The African Worldview

1
The African Worldview

• An Accumulated Experience

2
African Views of the Universe

• Africans accumulated ideas about the universe
  through observation
• The universe was created by God
• Humans are at the center of it
• There are two parts to the universe
• invisible visible or sky (heaven) earth
• some believe in 3 tiers heavens, earth, and
  underworld

3
A Two Part Universe

• Earth
• full of humans and other created things
• regarded by some as a living being
• home of mountains, rivers etc which are highly
  regarded
• symbolically mother

• Heaven
• contains the stars, sun, moon, etc and includes
  such phenomena as lightening, thunder etc
• home of God
• home of other beings who serve God.
• has its own population
• symbolically father

4
African Views

• The universe is eternal
• its size is not known
• no one can reach the end
• time is not bounded
• rhythms in life will continue to occur
• symbols such as the circle indicate the
  unendingness of time.
• Circles are used in art, utensils, buildings
• The universe is dependent on God

5
African Views

• Order and Power of the universe. There is
• order in the laws of nature
• moral order among people
• religious order in the universe
• mystical order in the universe
• As shown in magic, medicine, witchcraft, sorcery.
• It is a power in the universe which comes from
  God. It is hidden and mysterious. It is
  available to spirits and certain human beings.
• Knowledge of this power is used to help people.
  When used to harm it is evil.

6
African Views

• Humans are the center of the universe
• God is outside and beyond the universe
• Although God is very close to the universe humans
  are its center.
• Humans see the universe from this perspective.
• Objects in the universe are evaluated on the
  basis of their usefulness to humans.
• e.g. animals are divided into which ones can be
  eaten and which ones cannot.

7
African Views Humans at Center

• Objects such as trees etc and lightening are
  regarded as divinities and spirits
• Humans desire to live in harmony with nature and
  attribute (mystical) life to it, in order to
  establish a more direct relationship with the
  world around them.

8
Religions of Africa

• Some of the Worlds Oldest Civilizations

9
Religions of City-States

• Egypt - Encampment at the Nile
• The Basongye of Congo - Before the Colonialists
• The Zulus - The Ancestors of Shaka
• The Yorubas - West African Watershed