universe is a hiatus, a world with deep ambivalence, “not a neat

hierarchy of divine beings and spirit-forces held in unitary harmony,” 65 but anarchy of

spirits and occult forces. 66 This further makes the spirit world’s nature and its relation to

God subject to discussion.

62 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 63. 63 Ibid., 151; Parrinder gives a good description of this hierarchy “The relationship between these

spiritual powers has been aptly represented by a triangle: The apex is God; the base is the earth; men lives on earth and rings in the ladder between God and him; on one side are the ancestors, rising up in the hierarchy by their increased powers; and on the other side are the gods, or natural forces.” Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 25. Turakiagrees, “The authority, power, influence and legitimacy of spirit beings depend on their position within the ontological order of beings. Spirit beings, by virtue of their positions and roles within the ontological order . . . dispense and control the activities of spiritual and mystical powers and forces.” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 88,

64 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 23. 65 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 99-100. 66 Keith Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon: The Nature and Limits of Satan’s Power,” Africa

Journal of Evangelical Theology 16, no. 1 (1997): 29.

25

Scholars such as Turaki suggest that the principal divinities were brought into

existence by God to be His ministers—manifestations of Him67 to carry out “the

functions connected with the creation and theocratic government of the earth.”68 On the

other hand, scholars such as Ferdinando claim that although God may be supreme over

this anarchy of beings, “he rarely if ever intervenes” 69 in their activities. Other scholars

claim that the spirit world is not a world of one Centre, God, but many centers, claiming

multiplicity of the Transcendent in the African world. 70

Having previously established that God is one and unique to Africans, I agree

with the majority view, that there is a hierarchy of powers in the spirit world, which is

subordinate to God,71 the highest and the greatest,72 who is beyond the spirits73 and

knows everything about their activities.74 Nevertheless the spirit world is ambivalent75: it

consists of not only a hierarchy of benevolent ancestors and spirits, divinities and high

gods, but also a range of evil spirits, demons and malevolent divinities, as well as the

67 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 151. 68 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 18. 69 Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 29. 70 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 99-100. 71 Idowu, Olódùmarè, is citing William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (London,

Longmans, 1945), 58. 72 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 151; Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 24,

reiterates, “Above all is the Supreme Being.” 73 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 78. 74 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 252-53. 75 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 31.

26

lesser, more earth-born occult powers of wizards and witches.76 “Humanity is torn

between the camp of life [God, good spirits] and the camp of death [demons, witches,

wizards], and the basis of moral action lies in the choice between the two camps.”77

Despite its ambivalence, there is a sense in which the spirit world provides direction:

“meaning and model for all human needs and activities.”78 In other words, there

definitely is “a real, active and powerful relationship”79 between humans and spirits.

Man and the Spirit World

Whether the “human world is a replica of the spirit world” 80 or “the spirit world

is a mirror of [the] human world,” 81 they are intertwined, with material being a vehicle of

the spiritual.82 Africans strongly believe that man can enter into relationship with the

spirit world83 and there are several motives for establishing such relationship. First, the

spirits are believed to influence the course of human life for good or for ill; thus their

goodwill is actively and constantly sought.84 Secondly, men want to share in the powers

76 Ibid. Kalu, “Church Presence in Africa,” 16, states that the presence of the latter “makes life in

the human world extremely precarious.”76 77 Mveng, “African Liberation Theology,” 28. Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 88, adds that

the spirit beings “influence morality and ethics of the human societies.” 78 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 31. 79 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 81. 80 Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 35. This observation is drawn from Mbiti’s African Religions and

Philosophy, 1st ed., 1969, and Christian Gaba’s analysis of the sacred songs and prayers of Anlo People (Ghana), 1974.

81 Kalu, “Church Presence in Africa,” 15. 82 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 27. 83 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 31. 84 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 45.

27

and blessings of the benevolent spirits to receive protection from evil forces by these

more-than-human helpers.85 Thirdly, these gods, spirits and divinities are assumed to be

the intermediaries or mediators between God and human beings,86 whose mediatorial

status has considerably enhanced after the ‘Fall of Man’.87 Mbiti explains, “. . . in many

African societies the spirits and the living-dead88 act as intermediaries who convey

human sacrifices or prayers to God, and may relay His reply to men.”89 It is important to

note that despite this relationship and communication, Africans still believe that the

Supreme Being is “the final resort, the last court of appeal, and may be approached

without an intermediary.”90

Ancestors91

85 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 31. 86 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 151. 87 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 22. This comment bears an important similarity to the Old Testament

worldview being discussed in Chapter 3. 88 The proper explanation of who these ‘living dead’ are and what their function is will be

provided under the Ancestors section. 89 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 79. Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 198, adds

that there are two ways Africans attain the relationship with the spirit world: by beliefs and practices that control and manipulate it and by beliefs and practices that communicate with it.

90 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 24. 91 In the above discussion of the spirit world, a mention was already made of spirits of ancestors or

the living dead. However, these are considered by some to be the most prominent aspect of African traditional religions, the heart of African spirit world. In other words, the matter is so vast, important and in many ways controversial, that the understanding of African worldview would not be complete without its proper treatment. Several important questions demand an answer in this section: who are the ancestors, what is their function, and are they a subject of African cultic worship?

28

Who Are They?

It could seem logical to assume that ancestors are spirits of the dead however,

“Not all the dead are ancestors.” 92 To obtain the ancestral powers, the deceased must

have a reputation and respect among the living; they should have fulfilled the worldly

ideals of the society by achieving fame, material, and especially social success.93 As

further emphasized by Pobee, “to qualify to be an ancestor one must have lived to a ripe

old age in an exemplary manner and done much to enhance the standing and prestige of

the family, clan, or tribe.”94 In other words, the ancestors are ‘elevated people’95 who

were human but acquired additional powers and because of which, men seek to obtain

their blessing or avert their anger with particular offerings. 96 Still, they are separate from

the Supreme Being: ancestors are created beings who lived a historical life on earth and

maintain solidarity with their descendants.97

Their Function

The importance of ancestors can be explained by their assumed functions in

relation to God and human community. Firstly, like other spirits, “they are intermediaries,

92 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 46. 93 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 126. 94 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 46; “The large number of deceased who never become

ancestors[:] children, barren women or sterile men, cripples and social drop-outs, people who die far away from their homeland, outcasts and those who in any way incur social censure or disapproval.” Shorter, African Christian Theology, 126.

95 Anderson, Moya, 81. 96 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 24. 97 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 103. Anderson adds, “The point is that ancestors are

conceived as quite distinct from the supreme being; although they are thought of as nearer to God than living people are.” Anderson, Moya, 81.

29

divinely given channels of contact with the supreme being [sic].”98 Secondly, there is a

general agreement among scholars that the ancestors play the role of being intermediaries

in the community,99. the guarantors of community stability and progress,100 guardians of

domestic morality and preservers of sound family traditions.”101 Being the part of the

clan gone ahead to the house of God,102 they are credited with more than human powers

of knowledge: knowing the secret thoughts of the living, the hidden causes of events as

well as their future course. They can also possess people and reveal such secrets to

them.103 Their manifestations usually happen through dreams, and also through

sicknesses or other misfortunes,104 which they can both send and cure or take away. 105

Since they are endowed with such spiritual powers to aid, 106 are considered the creators

of society, analogous to the Supreme Being—the creator of the cosmos,107 it comes as no

98 Ibid., 126. 99 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 254. 100 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 126. 101 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 23. Pobee says, “By virtue of being the part of the clan gone ahead to the

house of God, they are believed to be powerful in the sense that they maintain the course of life here and now and do influence it for good or for ill. They give children to the living; they give good harvest; they provide the sanctions for the moral life of the nation and accordingly punish, exonerate, or reward the living as the case may be.” Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 46. Southern Shona, for example, “‘believe ancestors to have protective powers over their living descendants’” taken by Anderson, Moya, 79 from M. L. Daneel, Old and New in Southern Shone Independent Churches, vol.1, (The Hague: Mouton, 1971), 96.

102 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 46, cited above. 103 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 126. 104 Anderson, Moya, 80. 105 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 126. 106 Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 35. 107 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 124.

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surprise that scholars have stumped over the question of whether or not Africans worship

their ancestors. 108

Worship or Respect?

The phrase ‘ancestor worship’ has been a subject of great controversy.109 Some

scholars use the phrase to speak of African religions. Sundkler, for example, says, “The

real, vital religion of Zulus is their ancestor worship.”110 Pobee adds that the ancestors

“are always held in deep reverence or even worshipped,”111 elsewhere calling the attitude

of the living to them, “something more than veneration.”112 Shorter further entitles the

ancestors, “principal recipients of formal worship.”113 However, Mbiti passionately

combats this view calling such word usage ‘wrong’ and ‘blasphemous’ and claims that

“Africans themselves know very well that they are not ‘worshipping’ the departed

members of their family.” He explains rituals like libation and the giving of food to the

departed as “tokens of fellowship, hospitality and respect…symbols of family continuity

and contact.”114 Parrinder seems to resolve the above argument by ‘the philosophy of

108 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 216-17. 109 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 24; Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 216-17; Mbiti,

African Religions and Philosophy, 8-9; and Anderson, Moya, 81, all testify to the existence and prominence of this controversy, themselves disagreeing with the words ‘ancestor worship’, and provide additional names of scholars who participate in it.

110 Sundkler, Bantu Prophets, 21 is quoting E. J. Krige, The Social System of Zulus, 1936, 283. 111 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 46. 112 Ibid., 47. 113 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 126. 114 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 8-9. Anderson, Moya, 81, concurs that ancestors are

respected as the older and wiser ones of the society, not approached as God, also considers such terms as ‘ancestor worship’ or even ‘veneration’ inaccurate.; and Turaki even claims that “There is a general agreement among scholars that the African ancestors are revered instead of being worshipped as divinities”; Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 254.

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forces’: since the ancestors have more powers, humans try to appease them and obtain

their blessings with due food or drink offerings,115 prayers or invocations to or through

them, and communication with the spirits of the dead.116

As was already noted, the ancestors are believed to be creators of the society, part

of the human family117 in the affairs of which they take a lively interest. 118 Thus, it is

appropriate to briefly take a closer look at this African family, its constituents and

importance.

Family/Community

Shorter confidently notes that even “Paul VI in his Letter to Africa of 1967 noted

that the African participation in the life of the community was a precious right and duty

for all.”119 In other words, you can call African traditional worldview communal; 120 an

African ‘exists because he belongs to a family’. 121 Firstly, this unit consists of the living,

the dead, and the yet-to-be-born,122 but not only of the immediate family. African sense

of kinship binds together the entire life of the ‘tribe’, and is even extended to cover

115 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 24. 116 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 254. 117 Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 35. 118 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 57. 119 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 122 referring to Africae Terrarum, no. 12. 120 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 293. 121 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 49. Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 240, echoes,

“The reason for existence is defined in terms of community life”; Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 110, adds “Africans recognize life as life-in-community. We can truly ourselves if we remain true to our community, past and present.”

122 Ibid.

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animals, plants and non-living objects through the ‘totemic’ system. 123 Secondly,

community is more important than the individual. 124 Mulago explains, “The life of the

individual is grasped as it is shared. The member of the tribe, the clan, the family, knows

that he does not live to himself, but within the community. He knows that apart from the

community he would no longer have the means of existence.”125 Lastly, the community is

designed for harmony and demands maintenance,126 its pre-determined patterns of

structures and roles are divinely given. This means that each individual is given his due

within its framework, upholding which is his religious duty.127 In other words, man is

under a moral obligation to be loyal, faithful and committed to the community, and to

abide by its rules.128 It is for this reason that even human proneness to evil “is largely

defined as the fracturing of the sensus communis.”129

123 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 102; to echo, Steenbergen adds this on the meaning

of pӧghisyӧ in Pӧkot mentioned earlier, “There is a good relationship between man and man, between human beings and ancestors, between husband and wife, between people and animals, between people and spirits, between lilӧ (closest English equivalent: clan) and lilӧ, between the old age sets and the new one, between werkoy and the society.” Steenbergen, "Worldview Analysis,” 136.

124 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 293. 125 Mulago, “Vital Participation,” 139. Oduyoye expands, “The concept of individual success or

failure is secondary. The ethnic group, the village, the locality, are crucial in one’s estimation of oneself.” Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 110-11.

126 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 293. 127 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 123-24; Dickson concurs, “In the rural communities in

Africa every member shares in the religious presuppositions of his community, and is expected to live in accordance with traditional customs.” Dickson, Theology in Africa, 155,

128 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 225. 129 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 51. Reyburn even says, “It is easily seen that the

violations against one’s own group constitute the greatest guilt for the individual and the greatest threat to the community.” Reyburn, “Sickness, sin, and the curse,” 218. Oduyoye echoes, “Our nature as beings-in-relation is a two-way relation: with God and wih our fellow human-beings.” Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 111,

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Conclusion: There is a Continuity

The detailed review of African worldview appears to demonstrate that there may

be close connections between Christian and primal traditions.130 It is suggested that these

connections come from the fact that Christianity is based on Old Testament eastern and

not Greco-Roman thought,131 with which African life and thought has a rich continuity.

To identify and appreciate its individual points, the next chapter will examine the Old

Testament worldview.

130 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 30-32. 131 Reyburn, “Message” 153.

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CHAPTER 3

OLD TESTAMENT WORLDVIEW

In the previous chapter, we looked at several aspects of African worldview. This

chapter will cover the same areas of worldview in Old Testament, early Jewish thought.1

Here, Old Testament cosmology, view of God, view of man, spirit world, ancestors, and

family/community will be reviewed. Again, a detailed study of these topics is beyond the

scope of this paper, however, sufficient attention will be given to each to establish that

there is a profound continuity between African and Old Testament worldviews.

Cosmology

Religiosity

First of all, “the Old Testament does not give us a cosmology. It declares that God

created all things and controls all things.”2 Consequently, as in Africa, all life in Israel

was related to the cultus.3 Referring to nature, the Old Testament speaks of creation.4

1 To begin this, we need to take into account Dickson’s, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 98,

reminder, “In studying the Old Testament it is essential to realize from the beginning that we are dealing with a particular story relating to a particular people at a particular time. The Old Testament is a Hebrew phenomenon, and scholars rightly insist that the guidelines for its study should take account of this.” This will be done especially through discussing the Unique Relationship Between God, Humanity and Israel under Cosmology.

2 R. Laird Harris, “The Bible and Questions of Cosmology,” Presbyterion 7, no. 1-2 (Spr-Fall

1981), 200. 3 Prof. A. S. Herbert, “Exclusivism and Assimilation,” in Old Testament Studies: Papers Read at

the Tenth Meeting Held at the University of South Africa, July 1967, ed. Prof. A. H. van Zyl (Pretoria, S. A.: Craft Press, 1967), 1. In Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., s.v. “Cultus,” 1989. http://0-dictionary.oed.com.library.regent.edu/cgi/entry/50051130?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=cosmology&first=1&max_to_show=10 [accessed 8 April 2009], cultus is defined as worship; an organized system of religious worship or ceremonial; cult.

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Human skills such as crafts and trades were God’s gifts to man (Exod 28:3). Any

practical human wisdom (e.g., farmership) came from Him (Isa 28:24-29).5 Even a

cursory reading of Psalms shows the pervasive nature of Jewish religion: there are

frequent references to sin and suffering connected with forgiveness, the festival occasions

demonstrate religious exuberance [e.g. Ps 118], and the conviction is expressed that God

uses physical situations to accomplish his purposes [e.g. Ps 114]. In Proverbs 23:10-11, a

religious sanction is given to an example of social morality. Thus, Dickson concludes that

“all these bear clear testimony of the Jewish conviction that there is a nexus binding

religion and life.”6

An Organic or Holistic View of the World

Masenya rightly notes that certain passages of Scripture (e.g. Pr 6:6-11) serve as

examples of a holistic outlook on life notable in Jewish culture.7 Here, “human beings . . .

are easily integrated with nature—insects, land, food, seasons.”8 Even though the creation

is divided between humans and nature, the former being distinct, different in kind, there

is not a radical dichotomy: humans and nature are of the same substance; the relationship

between humans and the natural world is characterized by harmony. 9 Having commented

4 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 161. Dickson adds the African similarity to this, as previously

noted in Chapter 2, in the fact that the Akan (Ghana) word equivalent to nature is Nyame n’abɔdze, which translates “God’s created things.” Again, italics from here on in the main documents and footnotes are used to indicate prior usage of the words quoted.

5 Ibid., 158. 6 Dickson, “The Old Testament,” 36. 7 The same holistic/organic outlook on the world has already been observed in African worldview. 9 Ronald A. Simkins, Creator and Creation: Nature in the Worldview of Ancient Israel (Peabody:

Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 118. Masenya agrees, “There is a notable interconnectedness between human beings and nature.” Masenya “Teaching,” 464; and Turaki, adds, “. . . man . . . lives in a relationship

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on the holistic relationship between man and nature, it is important to note that in relation

to God, nature itself is emptied of all divinity since it is believed to have been created by

His will.10 “In addition to this, the Lord also has control over nature and can use it to

manifest his power and authority. Nature as such is therefore not considered to be a

neutral area outside of human or divine control. It is an instrument controlled by the Lord

to emphasize his authority.”11

Unique Relationship between God, Humanity and Israel

Finally, the Hebrew phenomenon of the Old Testament becomes especially

evident in the fact that “The covenant relationship between God and Israel takes

precedence over all other human relationships (Deut. 13:7 ff.; Ex. 32:29).”12 However,

Dickson rightly observes, that, being a particular story, the Old Testament in its

particularity contains the seeds of universality, or universal significance: “ . . . in the Old

to (1) God; (2) the human and animal worlds and (3) the world in general.” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 230.

