For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God unto salvation.

I Corinthians 1: 18


1. INTRODUCTION

This paper is divided into two major parts: (1) the first examines modern Western worldviews, philosophies and religions; and (2) the second part analyzes traditional African worldviews and religious beliefs, syncretism, and religious cults.

In the first part of the paper, I will consider the socio-political context and the environment which gave rise to both the modern philosophies and religions that are opposed to Christianity. In the second section of the paper, in which I analyze traditional African worldviews and religious beliefs and practices, a major focus will be on the ways in which African Christians often lapse into syncretism and religious cults in the expressions of their Christianity.

2. MODERN PHILOSOPHIES THAT ARE OPPOSED TO CHRISTIANITY

Many of the points mentioned here and in the section below will echo the excellent analysis of Dr. Peter Jones in his presentation on modern paganism. I believe that the points are sufficiently significant to warrant that echo and for those who would like a fuller explication of these matters, I recommend a careful review of what Dr. Jones has said.

Here are a few crucial philosophical ingredients in the contemporary intellectual scene as we move into the twenty-first century:

a. Secularism, in which man and his autonomy and freedom have been made the god of the age in place of the Almighty God of Scripture.

b. Cultural and Religious Pluralism and Relativism, in which the biblical presentation of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only Saviour and Mediator between God and men is replaced by the parity, equality and plurality of other saviors, mediators or intermediaries.

c. Postmodernism, in which “Life has no point. Nothing is sacred. Reverence is an unworthy relic of the past times; everything is a potential target for mockery. There are no honored models to shape behavior. The individual is alone and there are no route maps.”


3. MODERN RELIGIONS THAT ARE OPPOSED TO CHRISTIANITY

Worldwide, there are many crucial religious and spiritual ingredients in the contemporary intellectual scene as we move into the twenty-first century. For the purposes of this paper, I will focus on the primary one which is centered in the West and the primary one which is centered in Africa. Versions of these religions appear in many countries and cultures around the world and, therefore, understanding these can be a great help to Christian believers anywhere.

a. Neopaganism and New Age Religions in the West, in which the biblical belief in the Almighty God and Creator of the universe is rejected and replaced by Earth Goddess, or nature gods, or many gods. As noted above, Dr. Peter Jones has provided a superb discussion of this subject.

b. Syncretism and Religious Cults in Africa, in which the essential meaning of central aspects of the Gospel are changed in ways that undermine and possibly even contradict essential biblical teaching. This will be discussed in some detail below.

These are the major religious challenges to orthodox Christianity in the West and in Africa. But how exactly did they rise to their positions of prominence vis a vis the Gospel? And that leads to a related question - what are the reasons for the decline of Christianity in the West? The places where, for almost two millennia, the Christian church was so strong and exerted so much influence seem in many ways effectively to have been de-Christianized. How and why did this happen?

4. SOME REASONS FOR CHANGES IN CULTURE AND WORLDVIEW IN THE WEST

The emergence of modern philosophies and religions in the West is due to the radical historical change of worldviews and culture. New social forces have generated new worldviews that are radically opposed to Christian worldviews. They have enforced a way of seeing, understanding, interpreting and applying biblical truths and the Christian faith which are dramatically different from what had been the norm in the Christian church for centuries. The Bible and the Christian faith have been reinterpreted to accommodate modern practices and beliefs such as homosexuality, feminism, materialism, hedonism, and neopaganism. In the West, it is now possible for an individual to claim to be both a Christian and a homosexual, or a racist, or a feminist, or a hedonist, or a materialist. And the reason for this incredible possibility is that there has been a historical shift of worldviews in the West.

"Worldview" as a concept needs to be defined. "Worldviews" are guides to life. Elsewhere, I defined worldview as "...a people's total way of seeing, of understanding, of interpreting, and of constructing the reality of existence (life) out of their historically transmitted and ordered systems of meanings, of symbols and of conceptions of nature, of self, and of society."

Christianity itself constitutes a worldview, a way of looking at and understanding and responding to the world in which we have been placed. The Christian worldview places all of human experience into a specific framework, a specific context. Just so, secularism, pluralism, relativism and postmodernism are worldviews which offer frameworks and contexts that are, at best, inconsistent with a Christian worldview, and, at worse, flatly contradict a Christian worldview.

A number of crucial historical events have contributed to this change of worldviews in the West. I will outline a few of the most significant. Obviously, these outlines are extremely sketchy, but they are also, I am convinced, accurate and in keeping with most historical analyses of these periods.

