Title: Traditional African
1- Traditional African
- Religion,
- Africa Worldviews
-
- Development
2 HANDICAPS
- IGNORANCE
- PREJUDICE
- NARROW DEFINITION OF THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH
3THE AIMS OF OUR STUDY
- How these beliefs have inspired worldviews and
moulded cultures, its consequences. - To strategize to evangelize and transform Africa
4- Leo Frobenius, a German explorer in his book, "
The Voice of Africa" stated that before he set
foot in Africa he had read in a German magazine
that, - "Before the introduction of a genuine faith and
a higher standard of culture by the Arabs, the
natives had no political organization nor
strictly speaking, any religion. Therefore, in
examining the pre-Mohammedan condition of the
Negro races we must confine ourselves to the
description of their crude fetishism, their
brutal and often cannibalistic customs, their
vulgar repulsive idols ... None but the most
primitive instincts determine the lives and
conduct of Negroes who lacked every kind of
ethical inspiration". - Leo Frobenius,The voice of Africa 1913.vol.1,pp.1f
5MAIN FEATURES
- Exist objectively and in fact
- Indigenous value system
- Practice by millions of world-wide
- Timeless
6 GOD
7ANCESTRAL SPIRITS/LIVING DEAD
8Birago Diop. A Senegalese said those who are
dead are never gone they are there in the
thickening shadow, the dead are not under the
earth, they are in the tree that rustles, they
are in the wood that groans, they are in the
water that runs, they are in the hut, they are
in the crowd, the dead are not dead. Those who
are dead are never gone, they are in the breast
of the woman,they are in the child who is wailing
and the firebrand that flames. The dead are not
under the earth, they are in the fire that is
dying,they are in the grasses that weep, they are
in the whimpering rocks,they are in the forest,
they are in the house,the dead are not dead.
9 DIVINITIES/DIVINERS
10 SPIRITS/ PRIESTS
11KINGS/QUEENS/CHIEFS/TRIBAL LEADERS
12PROPHETS
13HERBALIST/MEDICINEMEN/WOMEN
14 RAINMAKERS
15 SORCERERS
16 WITCH/WIZARD
17ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF SACRIFICES
- RECONCILIATION
- REDEMPTION
- SALVATION
- CLEANSING
18CONCEPT OF SOCIETY/COMMUNITY
19Concept of Religion
- Religious
- Binds man and unseen powers
- cement societies
- Defines culture
20SUMMARY OF AFRICAN WORLDVIEW
GOD
ANCESTORS
MAN
DIVINITIES
MAGICAL POWERS (SPIRITS)
GODS FEET
All these powers influence his life
21Health
Social
Econ.
Traditional Africa Religion,
Educ.
Agric.
Business
Financial
Political.
22 CONSEQUENCES..Athough they knew
God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave
thanks to Him,..and they exchanged the glory of
immortal God for images made to look like mortal
man and birds and animals and reptilesThey
exchanged the truth of God for a lie and
worshiped and served created things rather than
the creator who is forever praised. Amen. Romans
121-32
23(No Transcript)
24Worldview Impact on Popular Culture
Development
Economics
Politics
Law
Education
Worldview
Family Life
Environment
The Arts
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26LIFE AFTER DEATH
27NATURE OF MAN
28NATURE OF EVIL
29MY RELATIONSHIP TO OTHERS
30MANS RELATIONSHIP TO NATURE
31PURPOSE OF WORK
32The late Dr Charles Malik, former President of
the General Assembly of the UN and Security
Council, at the dedication of the Billy Graham
Center at Wheaton College, stated the necessity
for repentanceThe problem is not only to win
souls but to save minds. If you win the whole
world and lose the mind of the world, you will
soon discover you have not won the world. Indeed,
it may turn out that you have actually lost the
world. Charles Malik, The two tasks
(Westchester, IL Cornerstone Books, 1980), pp.
31-32, 34.
33- IT IS NO MEASURE OF HEALTH TO BE WELL ADJUSTED TO
A PROFOUNDLY SICK SOCIETY.
34Secretariat
- SAMARITAN STRATEGY
- Ghana West Africa Office,
- Samaritan House, Fise near Amasaman,
- P.O. Box DK 251,Accra.Ghana,
- Tel/Fax. 233-21-290246/5,
- Cell 233-244-206288
- E-mail samaritanstrategy_at_gmail.com
- ampadu_at_ghanatel.com.gh
- Web sites www.disciplenations.org
- www.harvestfoundation.org