10 Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa, 162. 11 Steenbergen, "Worldview Analysis,” 130. Steenbergen brings his examples from Isaiah: the

mountains quake at His presence (Isa 64:1,3); He is able to divide the waters of the sea (Isa 63:12); and He controls the course of the sun and the moon (Isa 60:19-20). Simkins, Creator and Creation, 130, commenting on theophany, concludes that “the natural world serves as a symbol of God’s presence [:] God appears at springs, rivers, trees, and especially mountains, and by so doing endows the natural world with sacredness.” Thus, Dickson, Theology in Africa, 165-66, summarizes the Old Testament view of nature: (1) God’s marks are visible in nature, it reveals the Creator; (2) God sustains and controls the created order, which involves the possibility of miracle; (3) nature will be perfected in the fulfillment of God’s purposes (this especially evident in apocalyptic literature).

12 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 230. The book of Genesis teaches us the concept of

divine election: “how God initiated and made covenants with his chosen people, Israel. The relationship between God and humanity and his chosen people are well defined.” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 264; “Leviticus shows how God, the King of Israel and her Lord has ‘established his administration over all of Israel’s life’. The following were regulated so as to establish Israel as a holy nation: (1) religious life: religious rituals, sacrifices; (2) communal life; (3) personal life.” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 265; Numbers, however, shows how Israel as God’s covenant people rebelled and sinned against their God, Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 265.

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Testament we find an attitude that amounts to an invitation to those outside of Israelite

tradition to see themselves as sharing in that tradition.”13

View of God

God Is One

Another characteristic that makes the Old Testament stand out as a particular

Jewish story is that the view of God portrayed is ‘thoroughly monotheistic’14 (Exod

20:3-5; Ps 96:4-5): “there is only one God worthy of the name [and this] one true God is

sovereign over all that exists.”15 This fact heavily influenced the entire formulation of

13 Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 99-102. Dickson further explains that even though

there is a striking exclusivism, the open attitude is even more striking. In the first eleven chapters of Genesis, God created humankind. And chapters 9 and 10, in particular, “are meant to affirm that the diversity of humankind is the result of God’s act.” Further, the Old Testament makes a point that all, including Israel, are in sin and under God’s judgment (Amos 9:7); “in some memorable passages Isaiah and Jeremiah speak of God’s using non-Israelites to serve his purposes – the chastisement of Israel” (Isa 10:5-11; Jer 27:5-11). We can even find hints here that God accepts pagan homage. A notion even more fully expressed by Malachi 1:11, “But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies” (NLT). To Dickson, “it is possible to see in Malachi’s words the climax of a long development in Jewish prophecy of an open attitude to other peoples.” He mentions Isaiah (e.g. 2:2-3) and Jonah as examples of Israeli prophets demonstrating a similar attitude. This is also a possible demonstration of the continuity running between Jewish and African life and thought: “God according to this Old Testament tradition is God of the whole earth and is concerned with Israel and the goyim. Among the latter God is also at work. All are finally accountable to God.”

14 Although it was observed earlier that to Africans, “God is one not many,” Idowu, Olódùmarè,

31 (this is a quote from Chapter 2), their belief in subaltern gods, Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 30, and other divinities makes their monotheism questionable and therefore less thorough (to clarify, view Chapter 2, View of God, Spirit World). The similarities and differences between the two beliefs will be discussed in great detail in Chapter 4.

15 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 264.

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biblical creation story16 and since all life was related to the cultus, the whole life of Israel

was to be lived with reference to Him, and to no other God.17

He Is the Creator

Just like Africans,18 Israelites are convinced that “God alone is Creator, Sustainer

and Master Designer of all creation,”19 the Author and Source of life. 20 In Genesis, “God

the creator is the primary and most comprehensive biblical metaphor that describes God’s

activity in and on behalf of the creation; God the creator brings the creation into existence

and acts in the creation to sustain it and to shape it according to God’s purposes.”21

Several important biblical concepts about God and life flow out of this conviction. First,

God is completely autonomous from the natural world; instead, the creation is dependent

upon God and so is subject to His will.22 Secondly, God is sovereign. This concept is

16 Prof. James Barr, “The Image of God in Genesis – Some Linguistic and Historical

Considerations,” in Old Testament Studies, 6. 17 Herbert, “Exclusivism and Assimilation,” 1. Gerhard van Rod adds on the significance of this

for Israel: “This [the sovereignty of God] is, indeed, the characteristic note of Old Testament assertions about God. The faith of Israel is invariably related to an event, a divine self-declaration in history: it originated in a response to divine acts and looked forward to divine acts.” The sovereignty of God is discussed in more detail below, under Cod is Creator. Gerhard Van Rod, From Genesis to Chronicles: Explorations in Old Testament Theology, 205, 2005. http://books.google.com/books?id=-p80ocqmXbwC&printsec=frontcover#PPA205,M1 [accessed 12 February 2009].

18 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 39, “He is the Creator . . . Everything in heaven and on earth owes its

origin to Him”; and on p. 27, God is the one who not only gives but controls all issues of life and death (see Chapter 2).

19 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 165, 264. 20 Ibid., 229. 21 Simkins, Creator and Creation, 127. 22 Ibid., 84. Dickson agrees, “In both accounts of creation it is made clear that God is not nature . .

. God, for the Hebrews, was not to be confused with the material universe; the world resulted from the Creator’s action upon the ‘ordered chaos.’” Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 103. Simkins concurs, “As the creator, God acts on and transforms the creation. The creation is dependent upon God, who in turn is responsible for the creation.” Simkins, Creator and Creation, 119.

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reinforced by Simkins who states that “the basic idea of Israelite religion is that God is

supreme over all. There is no realm above or beside him to limit his absolute sovereignty.

He is utterly distinct from, and other than, the world: he is subject to no laws, no-

compulsions, or powers that transcend him.”23 Being sovereign, God controls both the

visible and the invisible worlds: all of life, spiritual, mystical and human.24 His

sovereignty, in turn, makes Him the centre of both human life and the universe.25 It is for

this reason that “the Hebrew Bible’s most common metaphor for the divine is that of a

king.”26 Consequently, as aptly stated by Turaki, “life itself and the fact of living or being

alive, all cannot be taken for granted, nor be misused, but all life emanate from God in

both origin and source.”27

Finally, the following adjectives ultimately summarize the Hebrew understanding

of this One Sovereign Creator: He is all-knowing, omnipresent, almighty, transcendent

(extraordinary), everlasting, spirit, kind, merciful and good, holy, and unique.28

He is Transcendent and Immanent

Although the following concept was questionable in African worldview, the

Biblical concept of God is unquestionably both transcendent and immanent. He is

transcendent by being unique and distinct from His creatures: God is not part of them, nor

23 Ibid., 84-85 24 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 159. 25 Ibid., 269. 26 J. Edward Wright, "Biblical versus Israelite Images of the Heavenly Realm," Journal for the

Study of the Old Testament 93 (June 2001): 69. 27 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 229. 28 Ibid., 161. Interestingly, most of these adjectives in one degree or another was used to describe

God in African worldview of Chapter 2.

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are they part of Him.29 Nevertheless, Dickson observes that the thought of Yahweh’s

involvement in human affairs is encountered right at the beginning of the formation of

Israel (Exod 10:1-2; restated poetically in Ps 114).30 Ronald Simkins eloquently describes

this involvement: “God is intimately familiar with humans because God formed them in

their mothers’ wombs . . . God knows the depths of human thought and the intent of

human actions.”31

He is Holy

Another belief of God uniquely emphasized in Israel is God’s absolute holiness,

which means that “man must revere God in holiness.”32 In Turaki’s words, “The God of

the Bible ensures that holiness and purity becomes the basis of religious life, rituals,

sacrifices, practices, ceremonies and worship.”33 Dickson agrees that righteousness is of

utmost importance in the Old Testament: “God is righteous, and he requires that human

beings should be righteous also.”34

29 Ibid., 159. 30 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 156-57. Turaki, expands on this truth in Exodus: “by means of the

tabernacle, the omnipotent, unchanging and transcendent God of the universe came to ‘dwell’ or ‘tabernacle’ with his people, thereby revealing his gracious nearness as well. God is not only mighty in Israel’s behalf. He is also present in there midst.” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 265.

31 Simkins, Creator and Creation, 94-95. 32 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 265, says that this is especially emphasized in the book

of Leviticus. 33 Ibid. Steenbergen, agrees, “It is also clear that most, if not all, divine requirements are in the

area of morally acceptable behavior.” Steenbergen "Worldview Analysis,” 130. 34 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 179. Pobee echoes, “God created the world for a purpose, i.e.,

righteousness. So sooner or later man will have to be judged by the standard of righteousness.” Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 76.

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View of Man

Primarily, “the biblical view of humankind, like that of the African, is holistic. A

person is an integrated whole, and not just the sum total of the parts.”35 Just like in

Africa, in Old Testament man is spirit/breath, and as acknowledged by Turaki, “The

breath and the spirit which make man a human being have their source from God.”36

Therefore, this means that “Man in all his relationship in the universe has God as his

origin and central focus.”37 Thus the question arises; what are these relationships and

man’s role in the universe?

Man as Creation

Just like in Africa, in the Bible, “the state and status of man makes him a

dependable creature before his Maker.”38 Nevertheless, also in African likeness, man

occupies a central place. Biblical creation narratives demonstrate that man is considered

to be the most valuable creation; he is the only being created in the image of God and

positioned to rule over God’s other creations.39

35 Anderson, Moya, 15. Turaki, agrees that African anthropology is similar to that of the Old

Testament where man is defined as a unit, a complete whole. There is no Greek dualism. “Similarly [to African] in Biblical anthropology, each aspect of man tells us something about the nature of man and as such has great theological implications for our definition and interpretation of man.” Turaki Christianity and African Gods, 227.

36 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 229. Turaki informs that the Hebrew word for spirit

ruach is used for human emotion (Gen 41:8; Num 5:14), human understanding (Isa 29:24), will-power (Jer 51:11), and human life itself (Gen 45:27).

37 Ibid., 228. 38 Ibid., 233. 39 Ibid., 303. R. B. Allen beautifully puts it, “Man’s dignity rests in God who assigns an

inestimable worth to every person. Man’s origin is not an accident, but a profoundly intelligent act by One who has eternal value, by One who stamps his image on each person . . . To man, a creation of seeming insignificance, God has given great dignity. To man, little and lost in the vastness of space, God has given sovereignty. To man, puny and restless and weak, God has given part of Himself. Of all God’s creatures

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Original State

The divine creation of man in the image of God is the ground of his uniqueness,

distinction from the rest of creation, being nearer to God than other creatures40 and his

right to be recognized as such.41 It also makes them like the creator replicating God’s

creative activity within the creation.42 This is how Margaret Aringo describes the latter,

. . . in Gen 1:27-28 God is depicted as creating human beings in his own image and commissioning them to be his collaborators, and even to continue the work of creation. The Yahwistic creation narrative (Gen 2:4b-25) makes an anthropomorphic presentation of Yahweh: he moulds human beings out of clay (Gen 2:27), forms the woman from the man’s ribs (Gen 2:21-22), and initiates work, giving duties to human beings that were created and commissioned to carry them out. God becomes the instructor of human kind and gives them authority over all created things.43

After Sin

only man is made in his image. Man is the crown of the cosmos, the measure of creation. Man, as male and female, is God’s finest work.” R.B. Allen, The Majesty of Man: The Dignity of Being Human (Portland: Mutnomah Press, 1984), 73, quoted in Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 303. We could see this similarity to African worldview in Chapter 2, under View of Man, Man as Creation, where Kagame, says, “The high place that God occupies is . . . seen as the basic presupposition which underlies the purpose of the Creator who has oriented everything towards the perpetuation of the summit of his work: humankind.” Kagame, ‘La place de Dieu et de I’homme dans la religion des Bantu’, Cahiers des Religions Africaines, vol. 3, no. 5, January 1969, 1, quoted in Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 100.

40 Ibid., 228. 41 Ibid., 304. 42 Simkins, Creator and Creation, 191. 43 Margaret Aringo, “Work in the Old Testament and in African Tradition: Implications for

Today,” in Bible and Theology in Africa, ed. Knut Holter (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2000-present), vol. 2, Interpreting the Old Testament in Africa, 171-72. Steyne, In Step with God of the Nations; a Biblical Theology of Missions (Houston: Touch, 1992), 58-59, lists the following as God-given to men authoritative responsibilities: “(1) as his vice-regent, he is to direct, develop and maintain for God’s glory (Gen 1:23-28; Ps 8:3-6); (2) as co-operator and co-developer, he is to unlock the secrets of this world and harness them for God’s glory and his own benefit (Gen 4:17-22); (3) as a co-creator, he is to procreate, to spread his influence throughout the earth, to ‘be fruitful and multiply’(Gen 1:28); and as a co-commander, he exhibit the delegated power and authority God gave him (Gen 1:26-28; 2:15, 18-25)” quoted by Turaki, Christianity and African Gods,166.

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We know that today belonging to the creation domain makes humans not only dependent

on the Creator, but also mortal.44 Africans acknowledge the state of man’s finitude.

However, Old Testament uniquely points out that it was the fall of man into sin that

resulted in his mortality. This is how L. Gilkey puts it,

Man’s existence is perverted by sin because his creaturely powers that could be creative if his spirit were rooted in God became destructive and disrupted when he is centered in himself . . . man without God becomes prey to all the terrors of non-being: of the ultimate loss of existence, of significance, of purpose . . . and of eternal life . . . His essential temporality and weakness come now to threaten the meaning of his life and he . . . seeks too desperately to achieve meaning and significance at the expense of others.45

In biblical words, man is ‘but flesh’ (Ps 78:39; also Isa 10:18; 40:6-7)46 because his heart

has been captured by sin.47 To conclude, man’s fall and sin against God has resulted in a

44 Simkins, Creator and Creation, 191. The author has this to say elsewhere about humans trying

to act independently of God as a result of sin, “The prophet Isaiah [Isa 29:15-16] mocks human attempts to act autonomously, to live in opposition to God’s desires. Such behavior is compared to the absurdity of confusing the creator with the creation.” While the prophet Jeremiah takes up the metaphor of a potter fashioning clay in order to condemn the people’s rebellion against their creator in Jeremiah 18:3-6, 11b. “Implicit in this metaphor is the relationship between the creator and its creation. The people of Israel, and humans in general are merely the creation of God and thus are dependent upon the creator,” Simkins, Creator and Creation, 95-96

45 L. Gilkey, Maker of Heaven and Earth; the Christian Doctrine of Creation in the Light of

Modern Knowledge (Lanham, MD: Univ. Press of America, 1959), 232-34, quoted in Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 306. Although the African worldview encompasses the finitude of man, acknowledges that originally, man’s destiny was one of “happiness, childlike ignorance, immortality or ability to rise again after dying”; man lived in a state of paradise. Here, however, stories differ as to why and how, the separation occurred. What is clear is that “it brought disadvantageous and tragic consequences to men” disrupting his original happy and harmonious relationship with God; Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 91; Idowu, Olódùmarè, 18 (taken from Chapter 2), although the existence of sin is acknowledged, sin is not unanimously emphasized here as a reason for man’s finitude and the resulted chaos as it is in Old Testament.

46 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 231. Turaki comments that the Hebrew basar (flesh)

used to refer to the entire human person “defines man in terms of his weakness as a ‘finite’ and ‘mortal’ being. This state of weakness, finiteness and mortality makes man ‘to incline toward sin’ . . . Physically man is limited in many ways because he is finite . . .”

47 Ibid., 232.

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state of disunion and chaos,48 sickness or loss of vitality in the soul,49 the curse,50 and

Satan having power over humanity because of sin.51 The two latter concepts of curse and

Satan lead to a study of the Old Testament understanding of the spirit world, of which

these are a part.

Spirit World52

First of all, there is a contention that the world view of the Bible is absolutely

irreplaceable, being ‘open for the intervention of transcendental powers.’53

Dickson agrees that the belief in the existence of spirit beings is basic to both African and

Old Testament thoughts. 54 However, “the spirit and occult world that emerges in the

48 Ibid., 307. 49 Reyburn, “Sickness, sin, and the curse,” 222. 50 Ibid., 218, claims “sin and the curse in the Old Testament are very similar.” 51 Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 28. He says, “Satan is parasitic upon human sin and would

have no power over humanity were it not for such sin.” 52 In the beginning of our discussion of the spirit world in Old Testament life and thought, it is

important to note that there is an opinion among scholars that there was a difference between the popular Israelite depiction of the world of spirits and the orthodox Hebrew Bible description. Wright, "Biblical versus Israelite Images," 69, as can be seen from the title, dedicated a whole article to the subject claiming that “that the Israelite heaven is much more dynamic than is suggested by the depictions discussed above that are based solely on the Deuteronomistic or ‘Yahweh-alone’ texts of the Hebrew Bible. That is to say, we must distinguish between the limited, even sterile, perspectives of Isaiah and Ezekiel, and those more inclusive depictions of the divine assembly presented by Job and Micaiah ben Imlah who describe Yahweh as he oversees a vast heavenly court (Job 1; 1 Kgs 22; cf. Ps 82:1). Thus, there is on the one hand the way many ancient Israelites imagined the heavenly realm and on the other hand what became the ‘orthodox’ biblical conception of what the heavenly realm looked like.” Joseph Blenkinsopp, Treasures Old and New: Essays in the Theology of the Pentateuch (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2004), 189, agrees with Wright; his comments on the subject will be mentioned later. As I am interested in establishing the Old Testament view of the spirit world, the biblical material representing the traditional, orthodox, generally accepted, monotheistic position will be taken as the main evidence on the subject. However, the differences suggested by scholars will be noted where appropriate.

53 Prof. S. du Toit, “World View and Exegesis,” in Old Testament Studies, 14. 54 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 244.

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Bible receives much less attention than does that of African traditional religion or any

other traditional religion.” 55 So what is this spirit world like and why even being believed

in, does it receive such ‘meager attention?’56

Biblical Description of the Spirit World

Under God

Keith Ferdinando himself explains that the scarcity of attention that the spirit world

receives in the Bible is due to its dynamic monotheism: “The dynamic monotheism of the

biblical writers means that lesser spirits and occult activity are deliberately demoted,

becoming issues of relatively peripheral concern.”57 Petrus Gräbe agrees, “In Judaism we

are dealing with magnitudes which are authorized and created by God . . . the supremacy

of God as the Creator and Lord of the world is maintained [here].”58 Therefore, since the

origin of all spirit beings is rooted in God’s creative power, “their activities in the

universe should be understood within the context of God’s sovereignty and permissive

will.”59

Rigidly Separated

55 Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 29. 56 Ibid., 22 57 Ibid., 29. Elsewhere he adds that “the Bible in general shows little interest in speculative

demonology. Old Testament demonology is particularly meagre [sic] compared with demonologies of surrounding cultures, largely because of the supreme importance given to God’s absolute sovereign reign over all that he has created.” Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 22.