1. The Renaissance (14th and 15th centuries)

The Renaissance, as historians have presented it, means primarily the rebirth of classical scholarship, mainly the study of Greek and Latin writers of the ancient times. This revival of scholarship was directed at those disciplines called the "humanities," especially languages, literature, poetry, history, and moral philosophy. Because of the preoccupation medieval scholars with logic, metaphysics, law and systematic theology, the humanities were neglected, until during the 14th and 15th centuries, when they again attracted the scholarly attention of the great centers of learning.

Correlative to this focus on the humanities was an emphasis on the significance of the creators of humanistic writings - human beings - and this quickly led study of the humanities into the movement which has been called "humanism." Moving from eternal truths (such as those dealt with in metaphysics and theology), Renaissance humanism focussed its attention on temporal realities and, in doing so, it subtly but decisively shifted ultimate values from the divine to the human realm.

For example, in a humanistic environment, man is not defined in terms of his divine Creator or, indeed, in terms of any reality beyond himself. The result was

. . . the belief that human beings are autonomous. This means that human beings are their own source of meaning and authority...the authority of human beings is the final arbiter...human beings are regarded as actually creating their own nature. Man has the power to determine the very essence of his own being...In secular humanism, man is his own creator.

Correlative to the notion that man is autonomous is the conviction that the individual human being, not societal or cultural or religious groups, defines his own identity and destiny. It is not just that humanity is autonomous; each individual man and woman is also autonomous. And the result of this conviction is what has become which might be called the cult of individualism. The Wikipedia Internet Encyclopaedia defines individualism accurately:

Individualism is a moral, political, and social philosophy, which emphasizes individual liberty, the primary importance of the individual, and the virtues of self-reliance and liberty. Individualists promote the unrestricted exercise of individual goals and desires. They oppose any external interference with an individual’s choices - whether by society, the state, or any other group or institution.

And, of course, the church would count as an “other group or institution.” Immediately we see the intrinsic linkage between what those in the West often regard as a political blessing and what is, in fact, a religious curse. At least it is a curse if we regard the rise of antiChristian philosophies and religions as a negative phenomenon!

But the Renaissance exalted not only autonomous, individualistic human nature in and of itself; it also exalted man in his relationship to the rest of nature. In place of the biblical concept of man’s stewardship role in relation to the rest of Creation, the Renaissance emphasized human mastery and manipulation of nature. As other scholars have pointed out, "the claim of human autonomy," led inexorably to "the idea of human domination of nature" through science and technology.

These three themes - humanism, individualism, and naturalism - were, therefore, among the most significant of the contributions of the Renaissance to modern thought and they are the essential roots of neopaganism and new age religions in the West.

2. The Scientific Revolution (17th century)

The Scientific Revolution of the 17th century was built largely on the intellectual foundation of the Renaissance, and especially on that part of the foundation which advocated man’s mastery of nature through science. Of course, not all 17th century scientists or philosophers of science exercised faith in science itself; yet, overall, we see in this century the development of a powerful and influential scientific humanism. The period has been characterized as follows: "Human horizons were expanding, and modern science was on the upsurge. Indeed, science was to take the leading cultural role in the early development of the West."

Intrinsic to the understanding of science which emerged in the 17th century was a radical emphasis on the empirical method. Science dealt with things that could be “tested” and “proven,” and, gradually through the century, the idea took hold that only conclusions reached in this manner had any true validity. Again, the Wikipedia Internet Encyclopaedia provides an excellent simple definition:

Empiricism is, therefore, the philosophical doctrine (-ism) of "testing" or "experimentation," and has taken on the more specific meaning that all human knowledge ultimately comes from the senses and from experience. Empiricism denies that humans have innate ideas or that anything is knowable without reference to experience. It is generally regarded as the heart of the modern scientific method, that present theories should be based on our observations of the world rather than on intuition or faith; that is, empirical research and a posteriori inductive reasoning rather than purely deductive logic.

Faith in science, therefore, often meant nothing more or less than faith in the empirical method. But, as is obvious, faith in the empirical method is as much an aspect of worldview as is the Christian doctrine of biblical revelation which that method slowly seemed to supplant in the Western mind. The fact of faith did not change; only its object did.

3. The Enlightenment, (18th century)

The Enlightenment is usually referred to as the "Age of Reason" and its central ideological components arose directly out of the emphases of the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution. If man is self-defining and autonomous and if trustworthy knowledge comes only through human exploration of the empirical world, then it is clear that the human mind is ultimately the arbiter of truth.

Here is one summary of the essence of the Enlightenment:

. . .the view of human reason as the source of all real knowledge became widespread. . . . Autonomous human reason came increasingly to be seen as ushering in a new end of illumination. Vast hopes came to be vested in the power of reason to unlock the hidden truths of the world. To be fully human was to be “rational” in all fields of human life. By following the dictates of a reason unspoiled by faith tradition, and dogma, true human fulfilment and happiness could be realized.

“Enlightenment” as a personal attribute thus came to be defined in terms of the degree to which an individual placed his intellectual confidence in himself. More and more, as should be obvious, man, rather than God, was becoming “the measure of all things.” And more and more, as the Enlightenment continues its extraordinary influence on modern thought, are secularism, relativism, and postmodernism characteristic of contemporary Western culture.

3. The Romantic Reaction (19thand 20th centuries)

There was, of course, a strong negative reaction to the conclusions of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment and that reaction has continued into the present even as the implications of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment continue to dominate Western culture. Surely, many have argued, there is more to man than his reason and more to life than empirical inquiry. There is the sheer beauty of poetry and music. There is the power of artistic creativity. There is joy and love and hope. With such arguments, Christians have - and should have - agreed. But the definition of the “more than” has often been as firmly established on the foundation of the Renaissance as were the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment and often the church has not seen this.

When the Renaissance assumption of human autonomy is left unchallenged, when the worldview of individualism remains intact, the results of any reaction will be as antiChristian as that against which the reaction has been raised. And so it has been in the Romantic reaction.

In its modern forms, this Romantic reaction has produced a variety of "counterculture" movements which are at least as fundamentally opposed to biblical Christianity as the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. The abandoning of traditional morality and values, the rejection of established authority and institutions, the emergence of the hippie-culture, rock music and the experimentation with alternative life-styles and drugs, were all forms of protest against the modern scientific humanist worldview. These modern cultural protests have not, however, lead to a return to the Christian and biblical worldviews; these protests have led instead to further alienation and lostness, the celebration of the age of human freedom and humanism and the emergence of neopaganism, new age religions, cults and occultic organizations, hedonism and postmodernism.

In this very brief survey, we have looked at a few of the historical periods which have contributed to the dramatic shift in worldviews in the West during the past five hundred years. The results of the shift are many and all of those results have major impact upon the church and its mission. But the most devastating of those impacts has been the development of religious and cultural pluralism and relativism.

When man becomes “the measure of all things,” whether the perspective is that of Enlightenment rationalism or of Romantic emotionalism, the results are always the same - the claims of all religions, and especially Christianity, are made into the private preferences of the individual, with no objective force or standing in the lives of those who simply prefer a different direction. This is the aspect of the modern Western worldview which challenges in the most profound way the essence of the Christian worldview.

Let us turn to examining the devastating effects of religious and cultural pluralism and relativism upon Christianity.

5. RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL PLURALISM AND RELATIVISM IN THE WEST

In the West, relativism and pluralism of cultures and religions have forced a paradigm shift in Christian evangelization of cultures and religions. The result is that the teachings of Christianity, the Bible, the prophets, the apostles and the Christian tradition, and especially the uniqueness of Jesus Christ are being challenged or rejected. Lesslie Newbigin in his book, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (1989), and Ken Gnanakan, in The Pluralistic Predicament (1992), have both offered penetrating analyses of the impact of pluralism and relativism on the contemporary Christian church.

In short, the relativist questions the place and authority of the biblical and apostolic Christianity with its "absolute" claims of the unique necessity of faith in Christ for salvation. The argument is often put this way - in our “modern” society, there are (and should be) many religions and cultures living side by side. These are all assumed to have equal standing in terms of their truth claims. Here are Gnanakan’s words:

Some propose that what is needed is for all religions to come together forgetting their differences. After all, they would claim, Christianity is not really unique. We may have rightly claimed uniqueness at one time but today's situation is totally hostile to such claims. What we have learnt in recent times about religions and of their own “truth claims” compel us, we are told, to cast aside all the unique claims that we make about Christ and accept on equal terms similar claims of all other religions.

According to Ken Gnankan, the main challenge presented by the pluralist to the Christian church has to do with the One who gives His very name to that church. Who exactly is Jesus? Is He one among many ways to God? Or is He the only way? Here is Gnanakan’s answer to those questions:

We have made it quite clear that salvation is through Jesus alone. In this sense, we would unashamedly be Christocentric. The pluralist, we have shown, is wanting to be theocentric, soteriocentric, even reality-centric and has consequently surrendered any certainty to much needed foundations. Even the inclusivist, we have noted, will claim to be Christocentric, but is willing to allow for salvation to be experienced in other religions only claiming the normativity of Jesus Christ. This falls short of what the Bible is saying. Jesus Christ is not merely the norm, he is the name through which men and women are saved.

This must be the consistent and vigorously defended position of the Christian church, especially in an age of pluralism. We must not allow this essential aspect of the Christian worldview to be eroded by constant cultural pressures. We must stand firm.