58 Petrus J. Gräbe, The Power of God in Paul’s Letters (Tübingen: J C B Mohr (Paul Siebeck),

2000), (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, II/123), 28-29. 59 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 245. He adds, “The Lordship of God and his divine

control over his creation is indisputable.”

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Secondly, the biblical world view is unique in the fact that it rigidly separates60

the spirits. Turaki explains this: all spirits were originally angels ‘‘heavenly beings

created by God.’’ However, “some angels along with their leader Satan rebelled against

God and ‘fell from their original sinless state. . . As a result there are good angels and evil

angels’’ known as demons. 61 Gräbe adds, “Between God and humanity forces interpose

themselves which fight partly against God and partly for him – the forces of angels and

demons.”62

The Spirits’ Functions

It is interesting to note that in the Old Testament good angels have more to do

with God than humans: their primary task is to serve God (Ps. 103:21), to praise and

60 Derek B. Mutungu, “A Response to M. L. Danneel,” in All Together in One Place Theological

Papers from the Brighton Conference on World Evangelization, ed. Harold D. Hunter and Peter D. Hocken (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), 127, says, “But the biblical world view rigidly separates divine powers, God, and his angels, from fallen principalities and powers, Satan and hierarchy of demons.” Italics are mine for emphasis. Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 246, and claims that this separation is much more rigid than in Africa.

61 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 246. 62 Gräbe, The Power of God, 28-29. He adds some literary evidence of this, “The pseudo-

epigraphical writings refer to natural forces personified as angels (cf En 61,10: powers which are on the dry land and above the water; cf also En 82,8 and 4 Esdras, 6,6). We read in B Pesachim 118a that Gabriel reigns over fire and Jurqemi over hail. In En 40, 9 an angel which controls all forces is mentioned. These powers and forces are intermediate beings between God and man which rule over the realm between heaven and earth. One part of these forces and powers belongs to God and constitutes his host, compare En 61,1, the Jewish portion of the Parisian Magical Papyrus (IV, 3050f) and also Corpus Hermeticum I,26. The other section of these powers belongs to Beliar or Satan, who rules man by means of them.” Blenkinsopp, Treasures Old and New, 189, whose view was mentioned earlier, argues, “In these kingdoms [Israeli] there were in addition to YHWH, gods imported from other lands (e.g., the Phoenician cities), indigenous gods and goddesses, and a cult of ancestors that the representatives of the official cult have done their best to cover up.” However, Wright, "Biblical versus Israelite Images,” 67-69, who supports Blenkinsopp saying that there were originally several gods in Judaism, including gods of other nations, concludes “the strict ‘Yahweh-alone’ theology eventually took the several gods that were in the early Israelite pantheon, that is to say, the gods of the neighboring nations as well as the other gods of Israel (e.g. El, Baal and Asherah), and made them first of all into subservient gods, and ultimately either denied their existence or transformed them into angels, the laborers of heaven. Later Jewish and Christian ideas depend on the strictly monotheistic theology that depicted the heavenly realm with an invisible God served by a host of lower heavenly beings whom he created for this purpose.” So even the scholars who argue that there was a difference between biblical and early Judaism view of the spirit world arrive at the same conclusion: they are (or became) created angels and demons.

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glorify Him (Ps. 148:2) and to join battle on his behalf (Gen 19:1-29; 32:2; 2 Kgs 6:16-

17; Ps 78:49). They are mainly God’s servants and messengers. They are sent to God-

fearers to guide (Gen 24:7, 40; Exod 14:19); to deliver (Isa 63:9; Dan 3:28); to interpret

visions (Dan 8:16; Zech 1:8-14);63 and to help in different circumstances (1 Kgs 19:5).

Demons, on the other hand, oppose God; they are the spiritual forces behind heathen

religions and false gods (Deut 32:17; Ps 106:37).64 They are represented in Judaism by

Satan.65 But “Satan’s power is always exercised subject to divine sovereignty, thus

repudiating all notions of a metaphysical dualism in which Satan and God would be equal

powers.”66 To conclude, since all spirits and supernatural powers have their origin in

God, they are limited in terms of power, knowledge, intelligence or abode,67 and can

exercise whatever power they are given within the limits that God allows.68

Man and the Spirit World

So what is the relationship between man and the world of spirits? First, “Human

existence is the battlefield between angels and demons, between God and Satan.” 69

63 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 246. 64 Ibid., 247. 65 Gräbe, The Power of God, 28-29. 66 Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 24-26. He further adds, “It is this awareness of subordination

[to God] that inhibits demonological speculation throughout the Bible . . . Satan is and always has been subject to the sovereign rule of God.” Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 29. Turaki agrees, “Both good and bad angels are under God’s sovereign rule and Satan and the evil angels (demons) can do their evil work only within the limits that God allows (Job 1:12; 2:6).” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 246,

67 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 283. 68 Ibid., 246. 69 Gräbe, The Power of God, 28. Ferdinando, agrees, “Throughout the Bible therefore . . . the

visible world is seen as a theatre of maleficent activity by supernatural beings, as also by occult practitioners.” Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 23

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However, two things are important to note from the Bible about human involvement in

this battle. First, Satan’s power is closely related to human sin.70 This means that “men

and women are not primarily victims of hostile supernatural forces but sinners

responsible for their own condition”71 and also Satan’s primary threat is not physical but

moral or spiritual. 72 Secondly, “In the Old Testament, the Jews were taught to turn their

attention completely away from spirit beings or deities, but are commanded to put their

trust and confidence only in the One Sovereign God (Deut 6:4).”73 God is all sufficient so

man does not need to go to the spirit beings or to other means for help.74 Thus, man’s

dealing with the spirits is forbidden in the Bible,75 and any worship of them is idolatry

(Exod 20:4-5; 32:8; Deut 4:19; 8:19).76 That is why there is a negative attitude towards

magic throughout the Bible.77

70 Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 23, says, “It is human sin that constitutes the basis and

opportunity for the tyranny Satan exercises over men and women.” 71 Ibid., 28. 72 Ibid. As Ferdinando puts it, “Furthermore, and related to what has just been said [about men

being sinners], the menace that Satan presents is not primarily that of physical affliction, although he is indeed a murderer and destroyer, but that of moral and spiritual destruction.”

73 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 245. 74 Ibid., 284. 75 Ibid., 249. 76 Ibid., 247. Turaki explains that worship in this sense means ‘the performance of any ritual act

of reverence’, ‘all prayer and all attempts to communicate’, any offering of sacrifice which is aimed at soliciting the help or consent of the spirit beings.” He adds that only God is to be worshipped and anyone who worships any other god, person, thing, divinity or spirit being is guilty of idolatry God is the only source for humans. And elsewhere, “The Bible prohibits man from communicating with the spirits and mystical powers. All communications are to be directed to God and Him alone . . . The Bible (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) prohibits any religious practice, which seeks to control or communicate with the spirit beings.” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 268-69. However, Dickson, points out, “That the belief that man could by the use of magical arts and practices control gods and demons existed to a late age in Israel is shown by the fact that as late as the seventh century B. C. Deuteronomy finds it necessary to legislate against it; the compilers of this book forbid the community to resort or to shelter ‘any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer.’” Dickson, Theology in Africa, 164. And elsewhere, Dickson

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Ancestors

First of all, in Israel, similar to Africa, there was a belief that the dead continued

to have existence beyond the grave.78 Dickson expands,

Israelite thought went beyond the idea of mere survival to one of life after the death. One expression of the latter idea is seen in the concept of She’ol, the place to which the dead were believed to go, and where they had some kind of existence. Though it was a shadowy place, certain Old Testament passages speak of life there as being modeled after life on earth. 79

Joseph Blenkinsopp agrees, with him that although it is the book of Daniel (12:2-3) in the

second century B. C. that has the first unambiguous statement of belief in the resurrection

of the dead, or of some of the dead, intimations of an ongoing life with God can be

picked up arising out of the experience of worship (e.g., Ps 73:21-26) or the peremptory

demand for justice (e.g., Job), or as a result of external influences.80

Who Are They?

Turaki says that what we encounter in the Old Testament is ‘sainthood’ or

ancestorship built upon the ‘Abrahamic Covenant’ linking the Jews to Yahweh. One had

adds, “Now the Old Testament includes much that is in accord with such practices and beliefs [nature as the background for religious expression and contact with the deity]. There is the belief that human beings, by the use of magical arts and practices, can control gods and demons, and this belief persisted till a late date: Deuteronomy dating probably from the seventh century B. C., forbade the community to indulge in such practices (Deut 18:9-14). That Deuteronomy found it necessary to condemn such practices is indicative that at the popular level they were respected and employed.” Dickson “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 102-03,

77 Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 23. 78 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 173. 79 Ibid., 173-74. His argument is that “to the ancient Israelites, as to the most Africans today, a

proper burial was considered most essential; an Israelite would be horrified at the prospect of his bones being exposed to the birds and the beasts.”

80 Blenkinsopp, Treasures Old and New, 190-91.

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to qualify on the basis of his faith and deeds to become ‘the Old Testament saint’. 81

Blenkinsopp takes it further saying,

In Ugarit of the Late Bronze Age the status of the recently dead was distinguished from that of the long dead, one of the terms for whom was rp’m, corresponding to the biblical Rephaim. These were considered to be in some way within the realm of the divine, and in both Ugarit and Israel the dead, or some of the dead, could be referred to as ’lhym, ‘divine beings’ (Num 25:2; 1 Sam 28:13; Isa 8:19; cf. Ps 106:28). 82

So just like in Africa, we come to a question of whether there was an ancestral worship in

ancient Israel.

Worship or Respect?

Philip King says, that the cult of the dead, was a feature of Israelite society, which

was condemned by ‘official Yahwism’ in any form of contact, but practiced by ‘popular

religion’, under the Canaanite influence.83 Dickson agrees, noting “Popular religion

81 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 255. 82 Blenkinsopp, Treasures Old and New, 177-78. He explains, “This is not surprising in view of

the fact that in antiquity the boundary between the divine and human was for the most part fluid and permeable, and some texts give the impression that the dead formed a kind of buffer zone between the worlds of the human and the divine. In brief, I assume in what follows in ancient Israel it was believed that the dead, including and especially dead ancestors, lived on in some capacity, that under certain circumstances the living could communicate with them, that such interaction was an important integrative element of the social, religious, and emotional bond of kinship, and that it took the form of cult acts offered to dead kin or on their behalf.” He further refers to the best-known biblical example of this interaction “the conjuring up of Samuel from the underworld by the ‘mistress of the spirits’ at Endor (1 Sam 28). “From this incident we learn that the dead Samuel could still communicate in Hebrew and had knowledge at least of the immediate future.”

83 Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 376, 2001.

http://books.google.com/books?id=OtOhypZz_pEC&pg=PA376&dq=Cults+of+the+Dead+in+Ancient+Israel+and+Ugarit&ei=NT6wScmuE4S6kQS7lOjwCQ#PPA376,M1 [accessed 7 March 2009]. The cult of the dead designated “rituals performed by the living for the benefit of deceased family members.” King claims that “In folk religion, the cult of the dead was a common way of obtaining favors from the deceased or of placating them. Furnishing the deceased with personal objects implied that these would be useful in the afterlife. Nurturing the dead was a way for family members to maintain the relationship between one generation and the next.”

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invested death with a great deal of power.” 84 First of all, the dead were consulted, which

is illustrated not only by the calling Samuel up from the dead by the medium of Endor (1

Sam 28:3), but also by Isaiah’s question: ‘ . . . should not a people consult their God?

Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?’ (Isa 8:19).85 There is also some

evidence of food being placed on the tombs of the departed in ancient Israel. However,

these and other practices are condemned by the Old Testament and are rejected by the

other Jewish literature.86 In other words, because of God’s all-sufficiency, only Yahweh,

and not spirits or ancestors, was to be called on for help. This is supported by Turaki who

echoes, “Because God is all sufficient man does not need to go to the spirit beings or to

other means for help.”87 That is why “beliefs and ceremonies, prayers, offerings and

sacrifices to the dead ancestors for help and protection and speaking to or calling up the

dead, are all condemned in the Bible (Deut. 18:9-12, 14; 1 Sam. 28:3, 9ff.; Ex. 22:18).”88

Moreover, unlike in Africa, in the Old Testament, “the saints (ancestors) were never

designated as mediators and so never had such functions in Israel.” 89 The priests,

84 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 173-74. 85 The Bible translation is taken from Dickson. 86 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 173-74. 87 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 284. 88 Ibid., 254. King adds, “The practice of necromancy, consulting the dead, usually with the help

of a medium, was roundly condemned in Israel.” While, Blenkinsopp, Treasures Old and New, 176, claims that there was a political reason for “the Deuteronomic legislation directed against the cult of the dead, which in effect means the cult of ancestors.” Here is his argument: “Since mortuary cults were, and still are in some societies, an essential, integrative element of social systems based on lineage, it was inevitable that they would be opposed by a centralized state and its own official cult laying claim to the exclusive allegiance of those living within the national borders. One can therefore view laws concerning death rites and forbidding commerce with the dead in Deuteronomy as part of a broader strategy of undermining the lineage system to which the individual household belonged.” King, Life in Biblical Israel, 380.

89 Ibid., 252.

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prophets, kings and judges represented people before God and God before people thus

performing this function in accordance with God’s laws.90 Nevertheless, Dickson

observes that “the dead were owed certain duties that were taken seriously (1 Sam 31:12;

2 Sam 21:13-14; etc.), and it may thus be said that they were honored in a religious

spirit.”91

Family/Community

Dickson observes that just like the African, the Old Testament culture “witnesses

to a person’s life being closely bound up with that of the group—the social group was a

most important factor.”92 King agrees, stating “Family and household constituted the

basic social unit in ancient Israel, as well as the most widely used literary metaphor.” 93

Here also this unit consisted of many more than just immediate kin. Exodus 20:17 serves

as a Scriptural example of who was included in the neighbor’s household one is not to

covet.94 Furthermore, Dickson argues that the passages like Genesis 17:7 and 2 Samuel

7:1 suggest that the unborn were considered part of the community.95 Dickson also

90 Ibid., 268. 91 Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 104. And Theology in Africa, 174, he expresses the

same view: “the dead were owed certain duties which the ancient Israelite took seriously as the acts of piety.

92 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 170. 93 King, Life in Biblical Israel, 36. He adds, “As a social unit, the extended or joint family, not the

biological family, was most important. Sometimes as many as three generations lived in a large family compound, comprising a minimal bêt ’āb — "ancestral house or household. bayit serves in Hebrew to designate "house," "household," and "dynasty." The further back one traced the ancestry, the larger the lineage or household. Very large families formed the miŝpāhâ, a term usually translated ‘clan’.”

94 Ibid. 95 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 172-73.

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suggests that we can safely assume, despite the scarcity of evidence, that in ancient Israel

the dead remained part of the community in the consciousness of the living.”96 Finally,

the Old Testament community is with man on the horizontal plane and with God on the

vertical. Thus, “this community is a totality and not two levels of living divorced from

each other. It is in his total community relation that one sins against his fellow man and

therefore against God.”97

Conclusion: There is a Continuity

This chapter closely studied the same areas of worldview in ancient Israel as those

in Africa in the previous chapter. Already from the above study, one can observe that

“The Old Testament religious framework and the traditional religious framework do have

striking similarities in religious beliefs, practices, rituals, ceremonies and cultures.”98 In

the next chapter, the specific points of similarities and difference in each area of both

worldviews will be listed, an attempt will be made to properly evaluate and appreciate the

resulting continuity.

96 Ibid., 175. 97 Reyburn, “Sickness, sin, and the curse,” 218. 98 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 148.

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CHAPTER 4

ASPECTS OF CONTINUITY BETWEEN OLD TESTAMENT AND AFRICAN WORLDVIEWS

So far, I have reviewed the African and Old Testament worldviews separately in

six areas: cosmology, view of God, view of man, spirit world, ancestors and community.

The research has shown “that there is what amounts to a cultural continuity between

Israel and Africa.”1 This opinion is shared by a number of writers,2 both African and

European. On the African side, Mbiti claims, “In reading some parts of the Bible, African

Christians find many aspects of ancient Jewish life which are similar to their traditional

life. This makes it easy for them to feel that the Bible belongs to them and they belong to

the Bible.”3 Mugambi echoes, “There is a puzzling but exciting affinity between the

African religious heritage and the way of life which the OT presupposes and takes for

granted.”4 As a European, Phillips states that to Africans the Old Testament “atmosphere

is in many particulars like that which they breathe. The nomadic and pastoral life; man's

frank and outspoken longing for offspring; the experiences of seed-time and harvest; the

concreteness of all that is said about God and man—these and many other features make

this literature an appropriate vehicle of a spiritual message.”5 Reyburn further adds, “The

parallels between African life and the culture of ancient Israel are often striking.”6

1 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 145. 2 Ibid. Also, Dickson repeats, “More recently the African predilection for the Old Testament has

been documented by a number of writers.” Dickson, Theology in Africa, 146. 3 Mbiti, Introduction, 190. 4 Jesse Mugambi, “Africa and the Old Testament,” in Interpreting the Old Testament in Africa, 7. 5 Phillips, The Old Testament in the World Church, 7. 6 Reyburn, “Message,” 154.

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Sundkler agrees that “The parallel and the similarity between certain customs and

institutions among the Hebrews and the Africans catch the imagination of ordinary

African Christians and of the theological student.”7 Indeed, “African life and thought

share in many ways the cultural life of ancient Israel.”8

At the same time, as mentioned in the Introduction, some scholars find weakness

in a methodology of comparing contemporary practices with ancient ones from a

different area.9 Nevertheless, Dickson resolves, “This cannot be considered to be the

final word . . . for not only are the canons of Old Testament comparative study often one-

sidely stated, but also demonstrably there is much in the Old Testament that is recalled in

African life and thought.”10 He cautions, “To speak of continuity is not to imply a

convergence of ideas, for there is also a discontinuity between the two traditions; this

dialectic relationship must be recognized if the facile adoption of Old Testament

7 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 214-15. He further adds, “It has also been pointed out by certain

observers . . . that the African pattern of thought is nearer to Hebrew concepts than to Greek ideas. This to some extent explains, or at least indicates, the predilection for the Old Testament, the strength of which sometimes surprises the Western tutor.”

8 Ibid., 153. Italics here, as in the previous chapter, are added to indicate that the quote was already

used in the paper. Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 148, and Masenya, “Teaching,” 462, share this outlook saying, to Africans Old Testament has an almost natural appeal and also, Masenya, “Teaching,” 463, says ‘the Bible’ when referring to the Old Testament: “in our studies of the Bible (Old Testament).”

9 Isaac, “Relations between Hebrew Bible and Africa,” 93. Again, as was already mentioned,

Thompson’s, “The Approach to the Old Testament,” article agrees with Isaac’s concerns about the improper use of methodology and value of such comparisons. Also, Dickson, says, “There are some who believe that comparing the Old Testament and African religion is an exercise of at best doubtful value; in fact it has been stated categorically that there is no value whatsoever in it,” Dickson, “‘Hebrewisms,’” 29. The latter is referring to Professor Parrinder, of the University of London, who expressed this view at the Congress of the Bible and Black Africa, which took place in Jerusalem, April 24-30, 1972.

10 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 178. Even Isaac, agrees that, “There are a large number of

parallels between African and ancient West Asian ritual practices as well as other evidence of relationship and, taken together, the body of examples constitute strong evidence that either transfer of ideas from one area to another took place, or as Jensen suggests, similarities are due to a single ancient sub-culture underlying part of the cultures of both Africa and western Asia.” Isaac, “Relations between Hebrew Bible and Africa,” 98.

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institutions is to be avoided.”11 Dickson then concludes that, “Despite these difficulties

there are reasons why the Old Testament and African life and thought may be viewed

together, as long as the methodology is right, and the wrong conclusions are not

drawn.”12 Theodor H. Gaster comments on the proper comparisons

. . . such comparisons are never intended to apply direct cultural contacts or

borrowing but merely to illustrate patterns of thought and feelings, to show the variety with which certain basic notions have been expressed in different times and places, and to suggest, on the strength of the cumulative analogues, the true (or original) significance of things which may now be seen only in a distorting mirror.13

Comparing the six areas studied in chapters 2 and 3 of African and Old Testament

worldviews, I will apply the right methodology by listing both points of similarities and

differences in each14, and thus try to avoid the facile adoption of Old Testament

institutions. Following this, I will list important concepts that result from any found

continuity.

11 Ibid., 181. Oosthuizen agrees with Dickson by adding that “one of the great functions of the Old

Testament, rightly interpreted, has always been that it encountered paganism, because Israel’s religion, as a prophetic religion, was absolutely different from the surrounding natural and cultural religions” Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa, 161; Thompson, adds, “We want to ask not wherein Israel is similar to the surrounding [and African] peoples but how she has used those same elements which are common between them, and how, if it all, she has purified them by using them to a higher purpose” Thompson, “The Approach to the Old Testament,” 9. Our study of the continuity between the Old Testament and African worldviews should definitely take this into consideration by listing the differences between the above worldviews that are also prevalent.

12 Dickson, “Hebrewisms,” 30. 13 Theodor H. Gaster, Myth, Legend and Custom in the Old Testament (Duckworth, 1970),

Preface, quoted in Dickson, Theology in Africa, 178. 14 It has to be noted that some similarities and differences are clearly marked, while other are not

so pronounced. There are also some points of disagreement among scholars on whether some points of belief constitute continuity or discontinuity. I will try to list all of these; however, sometimes they might not be positioned under “similarity” or “difference” as a heading due to the distinction being ambiguous.

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Cosmology: Similarities and Differences

Similarities

Religiosity

Since the belief in the divine origin of the universe is shared by Africans and the

Old Testament,15 all life in Africa and in Israel was related to the cultus.16 It is for this

reason why, referring to nature, both the Old Testament and Africans speak of creation,17

with creation stories themselves being very similar.18 Sundkler explains that when

speaking of creation and the beginning of things,

the parallelism between the great Hebrew stories and African myths19 can in fact be established is some detail. African myths have close connexions [sic] to the Hebrew account of Creation, Cain and Abel and the Flood, while the Crossing of the Red Sea has parallels among the tribes in one uninterrupted series from Ethiopia to the Limpopo.20

15 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” in African Theology en

Route, 110. Oduyoye says “Christianity” instead of Old Testament. 16 Herbert, “Exclusivism and Assimilation,” 1. Again, italics from here on in the main documents

and footnotes are used to indicate prior usage of the words quoted. 17 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 161. Dickson adds the African similarity to this, that I noted in

Chapter 2, in the fact that the Akan (Ghana) word equivalent to nature is Nyame n’abɔdze, which translates “God’s created things.”

18 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 20. Idowu lists this example of similarity in Yoruba belief: “The creation of

the earth was completed in four days; the fifth day was therefore set apart for the worship of the Deity and for rest.”

19 Sundkler uses the word “myths” to refer to creation narratives in both cultures. 20 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 284-85. Skundler continues, “Whether in fact we have to do with

an early Old Testament influence carried over the continent by Islam-influenced Falasha elements or whether, perhaps, at a very early stage both Hebrew and African thought-worlds have been under Babylonian influence, is a matter of conjecture. But the fact of this connexion between African and Hebrew ideas cannot be explained away.”

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Consequently, “In Africa, as in ancient Israel, religion pervades life.”21

Organic/Holistic View of the World

Both African and Hebrew cultures share a holistic outlook on life: humans and

nature are part of the same fabric22, are of the same substance.23 Masenya notes how

both biblical and Northern Sotho proverbs serve as examples of this “interrelatedness

between religion and natural realm,”24 by using animal characters to teach certain lessons

to human beings.25 Dickson agrees that there is continuity in the theology of nature

expressed in nature being seen as the background against which religion is expressed and

deity is contacted; in a popular belief in human beings’ ability to control gods and spirits

through magic; and in certain natural objects being considered sacred.26

However, there is also discontinuity in that Yahweh, even though demonstrating

Himself through nature, is most certainly not a nature deity. This is also, in popular magic

practices, although practiced by some, being condemned biblically and in other

21 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 154. Further, at 156, “. . . religion and life are inseparable in

African life and thought. Similarly, in ancient Israel religion was not divorced from life.” 22 In African worldview, Steyne, says, “The world interacts with itself. The sky, the spirits, the

earth, the physical world, the living and the deceased all act, interact and react in consort. One works on the other and one part can’t exist nor be explained without the other. The universe, the spirit world and man are all part of the same fabric. Each needs the other to activate it.” Steyne Gods of Power, 58 quoted by Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 97.

23 In Hebrew worldview, Simkins echoes that humans and nature are of the same substance:

“Humans are both part of nature, created along with the rest of the natural world, and are also . . . Nevertheless, the Israelite worldview is not defined in terms of a radical dichotomy between nature and culture.” Simkins, Creator and Creation, 118.

24 Masenya, “Teaching,” 466. 25 Ibid., 464. 26 Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 103

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literature.27 Moreover, we have already observed that in the Old Testament nature itself

is emptied of all divinity.28

Differences

Unique Relationship between God, Humanity and Israel Of course, the main difference between the African and the Old Testament

worldviews lies in the particularity of the Old Testament as the Hebrew phenomenon29

where “the covenant relationship between God and Israel takes precedence over all other

human relationships.”30 But, at the same time, we find in the Old Testament an invitation

to those outside of Israelite tradition to share in that tradition. 31

View of God: Similarities and Differences

Similarities

Turaki observes, “African scholars and theologians have affirmed that the

traditional African concept and awareness of God do agree with the Biblical and

Christian conception of God.”32 To Pobee, these similarities in the doctrine of God in

27 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 173-74. 28 Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa, 162. More on the difference in beliefs about the scope

of divinity in both worldviews will be commented under the Spirit World. 29 Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 98. 30 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 230. 31 Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 99-102. 32 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 147. Turaki adds, “Similarities of ideas or concepts

about God between Christianity and the traditional religions have been affirmed.” Bediako agrees that it has been stressed by African Christian scholars, “particularly and rightly so, the continuity of God [between the pre-Christian religions and Christian belief] . . . by stressing the centrality and uniqueness of God in African tradition . . .” Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 97.

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both Old Testament and African views are expressed in Him being the Creator, Ruler and

Preserver of His creation, omnipresent and immanent.33 In addition to that, “both

religions acknowledge that God is the source of all power.”34 In other words Africans, as

do Israelites, believe in one uniquely eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient

Creator, who controls all issues of life and death35 by bringing the creation into existence

and acting in the creation to sustain it and to shape it according to His purposes.36

Differences

Most of the differences between Old Testament and African views are the

subjects of scholarly disagreement and are hard to define clearly. Turaki, for example,

thinks that the most profound difference is that the traditional African religion is grossly

lacking in holiness and purity of the Supreme Being in both the religious beliefs and the

religious practices, while “the God of the Bible ensures that holiness and purity becomes

the basis of religious life, rituals, sacrifices, practices, ceremonies and worship.”37 To

him, the book of Leviticus is the best example of this truth—God as King of Israel and

her Lord establishes his administration over all of Israel’s life.38 However, Steenbergen

notes that to Africans, God is “the High One,” “the Exalted One,” and “elevated above

the rest.” We have also established that in Africa, the Supreme Being is at the head of

33 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 74-76. 34 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 318. 35 Idowu, “God,” 27. 36 Simkins, Creator and Creation, 127. 37 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 265. 38 Ibid. Steenbergen comments, “It is also clear that most, if not all, divine requirements are in the

area of morally acceptable behavior.” Steenbergen, "Worldview Analysis,” 130,

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all39 and in control over everything.40 So although, Africans might not use biblical

language and practice the rituals described in Leviticus, it is arguable that they are

lacking in holiness and purity of the Supreme Being. Secondly, African belief in

subaltern gods41 and other divinities makes their monotheism questionable and therefore

less thorough.42 It is also questionable whether God is immanent in African

understanding, since some scholars claim that here “the Supreme Being is remote,

‘transcendent’ and absent from the community,”43 while others say that in some places,

God is called Friend, or the Greatest of Friends.44 At the same time, “the God of the

39 Idowu, Olódùmarè, 50, says, “at the head of all, and controlling all is Olódùmarè.” 40 Idowu, “God,” 2, states that God is the one who not only gives but controls all issues of life and

death. 41 Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 30. 42 To clarify, read God Is One under View of God, Chapter 3, as well as Chapter 2, View of God

and Spirit World. Turaki even claims that “the fundamental difference between the African traditional religions and Christianity lies in the belief in a plurality of gods or divinities and the accompanied religious practices. In the traditional religions, the Supreme Being is believed to exist above the lesser beings, gods or divinities”; I disagree with that view point as I have already established in the above mentioned sections of the paper that Africans believe that God is one, not many (Idowu, Olódùmarè, 31). I also agree with Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 97, quoted earlier that there is centrality and uniqueness of God in African tradition compatible to that expressed in the Old Testament, and thus do not find validity in Turaki’s claim that “The traditional religious belief does not seem to have a strong theology of God’s sovereignty, which includes his creative power, sustainability and control over all of his creation and creatures.” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 245. Neither do I find validity in his further conclusion that “the traditional beliefs . . . require a theology of God’s sovereignty. And the traditional religious practices display a great need of the theology of God’s providence,” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 270. Since to Africans, God controls all issues of life and death (Idowu, “God,” 27), they already have a theology of His sovereignty and providence. (For a more thorough discussion of the sovereignty of God in African worldview see Description of the Spirit World, Spirit World, Chapter 2).

43 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 265. 44 Mbiti, Introduction, 54. I have already established in Chapter 2, View of God, Is He

Transcendent or Immanent? that it is proper to understand that in African worldview God is both transcendent and immanent, as He is in the Old Testament. However, I am listing this characteristic as questionable under Differences because it is a point of disagreement among scholars.

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Bible is [undoubtedly] unique and different, He is Emmanuel and He tabernacles with his

people.” 45

View of Man: Similarities and Differences

Similarities

In both worldviews man is a spirit who derived its origin from God.46

Furthermore, as was already mentioned “the biblical view of humankind, like that of the

African, is holistic.”47 In both African and Old Testament myths of origins, humankind

becomes the center of the universe: God’s steward in charge of the world.48 Both

worldviews have myths explaining that man lost his original state of happiness and

immortality,49 however, the Old Testament emphasizes that it was sin that resulted in

man’s mortality and all other evil; 50 while man’s proneness to evil is acknowledged in

45 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 265. Again, I have already established in Chapter 2, Is

He Transcendent or Immanent? that it is proper to understand that in African, as in the Old Testament worldview, God is both transcendent and immanent. However, I am listing this characteristic as questionable under Differences because it is a point of disagreement among scholars.

46 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 134, says, “That there is a spiritual nature in man no

African peoples doubt.” As well as, Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 229, “The breath and the spirit which make man a human being have their source from God.”

47 Anderson, Moya, 15. 48 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices for Christian Theology,” 110.

This means that both worldviews “set aside the dualistic dialectic which characterises [sic] Western thought whereby the exaltation of man would entail the rejection of God . . . [both viewpoints have] as its two fundamental notions and vital centres [sic]: God and man.” Mulago, La Religion Traditionelle des Bantu et leur vision du monde, 166, quoted in Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 101. I will comment later on the importance of this shared truth.

49 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 91; Idowu, Olódùmarè, 93-95. 50 Gilkey, Maker of Heaven and Earth, 232-34, quoted in Turaki, Christianity and African Gods,

306; also, state of disunion and chaos (Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 307), sickness and curse (Reyburn, “Sickness, sin, and the curse,” 222, 218), and Satan having power over humanity (Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 28).

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African worldview51 Man’s fall from his original state due to sinful rebellion against

God, which emphasizes man’s responsibility for his present condition, is not as clearly

stated in African worldview as it is in the Old Testament.52

Spirit World: Similarities and Differences

Similarities

While the worldview of the Bible is absolutely irreplaceable, “because it is open

for the intervention of transcendental powers,”53 the same can be said about African

worldview where the whole universe in which human existence takes place is

fundamentally spiritual.54 Turaki agrees, “The ‘spiritual view of life’ is common between

the two religious worldviews: beliefs in the spirits and the supernatural powers.”55

Dickson concurs about such beliefs being basic to both African and Old Testament

thoughts; however, he observes that there are marked differences. 56

51 Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 51. See Chapter 2, View of Man, Man’s Role in the

World. 52 Here are Turaki’s conclusions of proper Christian response deriving from his understanding of

continuity and discontinuity of man in African and biblical views, “Given the treatment of man in Africa, we need to emphasize the divine basis of human dignity and human rights. Furthermore, given the over glorification of man and his needs in traditional Africa, we need to emphasize the true nature of man as a sinner before God and humanity. In addition, given the fact that there are great mysteries beyond man’s solutions, we need to emphasize that these mysteries of life can be solved in Jesus the Messiah, in contrast to the offers of the spirit beings and ‘fake’ offers of great prophets and religious people,” Christianity and African Gods, 302.

53 Toit, “World View and Exegesis,” 14. 54 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 176. Toit further comments that, contrary to the Bible, “in the

modern empirical world view it is impossible to speak sensibly about God or the devil.” Turaki, “World View and Exegesis,” 14.

55 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 317. 56 Ibid., 244.

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Differences

The number one difference between African traditional religion and biblical belief

in the spirit world is the ‘fixation’ of the former with spirits, witchcraft and sorcery,

which stands in sharp contrast with the reticence concerning it in the Bible. Ferdinando

explains that in the Bible “the spirit and occult world is effectively eclipsed by God.” 57 In

other words, the Bible does not share the ambivalence of African spirit world.58 The

second point of discontinuity comes in the fact that any dealing with the spirits is

forbidden in the Bible. This includes “‘the performance of any ritual act of reverence’,

‘all prayer and all attempts to communicate’, any offering of sacrifice which is aimed at

soliciting the help or consent of the spirit beings,”59—which are prevalent in Africa.60

Turaki explains that these “traditional religious beliefs and practices reflect the African

uncertainties, fears and ambivalence towards the spirit beings.”61 This does not mean that

the reality behind these spiritual practices was not recognized in Israel. On the contrary,

Dickson claims, “Magical practices persisted in the Old Testament times till quite a late

57 Ferdinando, “The Great Dragon,” 30. He concludes that “the fear and uncertainty often experienced in traditional Africa [where] the individual feels that he is at mercy of a variety of undpredictable spiritual forces whose activities are in practice largely unrestrained. It is the Old Testament vision of the sovereign, mighty God and his providential rule over the whole of creation that provides the Christian with his initial assurance in the face of such concerns, an assurance which is reinforced with the realisation [sic] that in his death and resurrection Christ has triumphed over every dark and threatening power.”

58 See, Spirit World, Chapter 2. This is to say that although there is definitely a conflict in the

biblical spirit world between demons and angels, all of their activities, on both sides, are under God’s sovereign rule: since all spirits and supernatural powers have their origin in God, they are limited in terms of power, knowledge, intelligence or abode, and can exercise whatever power they are given within the limits that God allows (The Spirits’ Functions, Biblical Description of the Spirit World, Spirit World, Chapter 3). Thus, sharing in the conflict, the biblical spirit world does not share in the uncertainty and fear of the African spirit world.

59 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 247-49. 60 Ibid., 245. 61 Ibid.