But, many would (correctly) point out, most of us actually live in a culturally pluralistic environment. Even countries where a majority would claim commitment to Christian values allow and encourage religious diversity. How do we deal appropriately with that reality without allowing the pluralistic worldview to shape our own lives?

In his excellent article, “Being a Christian in a Pluralistic Society,” Dallas Willard makes these points:
Pluralism does not mean that everyone is equally right in what they think and do. It does not mean that we must agree with the views or adopt the practices of those of other persuasions. It does not mean that we must like those views or practices. It does not mean that we will not appropriately express our disagreement or dislike for other viewpoints.Pluralism also does not mean that we will not try, in respectful ways, to change the views or practices of others, by all appropriate means of persuasion, where we believe them to be mistaken. In fact, pluralism should, precisely, secure a social context in which full and free interchange of different views on life and reality can be conducted to the greatest advantage of all.

Lesslie Newbigin presents a perspective which matches that of Gnanakan. What is pluralism and how does it find cultural expression? "In a pluralist society such as ours, any confident statement of ultimate belief, any claim to announce the truth about God and His purpose for the world, is liable to be dismissed as ignorant, arrogant, dogmatic."

Newbigin presents these challenges to the church, in the context of this pluralism:

1. There is a need for understanding "afresh the nature and the role of the church's mission in today's pluralistic world."

2. There is a need "for an authentic expression of the meaning of the gospel and the mission of the church in the midst of a plurality of cultures and religions.”

3. There is a need to identify and expose the dangers of pluralism, relativism and humanism as modern worldviews and ideologies held out against Christianity which in themselves have no credibility or basis of denying Christianity a place in a modern pluralist society.

4. There is a need for a strong call and return to the "renowned confidence in the Gospel of Jesus Christ" and "how as Christians we can more confidently affirm our faith in the mind of intellectual climate" of a pluralist society.

5. There is a need for analysing "the roots of the present crisis of Christian confidence" in a pluralist society.

There is no way in which the Christian church in the West can defend the Gospel without taking on the kinds of challenges Newbigin has laid down. And there are no better resources to use in this effort than Newbigin’s own works.

But the church in the West is not the only church and I turn now to examine the syncretism and religious cults in Africa. As I do so, some striking points of similarity between the Western Church and the African Church will be discovered.

6. AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION

Any meaningful and effective approach to the theology of African traditional religion and its accompanying worldview must begin with the fundamental religious beliefs within that religion. These beliefs are found throughout Africa, even though they may be expressed differently from region to region or from people to people. My objective here is not to state in details how these beliefs find expressions in different places. It is, instead, to present certain fundamental and basic tenets that are common to all forms of African traditional religion. There are five of these tenets.

1. Belief in Impersonal (Mystical) Power(s)

At the root of Africa’s traditional religious beliefs, feelings, practices, and behavior is a belief in mystical and mysterious powers. This belief is pervasive in traditional African religious thought. Creation, nature and everything that exists is infused with this impersonal power, which has been given various names. Edwin Smith called it the mysterium tremendum and stated that this phenomenon was “played upon, defined and rationalized by myths and creeds and put to use through control and conciliation.” This power has also been referred to as mana, the life force, vital force, the life essence, and dynamism.

Medicine men and women, diviners, and seers use the impersonal power associated with natural objects, plants, and animals for medicine, magic, charms, and amulets. Some believe that the mysterious powers embedded in things or objects can be extracted for specific uses. Mysterious powers can also be transmitted through certain objects or by purely spiritual means. They can be sent to specific destinations to accomplish good or evil. They can also be contagious by contact with objects carrying or mediating such powers.

The impersonal powers can be used for both good and evil. The existence of wicked human beings and wicked spirit beings, who also have access to the mysterious powers, makes life full of uncertainties – rife with unpredictable wickedness and evil and dangerous to human beings. Thus traditional Africans who believe in the impersonal powers feel that they are at the mercy of benevolent or wicked users of these powers.

2. Belief in Spirit Beings

Mystical power is not the only mysterious force in traditional African belief. The religious world of African people is very densely populated with spirit beings, spirits, and the living-dead or the spirits of the ancestors. These are “psychic beings that are intelligent, purposive and personal as opposed to the impersonal potency at work in dynamism.” There is a very close relationship between spirit beings and the mystical or impersonal powers and forces described in the previous section. Like those powers, spirits are believed to inhabit certain trees, rocks or mountains, caves, rivers, lakes, forests, burial grounds, animals, human beings, the skies, the ground and other sites, carved or molded objects, charms, amulets – the list is endless.

Spirits are ranked hierarchically in accordance with their power and the role they play in the ontological order in the spirit world First in the hierarchy is the Creator, then the deities, object-embodied spirits, ancestors’ spirits and other miscellaneous spirits that are non-human, comprising both good and harmless spirits and evil spirits. Human beings stand between this host of spirits and the world of nature.

Spirit beings are usually categorized as either the spirits of the dead elders (the ancestors, who are close to human beings and serve as their custodians) or non-human spirit beings. They can also be classified as good or evil, depending on whether they use the powers with which they are endowed to achieve positive or negative goals, to bring blessings or curses. B. H. Kato (1975:36–41) argues that evil spirits are always associated with Satan. The spirit world or the realm of the supernatural is, in a sense, a battleground of spirits and powers that use their mystical and spiritual powers to influence the course of human life.

Spirit beings can be malicious and capricious, and so one must be wise and tactful in one’s dealings with them to avoid angering, provoking or injuring them. If human beings only knew how to master and control the realm of the supernatural, the world would be a much happier place. Consequently if one wishes to be successful, or merely to enjoy well-being, it is important to consult those human specialists with experience of and access to mystical powers. These specialists include medicine men, rainmakers, mediums, diviners, sorcerers, magicians, witches and all others who have the ability to manipulate spirit beings so that they serve humans, or vice versa.

Others sources of safety and protection in a world dominated by the spirit beings and powers include religious rites, reverence for ancestors, symbolic totems and adherence to taboos, rituals, superstitions, and customs. Some, if not all, of these are needed for guidance and protection.

3. Belief in Many Divinities

Some African scholars no longer accept the term polytheism (worship of many gods) as applied to African traditional religion and prefer the term “divinities” or “deities” to “gods.” There has been indeed much inconclusive debate on whether African divinities were worshiped as gods or whether they were only intermediaries or mediators. Some have argued that Africans do not worship either their divinities or their ancestors, but only God. In terms of this argument, sacrifices, offerings, and prayers are not directed to the divinities or the ancestors as ends in themselves, but are directed ultimately to God.

African traditional religions in some parts of Africa have an elaborate pantheon of divinities. The Yoruba of Nigeria, for example, are known to have several hundred divinities. But this is not the case in Southern Africa and some parts of West Africa. Some African ethnic groups do not seem to have any divinities, while others are known to have no special shrines or places of worship associated with divinities or a Supreme Being.

In those places in Africa that have divinities, these are many and each has its specific area of influence and control. Some were originally mythological figures in African legends and primordial histories and cosmologies, while some were tribal heroes or heroines. Divinities are usually associated with different aspects of life, society, and community; there are, for example, divinities of the sea or the waters, rain, thunder, fertility, health or sickness, planting or harvest, and tribal, clan, or family deities. African divinities take the forms of mountains, rivers, forests, the mother earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and ancestors.

The plurality of divinities with their varying powers, influence, hierarchy and territoriality, even within one ethnic group or community, clearly indicates that traditional religious thought is open to religious accommodation, tolerance, assimilation and adaptation.

The introduction of Christianity and other monotheistic religions, such as Islam, may have added what it is called henotheism to the African worldview, that is, the worship of one god without denying the existence of other gods. Traditional beliefs can accommodate the worship of the Christian God along with other gods without creating any serious theological crisis for the believer. A plurality of gods or divinities permits plurality of beliefs, practices, feelings, and behavior in one religion. This belief also gives room for accommodation, adaptation, and domestication of new gods or divinities into the old religion.

4. Belief in a Supreme Being (God)

Some of the pioneering anthropologists and missionaries denied that Africans had any awareness of God. They were wrong. It is now firmly established that Africans do have a concept of a universal God and Creator. It is, however, also generally agreed that traditional Africans do not actively worship this Supreme Being who is above the lesser divinities and the hierarchy of beings. This, of course, gives rise to additional questions why the Supreme Being is not worshiped directly, and who or what takes the role that other religions ascribe to such a Supreme Being in daily affairs.

E. B. Idowu calls the Yoruba religion “diffused monotheism.” This means that the Yoruba were originally monotheistic, but over the centuries a proliferation of divinities overshadowed the earlier monotheistic beliefs and practices. Similar ideas of diffused monotheism are scattered across the continent of Africa. However, the overwhelming burden of evidence suggests that, even though Africans generally have an awareness and belief in a Supreme Being, this Being was not worshiped exclusively. Instead, African divinities and the ancestors, who are lesser beings, have dominated the everyday religious life of traditional Africans. They are the ones who, most often, directly receive the sacrifices, offerings, and prayers offered by traditional Africans.