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date, as may be seen in their proscription in Deuteronomy” (Deut 18:9-14).62

Nevertheless, they were vehemently condemned throughout the Bible (Exod 20:4-5;

32:8; Deut 4:19; 8:19).63 That is why in African traditional religion, humans themselves

employ the services of the spirit beings,64 while in the Bible they are mainly God’s

servants and messengers.65

Ancestors: Similarities and Differences

The subject of ancestors in African and biblical worldviews, is so controversial

among scholars that it is hard to decide whether there is continuity or discontinuity

between the two. Sundkler is right that in “the Bible . . . the deceased are not dead but are

living or resting, and…their spirits were living because they belonged to God, from

62 Dickson, “‘Hebrewisms,’” 30. Turaki agrees “The desire to have ‘contact with the spirit world’

through prayers, rituals, sacrifices, worship, ceremonies and other religious practices are common to both religious worldviews.” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 318. However, the Bible opposes it for the reasons discussed below.

63 It is interesting to note that different scholars see different reasons for this prohibition. To

Oosthuizen, for example, Post-Christianity in Africa, 162, the reason for magic and divination being ruled out in the Old Testament was their contribution to the conception of the efficacy of the individual’s work, whether in magic, sacrifices, giving of alms, or any other related activity. “The Scriptural basis of faith versus words is always a difficulty to this type of thinking. In the Israelite religion, it is the inner attitude to God that counts; God provides the sacrifice.” He concludes, “Legalism is a grave danger in Africa, and salvation is often based on the fact that one must not disobey the commandments of the Decalogue.” While Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 198-203, suggests Biblical theology addresses African experience of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft because behind them exists a spiritual reality. However, these practices are condemned because they depend on evil spiritual powers (demons) and because operating in them is a denial of faith. He further asserts, “Man’s association with the spirit beings reveals his desire to make them serve his needs. Man wants protection, security, prosperity, health and to know and preserve his destiny and future. Instead of turning to God, he turns to the lesser beings for help. Man’s pursuit of power and many other needs drive him not to God, but to the spirit beings. Man must look to God as his refuge and protector (Ps. 92, 46).” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 249. So although they see different reasons for it, both scholars agree on the severity of this prohibition.

64 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 247. 65 See, The Spirits’ Functions, Biblical Description of the Spirit World, Spirit World, Chapter 3.

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whom they came by the creation of Adam (Gen. 2:7).”66 However, Turaki is also right

that “if the ancestors function as intermediaries, in that they receive prayers, libation and

invocation, then dealing with them becomes idolatry.”67 So the scholarly opinion on the

ancestors place in the continuity between African and Old Testament life and thought

ranges from the ones who claim that “ancestor veneration is certainly comparable to the

Christian cult of saints,”68 call them the ‘cloud of witnesses,’69 and “custodians of the

African spirit, personality, and vivid sense of community demonstrated in socio-religious

festivals”70; to the ones who call them “rivals of Christ”71 and claim that they are

idolatrous.72 A thorough discussion of the issue is beyond the scope of this study, so I

66 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 29. He even continues, “Since then, it is a continuous thing—until

Christ comes again (Mt. 24:31).” 67 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 254-55. To him, they take “the place of Christ who is the

only one mediator, between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5).” He concludes, “The ancestors can however, be remembered in memory by name through a memorial that does not take the place of Christ nor becomes idolatrous.”

68 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 126-27. Here is how Bediako puts it “There is, it is true, an

obvious Christological dimension to any consideration of the place of ancestors in the spiritual universe of Christian consciousness.” And further, “The relevance of the Old Testament for understanding the place of ancestors stems instead from the fundamental theological affirmation that in Christ, and through faith-union with Christ in the Gospel, we become ‘the steed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise’, that is the promise of Abraham and therefore ‘heirs together with Israel, members together of one body’. In Christ, then, we receive ‘an adoptive past’ through our ‘Abrahamic link’, thus connecting our past with the entire past of the people of God. Thus, the African participation in the Gospel establishes the relevance of the Old Testament to African tradition and opens the way for an African appropriation of the whole Scriptures.” Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 217-27.

69 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 58. 70 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 111. 71 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 217. This is not Bediako’s point of view but he mentions it as

an opinion shared by other scholars. 72 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 255.

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will agree with Dickson that “the memory of ancestors is what should be emphasized [in

African/Old Testament continuity], whether they were ‘saints’ or not.”73

Community: Similarities and Differences

Similarities

Dickson observes, “It is evident, from what has already been said about the

African religio-cultural tradition, that there is much in common between the Old

Testament and African life in thought in the matter of the sense of community. As in

ancient Israel, so in Africa the concept is exemplified in the family, the clan and the

tribe.”74 To him, this similarity is expressed in the concept of corporate personality or

solidarity of the group, the fact that the dead are religiously respected (although the

degree of respect and the accepted expression of it differ significantly), and the unborn

definitely being a part of an African community, and likely part of the Hebrew one. 75

Another point of similarity in both worldviews is that communal structures and

relationships are viewed as divinely given. 76 Africans understand human nature as being-

in-relation in a two-way relation: with God and with our fellow human-beings77; and

Israelites see that human community is a totality and not two levels of living divorced

73 Ibid., 258. 74 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 176. 75 Ibid., 177. Dickson argues elsewhere that, as in the African context, in the Old Testament, the

community seems to be made up of the unborn, the living and the dead. To clarify, see Family/Community, Chapter 3.

76 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 123-24. 77 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 111.

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from each other. It is in his total community relation that one sins against his fellow man

and therefore against God.78

However, Dickson also warns that “in both ancient Israel and Africa there is

failure to recognize certain limitations inherent in this concept of group consciousness.”79

And that is where, in his opinion, the main difference between the two outlooks comes in:

“much in the Old Testament represents the rising above these limitations”: belief in

God’s love transcending the national boundaries of Israel. 80 Although there is a division

in Old and even New Testament over this belief, “the very fact that there is this insistent

strain of openness ensures that Israel’s history could not be written without the due

prominence being given to this attitude, which to a certain extent marks a discontinuity

with the traditional African understanding.”81

Concepts Resulting from the Points of Continuity

As was mentioned in the Introduction, “it is the ‘atmosphere’ of the Old

Testament, rather than the matching isolated areas of religio-cultural expression in the

78 Reyburn, “Sickness, sin, and the curse,” 218. Also in Africa human proneness to evil “is largely

defined as the fracturing of the sensus communis.” Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 51. And “the violations against one’s own group constitute the greatest guilt for the individual and the greatest threat to the community.” Reyburn, “Sickness, sin, and the curse,” 218. This is how Bediako comments on the importance of this communal continuity for African theology, “Because of the strong element of ‘the experience of community’ in the theologies of the South, these theologies have a distinct inclination to being ‘ecclesial’ theologies, which is not to say that they are confessional or denominational. Rather, this simply expresses the way in which the theologies of the South are rooted in the churches, and are produced from within the churches, to the extent that they proceed on the basis of seeking to understand and articulate the longings and aspirations of the communities they represent.” Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 162,

79 Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 105. 80 Ibid. 81 Ibid.

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Old Testament and African ‘counterparts’”82 that result in a rich continuity carrying

valuable contributions for both African and global Christianities. As aptly stated by J. J.

Burden, “What is important is not a common cultural milieu, or corresponding pivotal

points, common customs or even common belief in a Supreme Being, but rather common

elements in their world-view, a relationship of spirit.”83 These common elements are

exactly what are relevant for this study. I will now list the resulting common concepts and

later comment on their value for both African and global theologies.

Divine Origin of the Universe

Masenya informs that one of the fundamental concepts that Israel shares with

Africa in its worldview is “an optimistic, simplistic outlook on life.” Due to the belief

that life is run by a divinely arranged order, people must adhere to it; those who fail to

submit to it will be punished while those who submit to it will be rewarded.84 Mercy

Oduyoye agrees, “African belief in the divine origin of the universe is shared by

82 Dickson, “The Old Testament,” 36; again italics are used to indicate the prior usage of the

quote. 83 J. J. Burden and H. L. Bosman, Only Guide for OTB 302-3 (Pretoria: Unisa, 1982), 74, quoted

in Masenya, “Wisdom and Wisdom Converge,” 134. Masenya herself agrees and adds, “Worth noting and relevant for the present discussion is the fact that world-view is the starting point of interpreting Old Testament in an African context.”

84 Masenya, “Wisdom and Wisdom Converge,” 134-136, actually dichotomizes by saying that

“According to this world-view, there is an order arranged by God (for Israel) and the ancestors (for Africa), an order to which people must adhere. Those who fail to submit to its demands will be punished while those who adhere to it will be rewarded.” However, I have already established in Chapter 2, Ancestors, that “the ancestors are separate from the Supreme Being: they are created beings who lived a historical life on earth and maintain solidarity with their descendants.” Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 24; and thus disagree with Masenya’s dichotomy: I think in Africa, as in Israel, life and everything in it is controlled by God:“at the head of all, and controlling all is Olódùmarè” (Idowu, Olódùmarè, 50). To clarifry, see Chapter 2, Cosmology, View of God and Ancestors.

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Christianity.” 85 She further points out that this belief results not only in the

understanding of the divine order of life, but also in the recognition of the divine spirit in

nature and of the community of spirit between human beings, other living creatures, and

natural phenomena.86 In other words, it results in a holistic approach to the universe.

Masenya elsewhere brings Psalm 127:2 as an example of life portrayed in a holistic way

where interrelatedness between religion and the natural realm can be witnessed as a

reminder of the holistic African outlook on life.87 Indeed, as we have noted earlier,88 both

African and Old Testament worldviews share a pervasively religious organic/holistic

view of the world. By reminding of the divine origin, order and interrelatedness of things,

this view, in turn, avoids any dichotomies or compartmentalisations.89 Justin Ukpong

beautifully describes this:

Certain basic assumptions that belong to the root paradigm of African culture inform the interpretive framework.90 Among these are, the unitive view of reality whereby reality is seen not as composed of matter and spirit, sacred and profane but as a unity with visible and invisible aspects, the divine origin of the universe and the interconnectedness between God, humanity and the cosmos, and the sense

85Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 110. This is, of course, based

on the Old Testament worldview because “the Old Testament and not Plato or Aristotle underlies the New Testament message (Reyburn, “Message,” 153).

86 Ibid. To Oduyoye, this “could reinforce the Christian doctrine as well as contribute to Christian

reflection on ecological problems.” This suggestion will be commented on later in Chapter 5 when I will discuss African contributions to global Christianity.

87 Masenya, “Teaching,” 466. 88 See, Cosmologies: Similarities and Differences, Similarities. 89 That is why in “Is White South African Old Testament Scholarship African?” 7, Masenya

observes that for the ordinary African Bible readers, “studies about the Bible should not only end in ‘the past’ of the biblical text; these studies must address the whole African person in her/his totality: politically, spiritually, economically, socially, etc, as there are no such compartmentalisations [sic] in the African view of things.” The importance of this observation for African theology will be discussed in more details in Chapter 5.

90 We have already established that these assumptions are the same for the Old Testament culture.

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of community whereby a person's identity is defined in terms of belonging to a community.91

In other words, in their continuity, African and Old Testament worldviews avoid a

distinction between the physical and the spiritual, distinction between the sacred and the

secular, and share a view on the importance of community.

Reality of the Spirit World

I think Professor S. du Toit is right in contending that the worldview of the Bible

is absolutely irreplaceable, ‘because it is open for the intervention of transcendental

powers.’92 This, however, means that the same should be said about African worldview

since the belief in the existence of spirit beings is basic to both African and Old

Testament thoughts. 93 This means that they share the belief in both the transcendent

power of God and His Spirit,94 as well as have a realistic attitude toward the power of

evil.95

91 Ukpong, “Developments in Biblical Interpretation in Africa,” 16-17. 92 Toit, “World View and Exegesis,” 14. 93 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 244. This is taken from Chapter 3, Spirit World. 94 To Africans, “The power of God is supreme; all flows from him and inheres in him” Parrinder,

African Traditional Religion, 24; He is the highest and the greatest, Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 151; beyond the spirits, Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 78; and knows everything about their activities, Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 252-53; and who is at the same time close to them and ready to help them just as a true human friend would do, Mbiti, Introduction, 54. These views are taken from Chapter 2, View of God and Spirit World. In the Old Testament also, omnipresent, almighty, transcendent (extraordinary). Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 161; He is both transcendent and immanent; and since the origin of all spirit beings is rooted in God’s creative power, “their activities in the universe should be understood within the context of God’s sovereignty and permissive will” Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 245. These views are taken from Chapter 3, View of God and Spirit World).

95 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 113. In Africa, the spirit

world is ambivalent: it consists of not only a hierarchy of benevolent ancestors and spirits, divinities and high gods, but also a range of evil spirits, demons and malevolent divinities, as well as the lesser, more earth-born occult powers of wizards and witches. Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 31; and “Humanity is

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No Compartmentalisations

No distinction between physical and spiritual

Turner lists as a sixth and final feature of his Analysis, “the conviction that . . .

men live in a sacramental universe where there is no sharp dichotomy between the

physical and the spiritual.”96 To Bediako, this feature is so important that it affects

everything else in the worldview providing the key to its entire structure.97 It finds its

expression particularly in a holistic view of man. Oduyoye explains, “A sense of

wholeness of the person is manifested in the African attitude to life. Just as there is no

separation between the sacred and the secular in communal life,98 neither is there a

separation between the soul and the body in a person. Spiritual needs are as important for

the body as bodily needs are for the soul.”99 Besides resulting in viewing man as “an

integrated whole,”100 the importance of this feature is in seeing humankind as the center

torn between the camp of life [God, good spirits] and the camp of death [demons, witches, wizards], and the basis of moral action lies in the choice between the two camps” Mveng, “African Liberation Theology,” 28. While the Old Testament does not necessarily share in African fears (this was discussed earlier under Spirit World: Similarities and Differences), nevertheless, here also “between God and humanity forces interpose themselves which fight partly against God and partly for him – the forces of angels and demons” Gräbe, The Power of God, 28-29.

96 Turner, “The Primal Religions,” 32. 97 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 96. Bediako comments on this feature “… it is the sixth and

final feature, conveying the primal conception of the universe as a unified cosmic system, essentially spiritual, which provides the real key to the entire structure.”

98 I will comment on no separation between the sacred and the secular next. 99 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 111. She continues that “this

is basic to African medicine and psychiatry.” 100 Anderson, Moya, 15, says, “Western theology has defined the biblical view of man as being

either dichotomous (body and spirit or soul) or trichotomous (body, soul or mind, and spirit or soul). But the biblical view of humankind, like that of the African, is holistic. A person is an integrated whole, and not just the sum total of the parts.” Again, the contribution of this observation towards the global theology will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 5.

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of the universe.101 In other words, since there is no distinction between physical and

spiritual, the universe has two fundamental notions and vital centres [sic]: God and

man.102

No distinction between the sacred and the secular

Mbiti observes this about Africans, “Because traditional religions permeate all the

departments of life, there is no formal distinction between the sacred and the secular,

between the religious and the non-religious, between the spiritual and material areas of

life.” 103 Dickson agrees that the conviction that religion pervades life is expressed in

many ways in the Old Testament.104 Consequently, Kalu’s observation, that “ritual

practices of the ideas that undergird society cannot be separated from the daily routine of

subsistence practices,”105 is true about both worldviews contributing towards their

continuity. Some of Kalu’s examples of this are the marketplace and farmland being

sacred.106

101 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 110. She actually says, “In

African religion, as in Christianity, God leaves humankind in charge of the world, as a steward. In both African and Christian myths of origins, humankind becomes the center of the universe.”

102 Mulago, La Religion Traditionelle des Bantu et leur vision du monde, 166, quoted in Bediako,

Christianity in Africa, 101. In other words, what, Kagame already observed about African worldview is equally true about Old Testament: “the high place that God occupies is seen as the basic presupposition which underlies the purpose of the Creator who has oriented everything towards the perpetuation of the summit of his work: humankind.” Kagame, ‘La place de Dieu et de I’homme dans la religion des Bantu’, 1, quoted in Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 100.

103 Mbiti, African Religion and Philosophy, 2. 104 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 157. 105 Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 24. 106 Ibid., 37. I have already listed in Chapter 3, Cosmology, Religiosity, that in the Old Testament,

“Human skills such as crafts and trades were God’s gifts to man (Exod 28:3). Any practical human wisdom (e.g., farmership) came from Him (Isa 28:24-29).” Dickson, Theology in Africa, 158.

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Importance of community

We have already observed that African and Old Testament worldviews share a

great deal in their understanding of community and its importance. That is why

“members of an African village, like the ancient Israelites, are constantly in the process

of adjusting the affairs of its members.”107 Oduyoye comments on the importance of this,

“For a wholesome life people not only have to be at peace with themselves, but also must

be fully integrated into the community.”108 And elsewhere suggests, “Expand the

communal ideology of clans and ethnic groups to nations and you have a societal system

in which none is left in want of basic needs.”109

Conclusion: There is a Continuity This chapter has outlined the individual aspects of continuity between African and

Old Testament life and thought, also noting the existing differences. As a result, the

important concepts these points result in, particularly belief in the divine origin of the

universe, in the reality of the spirit world, no dichotomies between spiritual and physical

or sacred and secular, and the importance of community have been observed. Therefore,

in the next concluding chapter, a list will be produced of the contributions these concepts

of continuity supply to African theology as well as to global Christian theology.

107 Reyburn, “Message,” 154.

108 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 112. 109 Ibid., 111. Kalu, Clio in a Sacred Garb, 35, adds on this that there is importance of the

community is also seen between seen and unseen worlds that becomes especially evident at death rituals: “Life is an organic web. The living and the dead are united; the spiritual and the manifest worlds flow together in a circle.” We will definitely observe the importance of this concept more in Chapter 5.