The attitude of traditional Africans to this Supreme Being exerts a profound theological influence. The God who is above the lesser gods seems “not to be intimately involved or concerned with man’s world. Instead, men seek out the lesser powers to meet their desires.” This leads people to turn to impersonal powers, divinities, ancestors, and spirit beings for help. God (the Supreme Being) is only occasionally mentioned, remembered, or approached.

5. Belief in a Hierarchy of Spiritual Beings and Powers

One component in the apparent disregard for the Supreme Being is the fundamental belief that all spiritual beings and powers form part of a hierarchical order. The Supreme Being enjoys the highest and greatest position. Gods (or divinities) occupy a lesser position. Next come spirit beings, whose authority, power, influence and legitimacy depend upon their position within the ontological order of being. However, it is important to note that this hierarchy is a fluid one, where the distinction between spirits may be vague and their powers diffuse.

Spirit beings dispense and control the effects of spiritual and mystical powers and forces and influence the morality and ethics of human societies. Traditional Africans respond to these spirit beings according to each spirit’s place in the spiritual hierarchy, its power and influence, territoriality, legitimacy and role.

6. Summary

The influence of the first two components of African traditional religious thought, namely the belief in impersonal powers and spirit beings, is pervasive throughout the continent. The third component is not as pervasive, for not every ethnic group in traditional Africa has well defined divinities or gods. While belief in a Supreme Being is also pervasive, it differs from the other three components in that it is a belief that does not generate any religious fervor or encourage any intimate relationship with the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being seems to be remote from traditional African everyday life. The religious activities of the traditional Africans revolve mainly around the first three entities. The ranking of spirit beings in a traditional religious worldview has important consequences for traditional concepts of morality and ethics.

Right away, we can see the similarities between some aspects of traditional African religious thought and the pluralism and relativism which have come to dominate Western culture. More such comparisons will appear as we move to consider African philosophical systems.

7. AFRICAN PHILOSOPHICAL BELIEFS

As in the previous section, so here I do not intend to provide in-depth analyses. Rather, I will suggest some of the common tenets which permeate much of African philosophy. The combination of the religious (discussed in the previous section) and the philosophical (presented in this section) creates a worldview that dominates traditional African thought.

1. Holism

Holism refers to a state of complex interdependency, in which each part of an organism has a function. Philosophically, holism is the term for the view that life is more than the sum of its parts. Steyne defines the concept in the following way:

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.

This view of the world means that there are no clear boundaries between the physical and the spiritual dimensions of life. There is no sharp distinction between secular and religious activities, between one’s work and one’s community responsibilities – they are “all knit together in a whole [so that man] feels at one with his world.” Kwame Bediako expresses it this way: “Man lives in a sacramental universe where there is no sharp dichotomy between the physical and the spiritual. The physical acts as a vehicle for spiritual power while the physical realm is held to be patterned on the model of the spiritual world beyond.

Because nature, humanity, and the spirit world constitute one fluid coherent unit, there are clearly pantheistic elements in African holism. In fact, nature is defined as

. . . this visible material world or universe, comprising both living and non-living things, visible and invisible powers, plants and animals, the inanimate and the natural phenomena, like lightning and thunder, all centered around man. The spirit world is all the same tacitly understood as inclusive in nature.

Thus, nature includes both the impersonal or mysterious powers and spirit beings. Bediako shows how this leads to pantheism:

[Man had] a sense of kinship with nature, in which animals and plants, no less than human beings, had their own spiritual existence and place in the universe, as interdependent parts of a whole . . . Any object of the natural environment may enter into a totemic spiritual relationship with human beings or become tutelary and guardian spirits whilst the environment itself is used realistically and unsentimentally but with profound respect and reverence and without exploitation.

Africans do not live in a confused world of non-integrated parts. Life is mysterious, but it is part of a whole. And that whole is governed by a law of harmony, the goal of which is to maintain a state of agreement or peacefulness. The traditional African seeks to live in harmony and to balance his life in a harmonious and peaceful existence with his entire world and especially with the spirit world.

2. Spiritualism

In the previous paragraph we stated that traditional beliefs do not distinguish between the material and the spiritual worlds. But that was actually an inadequate way of formulating the traditional African philosophy. It might be truer to say that this world in essence is spiritual rather than material and that life is saturated with supernatural possibilities. Steyne puts it this way:

The whole universe is interconnected through the will and the power contained in both animate and inanimate objects. Everything man is, does, handles, projects, and interacts with is interpenetrated with the spiritual. His sociocultural structures, down to their finest details, are under the control of the spiritual powers or forces. Nothing in man’s environment escapes the influence or the manipulation of the spirit world. The world is more spiritual than it is physical and it is spiritually upheld.

The whole of creation is replete with the dominant and pervasive presence of the impersonal powers and forces, spirit beings, many divinities, and gods. Consequently “it is of utmost importance to maintain good relations with the spirits and secure their favor.”

Whatever happens in the physical realm has a spiritual coordinate and, likewise, whatever transpires in the spiritual realm has direct bearing on the physical world. Man is related to and dependent upon the unseen. For this reason all of life is to be understood spiritually. The correct response to any situation is spiritual, whether the matter is a family affair, sickness, or ceremonial practice.

Thus in African traditional philosophy, answers to questions of meaning in life (the Why?-questions) are always dominated by the spiritual emphasis. When trouble comes in the form of disease, natural disasters, or untimely deaths, traditional Africans look beyond the obvious physical causes and consult religious specialists to find the ultimate spiritual cause.

This philosophy both draws on and supports the pantheistic polytheistic theology described in the previous section. The law of the spirit is a universal principle which governs and controls universal events and unseen powers and mysteries; it affects the destiny, the well-being, and the general life of individual human beings as well as the lives of people-groups or families, clans, communities, and tribes; it manifests itself in and through the spirits, human beings, and inanimate objects; it defines the reality of African worldview; and it is pervasive, hidden, unexplainable, unpredictable, powerful, dreadful, and awesome. This law is reflected in moral laws and religious practices that govern the interrelationship and integration of spirit beings and humans in the traditional spirit world.

3. Dynamism

Given the convictions regarding holism and spiritualism just discussed, the natural response is to look for ways to establish communication with the spirit world. And because that spirit world is impersonal, unseen and unpredictable, there is a desire for power that will bring security in a dangerous world. Steyne describes this power-consciousness in the following words:

Life’s essential quest is to secure power and use it. Not to have power or access to it produces great anxiety in the face of spirit caprice and the rigors of life. A life without power is not worth living . . . Power offers man control of his uncertain world. The search for and acquisition of power supersedes any commitment to ethics or morality. Whatever is empowering is right.

Power can be obtained in a variety of ways, some of which Steyne lists:

. . . ritual manipulation . . . in the form of sacrifices, offerings, taboos, charms, fetishes, ceremonies, even witchcraft and sorcery . . . The power may also be secured by the laying on of hands or by encountering a spirit being, either directly or through ritual means. The power may be transmitted through contact with persons of superior religious status or by using clothing or something previously associated with such a person. How it is secured is a secondary concern. It must be acquired whatever the cost.

This all-consuming need for power exerts an enormous influence on morality and ethics and on the relationship between human beings and spirit beings and forces. It also affects how traditional Africans assess the potency or efficacy of a new religion or ritual practice. This view of the world as governed by a law of power creates a need for a theology of power if we are to address the traditional theological conception of power and also how this law of power operates in traditional Africa.

4. Fatalism

The concepts of destiny and fate in the traditional worldview are closely related to the belief in spirits and mysterious powers. Destiny is the belief that the position, place, and status of individuals or groups have been predetermined by some external, supernatural force. Fate is similar to destiny in that it means that certain events are predetermined to happen. The end result of a strong belief in destiny and fate is fatalism, the doctrine that events are fixed in advance for all time in such a manner that human beings are powerless to change them.
The traditional worldview considers that one is either born with or given at birth a destiny or a guardian spirit. Thus destiny is both a gift and a decree from the Creator. Individuals, families, and groups each have their own unique destiny decreed by the Creator and are accompanied throughout life by their destiny spirits. Their destiny may be known or it can remain hidden. If one wishes to know one’s destiny, one can consulted diviners and other spiritual resources.

One’s destiny is fixed. It cannot be changed, and should be accepted with gratitude. Any attempt to change it will have devastating consequences. However, one can be hindered from fulfilling one’s destiny by others or by spiritual powers. This is where the concept of fate comes in. Spirits and mysterious powers control the world of fate, and God does not seem to be active in protecting man against evil activities by these spirits and powers. One has to find one’s own protection and security.

The apparent lack of active protection from God has great theological implications for the traditional Africans, especially in their search for spiritual powers that will offer them protection and security. What is the traditional African reaction to the fact that someone or some spirit powers can hinder them from realizing their destiny? The obvious answer is to pursue power that can be used to counteract such attacks. Where other people are thought to be thwarting achievement of one’s destiny, there can be serious social conflict between individuals or people groups.

The concept of destiny can also be manipulated by individuals or groups attempting to determine their own destiny or that of others. They usually ascribe themselves a superior destiny or status and consign others to an inferior role. Both roles are then assumed to be fixed and unchangeable. This attitude sometimes develops into castes and social classes. Even though these distinctions are man-made, they may obtain religious and social sanction. When this occurs, there is great potential for social conflict. Humans have usurped the role and function of God and the spirit powers in determining destiny or fate.