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CHAPTER 5

CONTRIBUTIONS OF OLD TESTAMENT/AFRICAN CONTINUITY TO AFRICAN AND GLOBAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIES

In the Introduction, I stated that there is a rich continuity between African and Old

Testament worldviews that, if properly understood and appreciated, can contribute

significantly towards global Christian theology. In Chapter 2, we studied six areas of

African worldview, namely, cosmology, view of God, view of man, the spirit world,

ancestors, and community. This study is not exhaustive, but detailed enough to contribute

towards establishing a good understanding of African views in the above areas. In

Chapter 3, the same process was repeated for the worldview of the Old Testament; here,

we could already observe certain similarities emerging between the two cultures. Thus, in

chapter four, I pointed out the specific aspects of continuity between African and Old

Testament worldviews, not disregarding certain differences that also exist. By the end of

Chapter 4, I was able to summarize the specific concepts that result from this continuity.

Therefore, in this concluding chapter, I will attempt to demonstrate the significance of

this study by specifying how the above concepts of continuity do contribute significantly1

towards, first of all, African and, consequently, global Christian theologies. I will do that

by first establishing the importance of the Old Testament itself as a Christian document,

then, demonstrating the special place it has in African worldview and therefore African

Christian theology, thus finally outlining the contributions of the prior ascertained

concepts of the continuity between the Old Testament and African worldviews to

worldwide Christianity.

1 Again, italics here and in the rest of this chapter are used to indicate prior usage of the italicized

wording or quotation in order to remind the reader of the subject as well as emphasize it.

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Importance of the Old Testament to Christianity Before we can understand the importance of the contributions of African/Old

Testament continuity, we need to understand the importance of the Old Testament itself

as a Christian document in order to appreciate how and why a study thereof is worth the

effort and can contribute meaningfully to Christian theology. A study of the Old

Testament indeed appears indispensable to Christian theology for at least three reasons: it

illuminates the New Testament, as a result, it establishes the unity of the Bible, and it is

more explicit in certain vital areas of religious thought.2

Old Testament Illuminates the New

One can rightly argue that the Old Testament is incomplete without the New since

the story itself gives many indications of waiting for its completion in the future.3

However, this does not mean that its study is unimportant, unnecessary or even

dangerous, especially in an African context.4 On the contrary, a proper approach to the

Old Testament incompleteness points to one of its major purposes: it illuminates the New

Testament. Here is how Thompson describes it:

Almost instinctively we feel that the story has a continuation; it must lead somewhere. And this is the point at which the Old Testament is illuminated by and in turn itself illuminates the revelation in Jesus Christ . . . Thus we cannot understand the New Testament apart from the Old and the Old does not truly

2 Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 107. 3 Dickson, “The Old Testament,” 39. 4 This was already observed in the introduction where Godfrey Edward Philips, The Old

Testament in the World Church, 3, is quoted saying, “Certainly Africans like the book and take to it like ducks to water, but like ducks that stay in the water they prefer to remain at Old Testament levels of morality and religion.” Thus, among others, he feared not only a translation of the Old Testament into vernacular but even its usage in the African church (Chapter 1, Significance of the Issue, History of Scholarly Treatment of the Issue).

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come into its own until seen in the light of the New . . . we therefore need the Old Testament; we cannot dispense with it; we cannot treat it as though it were of secondary importance; nor can we treat it as though it were the whole of revelation.5

Indeed, the Old Testament both has its own importance and finds its completion in the

New Testament where its promises and important themes are taken up and brought to

fruition in Christ.6

Old Testament Establishes the Unity of the Bible

Sundkler expresses the second reason why the Old Testament is indispensable to

Christianity. He says that when approached with the understanding of pointing in itself to

its completeness in the New Testament, especially with the Messianic line being its

leitmotif,7 the document reminds us of the ‘wholeness’ or ‘organic unity’ of the Bible.

The latter in turn is fundamentally important for the establishment of theological

‘harmony’ between what is promised, prophesied or prepared for in the Old Testament

and what is fulfilled, brought into completion or actualized in the New.8

5 Thompson, “The Approach to the Old Testament,” 9. 6 Dickson, “The Old Testament,” 39. 7 Italics are part of the original. 8 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 215. Interestingly, he also comments that the Messianic leitmotif

contributing to the unity of the Bible “will immediately be understood in this term by African theologian.”

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Old Testament Emphasizes Certain Religious Thoughts9

Dickson rightly argues that “the unity of the two Testaments should not be

pressed to such an extent that it becomes inevitable to deny that the Old Testament has

any independent value.” This is mainly due to some religious ideas having greater

visibility in the Old Testament than in the New,10 or it being more explicit in certain vital

areas of religious thought.11 First of all, “the Old Testament paints the majesty of God in

more glowing colors.”12 Secondly, “the nexus binding religion and life is spelt in greater

detail in the Old Testament.”13 And thirdly, “in the Old Testament a clear reminder is

given to the fact that salvation has both spiritual and material dimensions [e.g. Isa 40:1-

5].”14 That is why at the World Council of Churches in Bangkok, key biblical passages

for study on the theme of “Salvation Today” came from the Old Testament.15 The above

list is by no means exhaustive; however, it is sufficient for us to understand why some

theologians justifiably claim:

In many ways the Old Testament, with its healthy this-worldliness, its sensuous taste for the goodness of life God has given us, its grappling with the meaning of

9 Dickson establishes this view in two of his works “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 107, and

Dickson, Theology in Africa, 178-79, thus, what follows is a basic summary of the same ideas expressed in the two works with different words. I will, however, attempt to indicate which of the documents the particular wording comes from.

10 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 178-79. 11 Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 107. 12 Ibid. In Theology in Africa, 179, Dickson brings only Isaiah 6 as an example of this truth. But in

“Continuity and Discontinuity,” 107, he says that “the visions of God in Jeremiah and Isaiah . . . put us before the throne of God’s overwhelming majesty in a way few biblical passages do.”

13 Ibid. This thought is especially important being one of the dominant concepts in African/Old

Testament continuity. 14 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 179. 15 Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 107.

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faith in the context of the political sphere, its portrayal of the anguish of a Jeremiah in the midst of his people’s suffering and tragedy, is much closer to modern man in a post-Christian age than the literature of the New Testament which is freighted with categories that are alien, or seemingly alien, to our experience.16

Thus, being aware of its incompleteness without the New, we, nevertheless, need to study

the Old Testament as a religious document important in and of itself. This study will, in

turn, help us to better understand and appreciate the New Testament and its themes.

The Relationship between the Old Testament and African Christian Theology

I have already established in this study that there is a rich continuity between the

Old Testament and African traditional religion. Now I can assess the proper place of this

affinity in African Christian theology, and after having done this, I can point out its

contributions to global Christian Faith.

Original Tension Concerning the Old Testament Study in Africa

It was noticed in the Introduction that “the relation of the Old Testament to the

life of the African church is one of the most subtle and pervasive tensions in the Christian

African scene.”17 Of course, one of the main reasons for this tension was the negative

attitude of European missionaries and scholars towards the use of the document on

African soil. I have already referred to Phillips fearing its translation into vernacular and

usage in African church18; he further explains, “In view of the fondness for folklore, and

16 B. W. Anderson, “The New Crisis in Biblical Theology,” in Hermeneutics and the Worldliness

of Faith, vol. XLV, nos. 1, 2, 3, eds. Charles Courtney, Olin M. Ivey and Gordon E. Michaelson (The Drew Gateway, 1974), 5 quoted by 179-80.

17 Reyburn, “The Message,” 153. 18 Philips, The Old Testament in the World Church, 3.

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the resemblance of some Old Testament passages to folklore stories, it might be feared

that the simple African would be liable to miss the vital difference between fact and

fiction, and to mingle together in his mind the folklore tales and Bible stories, including

those about Jesus.”19 This negative attitude towards Africans using the Old Testament not

only resulted in‘European Africaanschauung’ of missionary writers,20 but also spilled

into theological education on the continent.21 This is why Masenya writes,

The colonial enterprise therefore, did much harm to African peoples in terms of identity. As one might expect, the education received by African students from Western/Western-oriented producers and professors also had the capacity to alienate these students from their cultural heritage. Old Testament studies in South Africa were no exception to this state of affairs. This has been the case because of the rooted-ness of South African Old Testament scholarship in the West rather then in Africa.22

19 Ibid., 10. 20 Bediako, Theology and Identity, 226 (taken from the Introduction); Isichei agrees, “Much

writing on Christianity in Africa — my own included — has been shaped by a reaction against a tradition of missionary biography, where the foreign Christian is the heroic actor, and African communities merely the backdrop for her or his good deeds. Often, Africans are depicted as savage and degenerate to highlight the beneficial impact of Christianity”20 Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa, 74.

21 Oosthuizen explains, “The Old Testament does not receive its rightful place in the seminaries;

some Western theological teachers in their ignorance even tried to destroy the interest if students in the Old Testament. For various reasons it demands a thorough study in the African context . . .” Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa, 163. He elsewhere concludes, “It is very unfortunate for Africa that the Old Testament has not been given a prominent place in Western theology, and that in Africa its thorough study was considered futile” Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa, 169.

22 Masenya, “Teaching,” 455. Elsewhere, Masenya brings herself as an example of this harm: “I

thought I was spiritually depraved because of the critical approaches to the Bible and theology; contextually empty because of the theology that had basically nothing to do with my African context!” Masenya, “Is White South African Old Testament Scholarship African?” 6.

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Such an attitude made African students feel that in order to become good theologians

they needed to become “white skinned Europeans alienated from their own society and

country.”23 This needs to be reversed; and this is where the African theology comes in.

The Need and the Right for African Theology

The Need

Up until recently, theologizing to Africans has meant “presupposing the

traditional Western doctrinal statements but giving them what amounts to a thin veneer of

traditional cultural coating.”24 Dickson insists that such a procedure is unsatisfactory

because it is essential for African Christians to be in a position “to express in a vital way

what Christ means to them, and to do so in and through a cultural medium that makes

original thinking possible.”25 As Anderson aptly puts it,

I am convinced that in Africa there are a myriad of needs that will never be met with our traditional, rational and, in some respects, rather impotent Western philosophical Christianity. What is needed is the sort of innovative African Christianity that is found in many of the independent churches, that takes seriously the African world view [sic] with its existential needs.26

Africa needs its own theology, which is based on the Biblical faith of Africans, speaks to

the African soul, is expressed in categories of thought which arise out of the philosophy

23 M. Kilani, “Constructing Newer ‘Windows’: A Catholic Perspective,” Ecumenical Review, 53

(2001): 343 quoted in Masenya, “Teaching,” 455. 24 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 4. 25 Ibid., 4-5. 26 Anderson, Moya, 9.

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of the African people,27 and restates Christian thought in more meaningful terms, which

take into account African thought.28

Initial Development of African Theology

Fortunately, the early 1960’s saw “the first flowering of ‘African Theology.’”29

Its development has been characterized by indigenization, Africanisation and

contextualization. The merit of indigenization lies in the fact that Africans do not have to

abandon their culture nor to become Western in outlook in order to embrace Christianity.

As long as the ‘seed’ of Christianity, has been planted in African soil it germinates, and it

will grow into an African Christianity.30Africanisation addresses the need for Africans to

be in charge of the church and the mission policies that affect their destiny. The focus

here is mainly on personnel, administration and church structures.31 Contextualization, in

turn, addresses the deeper theological issues. Turaki explains,

That which goes beyond indigenisation [sic] or Africanisation is the question of theological relevance. Whatever might have been indigenised [sic], Africanised [sic] or whatever indigenous theology might have been developed and produced, the question of its relevance to the African context is paramount.

27 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 23, is quoting from AACC, 1969, Engagement, Nairobi. 28 Dickson, “Hebrewisms,” 32. This is taken from Chapter 1, Definition of Significant Terms,

African Theology. 29 Adrian Hastings, A History of African Christianity, 1950-1975 (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1979), 231, quoted in Bediako, Theology and Identity, 1. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 226, confirms, “since 1960s, the development of African theology has become very evident and has gained great momentum in recent years.”

30 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 18. Pobee adds that the word can be adaptation,

localization, or indigenization, and comments, “Whichever word we use, this approach acknowledges that there is a whole heritage in the non-Christian culture and consciously attempts to come to terms with that heritage. [This] approach is a manifestation of the church’s profound bondage to active culture . . . It concedes the mystery of the freedom of the spirit and the possibilities for renovation and renewal” Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 59.

31 Ibid., 18-19.

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Contextualisation as a tool of doing theology in Africa focuses principally on making essence of Christianity relevant and understood within context.32

This is where African traditional religious heritage becomes of prime concern: for

African theology to be truly contextualized African primal worldview needs to be taken

seriously.33

African Ambivalence towards African Theology

Unfortunately, here is where another conflict arises, this time within African

theologians themselves: some of them are afraid that engaging African primal worldview

in African theology will result in syncretism or universalism. Kato plainly states,

“African theology seems to be heading for syncretism and universalism,”34 and cites

Turner saying, “It does not seem to help much to speak of ‘African Theology’. The term

is viewed with suspicion because the interest in traditional religion associated with it calls

up in the minds of many a return to paganism.”35 Turaki echoes,

32 Ibid., 19-20. He continues on the process, “Some theologians seem to lay emphasis on the

African context (worldview, culture, religion, traditional and social values and institutions), while some lay emphasis on the Text. Our theological task must be cautious of the influence of the cultural agenda and political ideology and be mindful of the necessity of incorporating the service of the historical dimension and the primary importance of using the tools of Biblical theology. The strategy of moving from the Text to the Context wants to preserve the essence of Christianity, which is found in the Holy Scriptures and this essence should be transmitted accurately and should also be made relevant to the recipient context. The primary focus here is to develop Christianity and/or its worldview, which is well grounded and rooted in the Holy Scriptures.”

33 Bediako says, “There is no issue so crucial as the understanding of this heightened interest in the

African pre-Christian religious tradition, if Africa's theologians are to be interpreted correctly and their achievement duly recognised [sic]” Bediako, Theology and Identity, 1.

34 Kato, Theological Perspectives in Africa, 43. 35 Philip Turner, “The Wisdom of the Fathers and the Gospel of Christ: Some Notes on Christian

Adaptation in Africa,” Journal of Religion in Africa iv (1971): 64-65, quoted in Kato, Theological Perspectives in Africa, 43. Turner continues, “The phrase ‘an African Theology’ has about it, therefore, the quality of a slogan of vindication. It refers first to the attempt to find points of similarity between Christian notions and those drawn from the traditional religions of Africa. Second, it refers to the hope that a systematic theology expressed in the language and concepts of traditional religion and culture, may one day

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Some African theologians and scholars in developing their African Theology have tended to water down the Biblical affirmation of the finality of God’s revelation in Jesus the Messiah. Secondly, they have tended to justify and excuse the moral and ethical questions prevalent in African traditional religions. Their pre-occupation with religions and cultural issues, on the one hand, and their ideological and political agenda, on the other, have tended to weaken a serious Biblical examination of the spirituality, morality, ethics and salvation in the African traditional religions.36

The issues of morality, spirituality and ethics that Turaki and others are calling

syncretistic are a traditional approach to the spirit world,37 polygamy,38 and legalism39

be written. . . . The phrase implies in its popular usage an attempt to amalgamate elements of Christian and elements of traditional belief.”

36 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 328. 37 Sundkler claims that “in sects of Zionist type, Biblical and Christian ideas are merged into the

old Zulu religion. It mush be emphasized that in Churches of Ethiopian type responsible leaders are fighting against such tendencies as in their opinion degrade the Christian standard of their Church.” Sundkler, Bantu Prophets, 238-77. The examples of this will be Holy Spirit having the same characteristics as ancestral spirit, a use of the Zulu magic and diving rituals being passed as gifts of the Spirit, e.g. prophesying, and accepting Bantu standard for biblical interpretation.

38 Phillips notes that in “both East and West Africa there are secessionist Churches which

encourage polygamy, insisting it is permitted ‘in the Bible.’” Phillips, The Old Testament in the World Church, 7. Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa, 169, agrees, that some maintain that the atmosphere of the Old Testament is sympathetic to polygamy. Thompson explains how: “I have heard it seriously argued that nothing is wrong with polygamy in Africa for the Patriarchs and David and Solomon all had more than one wife and they were all very good men!” Thompson, “The Approach to the Old Testament,” 3.

39 Interestingly, Sundkler observes a strong connection between legalism and polygamy. He

explains, “In the Church there is a fundamental encounter between Bantu fertility cults and the new religion of the White Christ. It is here that the African preacher has to tackle the problem of legalism, since for the most part the Church, in its attempt to conquer human nature to the greater glory of God, has so far appeared as a legalistic body.” Here is how: “the Ten Commandments have virtually been reduced to the one Commandment forbidding adultery. In the exercise of church discipline this encounter between Bantu fertility religion and Christianity is made sharp and uncompromising. The African church leader is personally involved in this problem. The encounter as he sees it, between polygamy and the demands of Christian sanctification, is not irrelevant to him personally.” Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 288. Phillips adds, “Legalism comes naturally to the African, who finds it difficult to accept teaching as binding unless it is supported by outward sanctions, hence the emphasis on Church ‘discipline’, in which African leaders are usually much stricter than the missionaries, and which is apt to become more legalistic than Christian in its enforcement.” Phillips, The Old Testament in the World Church, 9, Oosthuizen concludes, “Legalism is a grave danger in Africa, and salvation is often based on the fact that one must not disobey the commandments of the Decalogue.” Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa, 162.

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combined with literalism40 and ritualism41 that have actually been practiced in African

Indigenous Churches. These are really by-products of deeper theological issues

concerning the use of the Old Testament in these churches which are: allegorical

interpretation,42 acceptance of the Old Testament standards over the New,43 ignoring of

the important differences between the Old Testament and African worldviews,44

explaining the Old Testament in terms of African traditional belief rather than vice

versa,45 and considering it self-sufficient.46 Although the concern regarding these issues

40 Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa, 169, notes that literalism is another characteristic of the

Old Testament abuse (author’s language) in African context which accompanies legalism. 41 Ibid. Oosthuizen further lists ritualism as a wrong characteristic explaining, “Justification is

found in the Old Testament for much of their ritualism. The traditional religion itself is strongly ritualistic.” Dickson, Theology in Africa, 151-54, explains that the idea that the “‘perfect Christian is the man who keeps all the ritual and moral rules’” would push the African convert “to see in the Old Testament the kindred atmosphere since the latter contains bodies of rules and regulations which were meant to govern the ritual and moral life of the ancient Israelites.” This is heightened by the fact that “traditional religions places considerable emphasis on the following of ritual and other regulations” and some of the many Old Testament rules have their counterparts in African usages. Woman’s uncleanness at childbirth and taboos regarding sexual relations with a woman during her period can suffice as examples.

42 Ibid. He also lists allegorical interpretation as another “outstanding common characteristic under

The Abuse of the Old Testament in the African context that is in turn accompanied by literalism and legalism.

43 Dickson, “Hebrewisms,” 26, lists, Sundkler, Turner, and Oosthuizen among the writers “who

have shown how leaders of the Independent Churches repeatedly turn to the Old Testament, often preferring it to the New Testament on certain matters.” This is how Sundkler describes it: “Obviously the Old Testament forms the foundation of the beliefs of these Churches. A common argument in all materia theologica [sic] is: the truth is to be found in ‘uDeutelonom’ or ‘uLevi’ (Deuteronomy or Leviticus). Moses is the central figure in their Bible; Moses; leader, liberator, Lawgiver, Moses overcoming the dangerous waters of the Red Sea; Moses fixing detailed prescriptions and taboos. In some quarters, the differences between the Old and New Testament standards are felt as a problem, and where this is so the Old Testament standard is generally accepted.” Sundkler, Bantu Prophets, 277. Polygamy is, probably, the most obvious byproduct of this theological mistake.

44 Dickson explains, “Of course, the Independent Churches which find themselves do much at

home in the Old Testament often ignore the important differences between the Old Testament and African life and thought.” Dickson, “The Old Testament,” 39. I have already mentioned this as a mistake by both African and European theologians in Africa and tried to avoid it in this research by listing the differences found in both worldviews along with the similarities in Chapter 4. Probably, the Holy Spirit having the same characteristics as ancestral spirist, a use of the Zulu magic and diving rituals being passed as gifts of the Spirit listed earlier from Sundkler, Bantu Prophets, 238-77, under traditional approach to the spirit world could serve as examples of ignoring the differences and finding similarities between both worldviews even when they are not there.

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is legitimate, the proper approach to it is by no means to ignore the African traditional

worldview. Shorter explains why:

Africans feel the need for a real synthesis on Christian terms. At an unsophisticated level the synthesis is made by the independent churches, but it scarcely rises above the level of syncretism in most cases . . . Very often the existence itself of the independent churches is a protest against membership of a world-wide communion in which the African is condemned to silence . . . They stand, however, as a warning to Christians of the ancient communions of what happens when the synthesis is disallowed.47

Thus, it is the lack of proper integration of traditional worldview by African theologians

that is identified as the reason for syncretism practiced in some AICs.48 To avoid

syncretism, these theologians need to rightly engage their traditional worldview’s affinity

with the Old Testament. This will in turn meet the African need for an African Christian

theology.

Avoiding syncretism. Shorter rightly claims that being “expressed in categories of

thought which arise of the philosophy of the African people . . . does not mean that

[African theology] is narrow in outlook (syncretistic).”49 He explains that “syncretism is

45 We have already quoted Sundkler, Bantu Prophets, 238-77, confirming that there is an

“acceptance of Bantu standard for biblical interpretation”; this makes it possible for Zionists to quote Micah 4:13 in support of isangoma-divination. Thompson, “The Approach to the Old Testament,” 5, agrees that improper usage of African/Old Testament parallels by some often result in “the Old Testament being explained in terms of African traditional belief rather than vice versa.”

46 Dickson testifies to this being a tendency among the Independent Churches and comments that

“the tendency to consider the Old Testament as being self-sufficient in an absolute way blantly ignores the many indications given in the Old Testament that it is not complete in itself”; Dickson, “The Old Testament,” 39. We have already discussed this under The Importance of the Old Testament to Christianity, Old Testament illuminates the New.

47 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 32. 48 Ibid., 147. As Shorter puts it, “In the case of African Independent Churches, the origin of many

of them was due to a failure in dialogue.” 49 Ibid., 23, is quoting from AACC, 1969, Engagement, Nairobi. Part of this quote was used in

Chapter 1 to define African theology. Shorter himself concludes “We have too much syncretism already, as it is, and this came about without the assistance of an African Theology” Shorter, African Christian

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a greater danger when there is no real communication or dialogue between religious

systems.”50 Turaki agrees in the need of such a theological discourse between Africans

and Christianity adding that African traditional heritage provides the basis for it:

Continuity in this view is neither comparative nor parity between the two religious worldviews. It implies a religious pre-understanding through language, knowledge and ‘spirituality’ without which no meaningful theological discourse and dialogue can take place between the two religions. Dialogue and understanding take place because of the continuity of the traditional religious spirituality and the Christian religious spirituality.51

Thus, when the value of the traditional worldview is recognized and properly used,52 it

can serve as a bridge connecting Africans to Christianity and thus become a foundation

for African theology.

Theology, 32. Oduyoye adds, “The word ‘syncretism’ has become a bogey word used to frighten all who would venture to do Christian theology in the context of other worldviews and religions. But is syncretism not in fact a positive and unavoidable process? Christian theology and practice have always interacted with the religious and philosophical presuppositions of the various periods. Practices like the observance of Sunday, distribution of Easter eggs, and the festival of the Nile in the medieval Coptic church are instances of the acculturation of Christianity. Evidence of this process is increasing in Africa” Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 114.

50 Ibid., 32. Further, African Christian Theology, 32, he informs that “the meeting of the

Secretariat for Non-Christian Religions at Gaba strongly affirmed its belief in the real possibility of religious dialogue between Christians and the religious traditions of Africa and saw this dialogue as both desirable and necessary.”

51 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 31. Pobee explains how this is true scripturally, “The

passage under discussion [Heb 1:1-2] ties in well with Romans 1:19-20, that God reveals himself in diverse ways and forms. It affirms that there are revelations of the deity other than the revelation in Jesus Christ. But it also insists that only the revelation through the Son is complete and definitive. Thus the divine revelation is progressive, from the less worthy to the more worthy, or from the less mature to the more mature. The text under study primarily concerns the progression from Judaism to Christianity. But in view of what was said in Romans 1:19-20, the idea of progression may be extended back from the so-called pagan religions.” And further, “God is the Creator who has put his imprint on his Creation, an imprint which stares man in the face and can lead to a sense of God [Besides the Romans passage the same point is made in Acts 14:15-17]” Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 74.

52 Dickson says how this is done properly: “. . . the continuity between the Old Testament and

African life and thought should be exposed to the cross-event, which for Christians is judgment on whatever insights might be gained by looking at the Old Testament and African life and thought together” Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 107.

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Supplying the African need. On June 12-15, 2002 at a Consultation of African

Catholic theologians and philosophers in Kumasi, Ghana, “African theologians decried

the Western oriented theological curricula and emphasized the need for theology to tackle

the needs of African peoples in different contexts.”53 This is essential in both academic

contexts54 as well as the context of ordinary Bible readers.55 Ukpong explains the

importance of the merge between these two contexts, “In this way the people's context

becomes the subject of interpretation of the biblical text. The goal of interpretation is the

actualisation [sic] of the theological meaning of the text in todays [sic] context so as to

forge integration between faith and life, and engender commitment to personal societal

transformation.”56 Indeed, real Christian theology is the one that leads people to the

53 Masenya, “Teaching,” 462-63. 54 Ibid., 461, states, “The cry for Africanization of theological education in Africa is an old cry.”

Dickson concurs, “Up till now the study and interpretation of the Bible as done in theological colleges in Africa have simply been a regurgitation of Western methods and insights; it is often taken for granted that the task of theological education in Africa is merely to pass on Western theological scholarship to succeeding generations of African students” Dickson, Theology in Africa, 144. He further quotes Charles R. Taber saying, “What is needed now is for Africans . . . to start afresh, beginning with the direct interaction of their cultures with the Scriptures rather than tagging along at the tail end of the long history of western embroidery, and to restate the Christian faith in answer to . . . African questions, with . . . African methodologies and terminologies” Charles R. Taber, Gospel in Context, vol. 1, no. 1 (January 1978), 10.

55 Holter explains, “Our obligation as biblical scholars—I would argue—is to create a context for

biblical interpretation, where her popular and our academic experiences can meet and interact in mutual respect. We have the influence that is needed to initiate the research and establish the teaching programs that will let the interpretations of the popular and academic contexts fruitfully interact” Holter, Yahweh in Africa, 60. He elsewhere, commends African biblical scholarship saying, “OT scholarship in Africa seems to have a more open attitude towards bridging the gap between professional and popular interpretation of the OT” Holter, “The Current State of Old Testament Scholarship in Africa,” 33. But elsewhere he adds that more needs to be done, “Another way is to let the Old Testament challenge various aspects of contemporary African theology and church life” Holter, Old Testament Research for Africa, 96,

56 Ukpong, “Developments in Biblical Interpretation in Africa,” 16. He further adds, “Biblical

interpretation in Africa has made bold strides which can be said to place it at the threshold of maturity as we enter the third millennium. However, the real test of this maturity will be the extent to which it will sustain the African context as the subject of interpretation of the Bible so that the hitherto muted voices and concerns of ordinary readers will come alive in the academic forum” Ukpong, “Developments in Biblical Interpretation in Africa,” 18. Dickson calls this interpretive or hermeneutical continuity explaining, “In this dimension of the interpreter’s task we see another kind of continuity between the Old Testament and African life and thought; for in confronting the Old Testament Africans cannot, and must not, leave behind

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realization of God being actively involved in their lives.57 In order to do that, “A living

Christian faith in Africa cannot but interact with African culture.” 58 Oduyoye, explains,

To contribute more effectively to the religious development of people, African Christian theologians have a duty to theologize from this context and incorporate the authentic African idiom into Christian theology. Utilizing African religious beliefs in Christian theology is not an attempt to assist Christianity to capture and domesticate the African spirit; rather it is an attempt to ensure that the African spirit revolutionizes Christianity to the benefit of all who adhere to it.59

Thus far, I have shown how both theologians and ordinary Bible readers demonstrate the

quest, the need, and the demand,60 for an authentic African theology.61 Only this kind of

the questions and problems that matter to us. Thus the text and the African . . . are bound together” Dickson, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” 106-07. Here he expresses the regret of T. A. Beetham, Christianity and the New Africa (London: Pall Mall Press, 1967), who says that the African students should not leave studying the first two chapters of Mark’s Gospel, with its account of Jesus healing all kinds of illnesses, without having come to grips either with the failure of their own Church to exercise the full ministry of healing or with the success of some Independent Churches in this respect. Dickson concludes that unfortunately, this continuity has not yet been taken seriously by African theologians with protagonists of African theology only recently having shown interest in the matter. Getui echoes, “Another major concern raised by many theologians has to do with hermeneutics or – in simpler terms – interpretation of the Bible. Some of the bones of contention include that there has been a misuse, naiveness, value-free, internationalized, privatized, elitist, academic and theological approach in hermeneutics, which ignores adjustment and application to the African context. This cuts off and away the very people who are the stakeholders, thus rendering the Bible almost meaningless and discerning to the African people” Getui, “The Bible in African Theology,” in Interpreting the Old Testament in Africa, 184.

57 Masenya, “Is White South African Old Testament Scholarship African?” 7. 58 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 110. 59 Ibid., 116. 60 Dickson says that “viewing together the Old Testament and African life and thought relates to

the quest for an African theology. Here our concern is not simply with comparisons, but with the broader issue of the need for a closer study of the Old Testament by African theologians. For quite some time now Christian leaders in Africa have expressed their dissatisfaction with the European character of Christian expression on the continent, and have been urging the need for the Church, in its ethos and theology, to wear an aspect that would be familiar to Africans . . . [there is] the demand for an African theology. It assumes the first stage [of employing certain aspects of traditional religio-cultural expression to embellish Church services], but goes beyond it to ask, among other things, for a restatement of Christian thought in more meaningful terms, meaningful from the point of view of its taking into account African thought” Dickson, “Hebrewisms,” 32. Bold font is mine for emphasis.

61 Shorter suggests, that for African theology to be authentic it needs to derive from an African

reading of Scriptures: “Clearly, if African theologians are to enjoy any originality, they must go themselves

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theology will be able to address African problems with Biblical answers,62 moreover,

only this theology will be able to contribute to the world theology because not only do

Africans need their own theology, I suggest they have a right for it. And here is why.

The Right

African scholars being trained in a Western context63 and, consequently,

theologizing by presupposing the traditional Western doctrinal statements64 has indeed

been unsatisfactory due to the continuity between African and Old Testament worldviews

that has been established in this research and is confirmed by many scholars. This

continuity results in “the African pattern of thought [being] nearer to Hebrew concepts

than to Greek ideas.”65 Thus, it is no wonder that their predilection to the Old Testament

surprises Westerners who reason in Greek terms.66 In the Introduction, I have noted

Reyburn’s observation that the missionary refusal to admit the Old Testament as a part of

a church’s Scripture in Africa was due to the failure to recognize that “the Old Testament

and not Plato or Aristotle underlies the New Testament message.”67 This explains why

to the source of revelation, and must make the Word of God the key to their understanding of their own problems and priorities as Africans. This is to approach the question of African Theology from the opposite end, and it presupposes a comprehensive knowledge of African human values. In other words, an African reading of the Bible must be an informed reading of the Bible.” Shorter, African Christian Theology, 30.

62 Kato says that “the African problems of polygamy, family structure, spirit world, liturgy, to

mention a few, need to be tackled by evangelical African theologians and Biblical answers presented.” Kato, Theological Pitfalls in Africa, 182.

63 Holter, “The Current State of Old Testament Scholarship in Africa: Where Are We at the Turn

of the Century?” in Interpreting the Old Testament in Africa, 36. 64 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 4. 65 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 214-15. 66 Ibid. 67 Reyburn, “The Message,” 153. This is found in Chapter 1, Significance of the Issue, History of

Scholarly Treatment of the Issue.

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African church leaders and theologians who stay true to their cultural background can

find more in the Old Testament stories than their Western colleagues.68 Sundkler

beautifully illustrates this, “The great primordial images of the Old Testament for a time

seemed to be desiccated by Western skepticism and rationalism, but in the African

Christian’s encounter with the Bible message, Living Waters begin to flow again over dry

river beds.”69 Masenya agrees,

. . . if the OT wisdom appears like a thick forest to those from the west [sic], to Africans, it is more like a plain. If many of its myths, sagas, stories and its many other forms cannot easily make sense to the western [sic] mind, the African mind grasps these easily. This is because of the realism that traditional Africans experience as they interact with the OT, because it has the capacity to unlock the African reality. If present day Africans still find it difficult to be at home with the OT, they might need to watch out to see if they have not lost their Africanness in one way or the other.70

Sadly, Shorter informs that a theology which is African and at the same time making a

contribution to the World Church used to be a contradiction in terms for many, including

Africans.71 It should not be so. I propose that Africans have a right, even an obligation, to

the West to continue developing African theology built on their rich affinity with the Old

Testament72 and will therefore list the contributions such a theology does and will make

to global Christianity.

68 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 283-86. 69 Ibid., 285. 70 Masenya, “Wisdom and Wisdom Converge,”145. 71 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 30. 72 My conclusion is shared by Holter, who says, “It is increasingly experienced as a problem that

most African OT scholars are trained in a western context, where the OT is read through an interpretive grid developed in the western culture. And the only solution to this problem lies in the establishing of structures for an OT scholarship in Africa, an OT scholarship proceeding from African experiences and concerns” Holter, “The Current State of Old Testament Scholarship in Africa,” 36.

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Contributions of African/Old Testament Continuity to Global Christianity Since the Old Testament is a valuable document that carries a significance of its

own indispensable for Christian theology, African Christian theology should be drawn

from the continuity of its traditional worldview with that of the Old Testament in order to

have a say in the world theology. Shorter rightly claims that “the Church needs the

African theological contribution for her own theological health.”73 He explains that these

contributions will not be destructive, but rather corrective in a number of ways: they will

awaken themes, which are dormant, or latent, in universal Christianity; they will show

that certain elements presented to Africa as essential in the universal tradition, are in fact

secondary being part of Western cultural tradition; and, finally, they will help the Church

to cease being a ‘White Church’ by developing a new awareness and opening up new

avenues for exploration.74

Contributions of Divine Origin of the Universe

We have stated earlier that the fundamental concept that Africa shares with

ancient Israel is a pervasively religious organic/holistic view of the world that originated

in God.75 This religious outlook on the whole of life76 rejects the exaggerated Western

73 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 32. 74 Ibid. I will list these contributions in the same order as the concepts of African/Old Testament

continuity demonstrated in the previous chapter, which they derive from. I will also attempt to list a practical example of the resulting theological concept where possible. I do realize that the dichotomy between a theological concept and its practical example can at times be questionable, so I only use it for the sake of effectively organizing my research.

75 I said in the previous chapter that one of the fundamental concepts that Israel shares with Africa

in its worldview is “an optimistic, simplistic outlook on life”: because life is run by a divinely arranged order, people must adhere to it; thus, those who fail to submit to it will be punished while those who submit to them will be rewarded; Masenya, “Wisdom and Wisdom Converge,” 134-136. And, indeed, as we have

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dichotomies between sacred and profane, spirit and matter, supernatural and natural by

encouraging “typically African vision of ‘wholeness’ or integration.”77 It is listed first for

a reason: all the other contributions, although divided into categories for better statement,

are really aspects of this one.78

No dichotomy in epistemology Bediako claims that one of the theological concepts that result from this basic

apprehension of the universe as a unified, cosmic, essentially spiritual, system is an

organic view of the knowledge of truth that avoids destructive dichotomies in

epistemology. He concludes that this is increasingly felt to be desirable in Christian

theology.79

Prominence of the Bible

Practically, in Africa this means that the Bible is esteemed and central in the

experiences of all Christians (and even non-Christians)—laity as well as the academic

and the theologian. Bible and African theology completely converge: it is considered a

pillar of Christianity for both main line and African Instituted Churches. In the organic

view of the knowledge of truth, the Scriptures clearly penetrate into all aspects of life,

noted earlier (see, Cosmologies: Similarities and Differences, Similarities) both African and Old Testament worldviews share a pervasively religious organic/holistic view of the world.

76 From Chapter 4, “understanding of the divine order of life, as well as the recognition of the

divine spirit in nature and of the community of spirit between human beings, other living creatures, and natural phenomena” Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 110.

77 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 34. 78 Ibid. 79 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 210.

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including the cultural aspect, which is one of the sources of African theology.80 Sundkler

says about the importance of this for the World Church: “. . . African theologians of to-

morrow [sic]—with their greater propensity for an understanding of the cosmological

dimensions of the Biblical faith—will together with their Western colleagues bring us

deeper into the mysteries of Revelation.”81

Contributions of Reality of the Spirit World

The power of God

Indeed, the reality of the spirit world is an absolutely irreplaceable contribution

of the affinity between biblical and African worldviews because as Toit rightly notes “in

the modern empirical world view [sic] it is impossible to speak sensibly about God or the

devil.”82 This is how Bediako describes the importance of this belief for Christianity:

If Bishop Yannoulatos was right in saying that a rediscovery of ‘primal elements’ is what may be needed, this may also mean growing into a primal awareness of the Christian Gospel as religion. Primal religions generally conceive of religion as a system of power and of living religiously as being in touch with the source and channels of power in the universe; Christian theology in the West seems, on the whole, to understand the Christian Gospel as a system of ideas. And yet, when the apostle Paul described the Gospel, this is what he wrote: ‘I have complete confidence in the Gospel; it is the power of God to save all who believe . . .’ [Rom 1:16]. Surely, this calls for a new idiom.83

In other words, global Christianity really needs African irreplaceable input regarding the

reality of the power of God.

80 Getui, “The Bible in African Theology,” 182-83. 81 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 215. 82 Toit, “World View and Exegesis,” 14. 83 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 106.

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The power of evil

However, we have already learned that in both worldviews the power of evil is

equally real.84 Oduyoye comments on the importance of the latter belief, “Certain

humanistic claims that humanity may be educated into eschewing evil leads us down a

very long road to the humanization of our societies. What is evil is to be exorcised. Here

again is a possible meeting point of Christian theology and African belief.”85

Several experiences in AICs can serve as practical examples of the belief in the

reality of the power of the spirit world; particularly, ‘transcendent’ happenings like

visions, prophecies and healings, as well as their pneumatology.

In other words, as Bediako explains, the revelation of God in Christ is the

revelation of transcendence and the primal imagination is able to grasp this reality. Thus,

we see evidence for it in the bold expectation with which Christian churches that are alive to their primal world-view anticipate and do experience ‘transcendent’ happenings like visions, prophecies and healings. This is another way of saying that the community that is open to the manifestations of the transcendent comes to participate in the transcendent.86

Pneumatology of the Spirit-type Churches

Anderson informs that since the dualistic, rationalistic theology of Western

historical churches did not meet the African need for divine involvement, the Spirit-type

churches discovered that the biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit “was not as detached and

84 This is not to say that it is an equal power, but only to emphasize the concurrent reality of its existence.

85 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 113. 86 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 103. He continues, “For the Christ-event has now resulted in

God’s presence in actual history in the community of His believers. Ideally, then, the Church which has come into existence through the death and resurrection of Christ, and is the household of God, participates, through the Holy Spirit, in transcendence.”

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uninvolved as Western missionaries made it out to be!”87 Thus, the African need was met

in the doctrine and the enacting of pneumatology of these churches where “the all-

embracing Spirit is involved in every aspect of individual and community life”88 The

reality of the Spirit involvement in African Church life impressed Anderson so much that

he devoted a book to it saying, “The central thesis of this book is that Africa has had a

reformation of the Spirit that has revolutionized the face of Christianity.”89

Contributions of Absence of Compartmentalisations

Masenya rightly noted that in Africa, “studies about the Bible should not only end

in ‘the past’ of the biblical text; these studies must address the whole African person in

her/his totality: politically, spiritually, economically, socially, etc, as there are no such

compartmentalisations [sic] in the African view of things.”90 Indeed, there is no other

area where the vision of ‘wholeness’ or integration is more pronounced than in the

African view of man: there is no distinction between man and God, there is no

dichotomies in man, and thus no distinction between man’s spiritual, physical or material

needs.

87 Anderson, Moya, 9. Anderson does note that there were also negative responses: “The results

were either that the traditional spiritualism went underground, or that a syncretism emerged in the encounter between African and Western world views. But those were not the only alternatives . . .”

88 Ibid., 10, also adds that “although there may be occasions in some of these churches where

syncretism is evident in the understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit, it is fair to say that the Spirit-type churches do not conceive of the Holy Spirit as an impersonal, manipulable force at a person’s disposal at all.” He also reports that in the earlier view of Oosthuizen, “this pervading Spirit is . . . simply a continuum of the traditional religion, where: ‘the essential thing is that your life should always be identified with the will of the spirit, at work and play, at worship, at a wedding perhaps, at meal times, in the harvesting and preparation of your food’” S. P. Lediga, “Relevant Theology for Africa.” Becken 1973, 25-33, quoted in Oosthuizen, Post-Christianity in Africa, 129.

89 Anderson, African Reformation, 4. 90 Masenya, “Is White South African Old Testament Scholarship African?” 7.

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Healthy esteem of humanity

We have already established that the Biblical creation narratives have accorded

man the highest value of God’s creation91 and that the dualistic dialectic which

characterises [sic] Western thought whereby the exaltation of man would entail the

rejection of God92 is not part of its theology. The Ecumenical Association of African

Theologians at Accra in 1997 declared the contribution of this view to African and, I

must add, global theologies:

For Africans there is unity and continuity between the destiny of human persons and the destiny of the cosmos . . . The victory of life in the human person is also the victory of life in the cosmos. The salvation of the human person in African theology is the salvation of the universe. In the mystery of incarnation Christ assumes the totality of the human and the totality of the cosmos.93

Not only is there no division between man and his Creator, there are no divisions within

man.

Holistic view of man As Anderson rightly observed, African theology rejects Western assumptions that

in the Bible the definition of man is dichotomous (body and spirit or soul) or

trichotomous (body, soul or mind, and spirit or soul). On the contrary, biblical view of

man aligns with African: a person is an integrated whole, and not just the sum total of the

91 Turaki, Christianity and African Gods, 303. 92 Gwa Gikala M. Mulago, La Religion Traditionelle des Bantu et leur vision du monde, Kinshasa:

Faculté de Théologie Catholique, 1980, 166, quoted in Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 101. 93 Appiah-Kubi and Torres, eds., “Final Communiqué: Pan African Conference of Third World

Theologians, December 17-23, 1977, Accra Ghana” in African Theology en Route.

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parts.94 This is why Oduyoye anticipates that “the African contribution can help purge

the Christian religion of the separation of the human being into body, soul, and spirit.”95

Since the human being is a whole, and not a sum of spirit, soul and body, “spiritual needs

are as important for the body as bodily needs are for the soul.”96 In other words, there is

no distinction between physical and spiritual.

The most profound practical example of the theological truth of human wholeness

is healing fully integrated into the life of African Independent Churches. While scholars

just started giving serious attention to the Christian approach to health and healing, AICs

have been experiencing it in the lives of their members.97 David Adamo explains how:

Early missionaries, and later the missionary trained indigenous leaders of mainline churches, made us, Nigerian Christians, throw away all our charms, medicines, incantations, forms of divination, sacrifices and other cultural ways of protecting, healing and liberating ourselves from the evil powers that fill Nigerian African life, leaving us only with the Bible. They did not teach us how to use the Bible as a means of protecting, healing, and solving the daily problems of life, but by reading the Bible with our own eyes we have found ways of appropriating it for our context. 98

To Adamo, this was the birth of African cultural or vernacular hermeneutics. I suggest

that it is helpful not only in African, but in the world Christian context. 99

94 Anderson, Moya, 15. 95 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 112. 96 Ibid., 111. She continues that “this is basic to African medicine and psychiatry.” 97 Mbiti, “The Biblical Basis,” 88. 98 David Tuesday Adamo, “The Use of Psalms in African Indigenous Churches in Nigeria” in The

Bible in Africa: Transactions, Trajectories, and Trends, eds. Gerald O. West and Musa W. Dube (Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2001), 336.

99 Ibid. It is important to note that Adamo does say that his conclusion “is not to say that Christian

missionaries have done nothing good for Africa.” He continues that despite their mistakes, these

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No distinction between the sacred and the secular African vision of ‘wholeness’ and integration permeates all the departments of

life, thus, leaving no distinction between sacred and secular. Dickson explains that

societies differ in the degree to which they recognize sacred values: the tendency of

technological societies (e.g. USA) is to give religion less visibility, while other societies

(e.g. African and ancient Israelite) are more inclined to see life in its totality being

informed by religion. 100 To Bediako, this is, perhaps, the most important impact of the

Gospel on African life: “Far from obliterating the African primal view of things, in its

essentially unified and ‘spiritual’ nature and replacing it with a two-tier modern Western

view comprising sacred and secular dimensions, the Christian faith has in fact reinforced

the African view.”101 As a result, although embracing new knowledge in science and

technology, African Christians, on the whole, did not allow it to displace the basic view

that the whole universe is fundamentally spiritual. 102

Contributions of Importance of Community

The biblical view of the importance of life as one lived in community is not only

believed but also practiced by Africans. They say, “We can truly know ourselves if we

remain true to our community, past and present.”103 Oduyoye informs that it was this

missionaries have been an immense blessing to Africans in the area of education, which in turn enabled them to read the Bible in their own cultural perspective.

100 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 155. The author notes that, nevertheless, in the technological

societies “religion, often in a great variety of forms, may claim the allegiance of many.” 101 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 176. 102 Ibid. 103 Oduyoye, “The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices,” 110.

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belief that led some African politicians to declare that the independence of their own

countries meant nothing as long as there remained on African soil one state that was still

under colonial rule becoming the underlying principle of Pan-Africanism: “We prosper or

perish together as a people.”104 But this belief is important not only for Africans, it is

important for the whole human race practically and theologically.

No racism Practically, it can help us to get rid of racism in any form. Oduyoye explains,

“The world is in need of religious tolerance, based on a recognition of one God from

whom all movements of the spirit take their origin. A belief in one God who is the source

of one human race renders all racism and other types of ethnocentricity and exploitation

of persons heretical and blasphemous. ”105 African theology that is based on these

traditional beliefs may be in the vanguard of this movement. 106 Theologically, an African

vision of the unity of individual and of humanity can move us from nationalism to

universalism by developing “the theology of the unity of humankind.” 107

Strong ecclesiology

In the 60s, Sundkler noticed that corporate religious life and fellowship in AICs

express themselves in various ways including: song and rhythm;108 the cycle of events of

the Church’s year, with its climax at Easter, sometimes the occasion for a huge church

104 Ibid., 111. 105 Ibid. 106 Ibid. 107 Ibid. 108 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 299.

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gathering lasting from three to four days; and in investing regular church gatherings with

deep significance. 109 To him, these were indications of the fact that the really indigenous

African Church in the future will orientate itself away from Western intellectualism and

show a sense for the rich and generous orchestration of African emotional life.110 He also

thought there to be a possibility in the future for African theologians to build on this fact

of the family as one of the main pillars of theology, particularly, ecclesiology.111

Fortunately, in the 90s, Bediako observed that the strong element of the ‘experience of

the community’ in the theologies of the South already gave them a distinct inclination

towards being ‘ecclesial’ theologies: theologies rooted in the churches, and produced

from within the churches, to the extent that they proceed on the basis of seeking to

understand and articulate, the longings and aspirations of the communities they

represent.112 And that is what Christian ecclesiologies should be.

Conclusion: Summary of African Contributions

The above list of possible contributions of the continuity of African and Old

Testament worldviews is by no means exhaustive. However, I think it is adequate to

demonstrate that, indeed, “the black race of Africa—the neglected, the poor and the

oppressed—are now the exalted and the elect, called by the Holy Spirit to spread the true

message of salvation throughout the continent.”113 This is because the Gospel enabled

109 Ibid., 300. 110 Ibid., 299. 111 Ibid., 289. 112 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 162.

113 Daneel, “African Independent Church Pneumatology and the Salvation of All Creation,” in All Together in One Place, 126.

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African people to utter the name of Jesus Christ and became that final and completing

element that crowned their traditional religiosity, continuous with the Old Testament, and

brought its flickering light to full brilliance.114 However, this light cannot be hidden nor

put under an African basket 115 because “African reality is an integral part of the total

Christian reality, of the harvest of the earth which God’s Spirit sows, cultivates and

grants increase among peoples of every tribe, language and nation.”116 This means that

African theology should be on a lamp-stand for it to give light to all who are in the

house117 of the Universal Church. Thus the forgotten or hidden treasures of truth will be

brought out to enrich the Church as a whole.118

114 Mbiti, “Response to John Kinney,” Occasional Bulletin of Missionary Research 3, no. 2 (April 1979): 68, quoted in Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 217.

115 Mat 5:14. The italics are mine for Scriptural emphasis. 116 T. Okure in a position paper on the situation at CIWA. Paper read at the MWI Consultation on

the Teaching of Theology and Philosophy in Catholic Tertiary Institutions, Kumasi, Ghana, quoted by Madipoane Joyce Masenya, “Teaching,” 463.

117 Mat 5:15. 118 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 295.

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CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

The goal of this research was to demonstrate that the African worldview, life, and

thought share a rich continuity with that of the Old Testament, and that this continuity is

valuable to the development of African and global Christian theologies. In the first three

chapters,1 I examined six areas of both cultures essential for the establishment of such

continuity, principally, cosmology, view of God, view of man, spirit world, ancestors and

community. To avoid facile comparisons,2 I outlined both aspects of similarities and

differences between the two worldviews, thus observing the important concepts derived

from the aspects of continuity. To demonstrate the importance of such research in the

concluding chapter, I first of all established the independent value of the Old Testament

as a Christian document. Secondly, I showed why and how the African theology should

be built on its traditional religious heritage that has a rich affinity with the Old Testament.

Finally, I listed possible contributions thus derived theology can make to world

Christianity. I hope that this information has demonstrated how, with their religious

outlook on the whole of life and vision of ‘wholeness’ or integration, Africans can

awaken our esteem for the Holy Bible with its cosmological dimensions; remind us of the

reality of the power of evil that needs to be exorcised; revive our expectations for the

transcendent manifestations of God’s power; return us to the involvement of the Holy

Spirit in every aspect of our individual and community life; inspire us to reject any

dichotomies in our view of man, so that the human person is appreciated as a whole with

1 Chapter 1 being the Introduction, I am referring to Chapter 2, 3, and 4. 2 Dickson, Theology in Africa, 178.

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his or her spiritual and physical needs; encourage us to stop secularizing our societies

remembering that religion informs life in its totality, and finally help us develop the

theology of the unity of humankind as one big human family and a renewed ecclesiology

for the family of God.

In my opinion, African contributions to global theology can be summed up in

three words: religiosity, transcendence and integration. By religiosity, I mean religion and

religious practices not being confined to a church building only, but being part of one’s

daily life and activities. By transcendence, I understand the reality of the spirit world and

its power, both of God and of evil, regularly manifesting itself in physical happenings of

human existence. Finally, I think all of the above can be summed up by the word

integration, which means there is no dichotomies between body, soul, and spirit of man,

no divisions between sacred and secular or spiritual and physical. Life should be viewed

in its wholeness originating from and being controlled by God.

In drawing to a conclusion of my research, I will recall a personal example which

illustrates the truth of the previous three concepts in African life and their ability to teach

valuable lessons to an individual of Western origin. I am European, and my husband is

African. 3 When we first got married, I was surprised by my husband’s religiosity:

although we have both been Christians for years, his religious practices were a bit

excessive to me. For example, whenever we would attend any church or worldly

gathering, my husband would always spend a significant amount of time praying for the

food that was served to us. A regular blessing that might have already been pronounced

over it would not suffice: his prayer would cover every item offered by the blood of

3 I was born and raised in Ukraine, and my husband was born and raised in Nigeria, but we both

met and currently reside in Dallas, TX, USA.

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Jesus. He explained that such a prayer was necessary because we did not know where this

food came from neither the intensions of the people serving it; a malignant spirit could

attach himself to the food and negatively affect the person partaking in it causing them to

get sick or even die. I considered such behavior to be overly religious and overly

spiritualized: I thought that food poisoning only had to do with your stomach being

sensitive to a certain food item or the food lacking freshness, not to an activity of evil

spirits; after all, in my understanding, food had to do with your body not your spirit or

your soul. This was my opinion until once at an African wake keeping,4 we forgot to pray

over the food eaten in my husband’s customary manner. I woke up that night from

nightmares and pervasive thoughts of death. My husband remembering that we did not

pray over the food that was served at the service prayed for me repenting for our

forgetfulness. The prayer caused me to vomit the food, and after that I was able to sleep

peacefully until the next morning. After that, I never despised my husband’s religiosity,

understanding of the reality of the spirit world, and never dichotomized between body

and spirit, knowing that life in its wholeness comes from the Spirit of God.

Thus, I concur with Shorter that “Africa is a fact to be reckoned with and the

Church cannot afford not to enlist the services of African theologians to speak to this

world.”5 While it is still important for Africans to listen to European theologians, for the

Universal Church to stop being a ‘White Church’ short of its universal color, their needs

to be a two-way exchange: the very universality and integrity of the Christian message

4 Wake keeping or Service of Songs is a religious gathering conducted in honor of the recently

passed away person before his or her burial. 5 Shorter, African Christian Theology, 32.

106

demands a balanced dialogue.6 As a result, the Universal Church, essentially the same in

all climes, will be able to express itself in particular national and indigenous thought-

forms with varying accents and emphases.7 And this is exactly the kind of Christian

Church that should feature in our postmodern setting.

6 Ibid., 31. 7 Sundkler, Christian Ministry, 295.

107

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