In modern Africa, certain ethnic groups claim that they are from a superior human stock and are thus destined to rule over and control others. The designation of some ethnic groups as “natural rulers” by their colonial masters or by self-proclamation has created serious political crises in post-colonial Africa. Identifying caste systems with destiny in modern Africa has also had devastating consequences, with some groups being denied political participation and representation. The status quo and the principles governing succession and leadership have been interpreted in terms of decreed destiny. Where such beliefs have been challenged, there has been tension, violence, and conflict.


5. Communalism

If everything that exists is in an organic relation to everything else that exists, as discussed in the earlier section on holism, then the same applies to how human beings interact. People are not individuals, living in a state of independence, but part of a community, living in relationships and interdependence.

In contrast to the Western approach, one does not claim personal rights and freedoms but rather fulfills one’s communal obligations and duties. B. J. Van der Walt lists some forty characteristics of African communalism that contrast with Western individualism. These characteristics can be summarized in terms of communal self-respect, interdependence, survival of the community, group assurance, cooperation and harmony, affiliation and shared duties.

This concept of community is not restricted to the community of human beings alone, but embraces a communal attitude to the world of the spirits and ancestors as well as to the world of nature

a. Communalism in relation to fellow human beings

A traditional African community consisted of clans with different histories, emblems and taboos and also their sub-clans and kindred (lineage system). Villages were occupied by fairly well localized kindred, although some might include people who did not belong to the principal group in the village. At the next level of organization was the household, which consisted of a small social group of parents and children.

The fact that African traditional societies were organized around the basic social unit of kinship or lineage is very important in understanding African concepts of community, religious beliefs, behavior, practices, morality, ethics and ethnicity. The integration of tribal groups into modern African states did not eradicate kinship but incorporated it. At the root of kinship is a belief in a shared common progenitor or ancestor. Genealogical relationships and the legend or tradition of the founding ancestor provide the philosophical basis of unity in a clan or lineage or even for a whole tribe. Stories of heroes and their great exploits add pride and prestige to the members of a lineage, clan, or tribe.

Each clan or lineage has its own name, identity, and social function in a community. Each lineage is differentiated from others by certain symbolic means (totems) and it is assigned a corporate function or social role. For example, one lineage or clan may be the custodian of religious affairs, while another is responsible for warfare and another for hunting. Each lineage comprises a number of families or households that may consist of children, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters and other immediate relatives. The most powerful principle of social organization is the concept of brotherhood, and all members have affinity, loyalty, and obligations to the blood-community.

The kinship system provides the principles of social differentiation and social organization that guide communal life. It regulates social behavior and attitudes and structures social interaction. Religious and social norms and codes of behavior govern interactions among kinsfolk and also how kinsfolk relate to outsiders and to strangers.

The fragmenting effects of this social differentiation are countered by social institutions that unite and coordinate the various sectors of kinship-based communities. These institutions include communal festivals and feasts, hunting expeditions, wars and religious rites that accompanied births, initiations, marriages, deaths, and sickness. Much eating and drinking, dancing and singing usually accompany the festivals, feasts and ceremonies, and these social activities create and strengthen social ties. Working together in such corporate contexts inculcates social responsibility and accountability. The exogamous marriage system also creates a network of kinsfolk with binding ties.

This system of relationships has been seriously disrupted by the introduction of universal religions such as Christianity, Islam, and modernity. It has also been affected by the re-alignment of tribal units in the new modern states. The changes have resulted in many social and political problems, including fears, suspicions, rivalry, tensions, and conflicts among the various ethnic and tribal groups.

b. Communalism in relation to ancestors and the spirit world

The human community is not only intimately related to its living members but also to the spirit world, the community of the ancestors who now live in the past, and to those still to be born. The life of the community of the living is controlled, maintained, and protected by the community of the ancestors. Communal life in this kinship system can be described is ancestrally chartered. Steyne observes that outside of this ancestral kinship “there lies no possibility of life” and that “personhood is meaningless” apart from these ancestral kinship and relationships.

The belief in the continuity of community life has important implications for the traditional view of marriage:

Man is only man in relationship, as he participates in family and community life . . . Marriage is more than a physical relationship. It has eternal consequences. Not to marry is to cease living now and in the hereafter. Marriage establishes essentials in life and in death. Begetting children guarantees eternal life. Not only do children provide for the reincarnation of the ancestors, they also sustain the ancestors through prescribed rituals such as sacrifices and offerings.

The communal perspective also has important implications in regard to the spirit world that permeates everyday existence. If human beings are part of a holistic community with the spirit world, it is as important to avoid offending the spirits as it is to avoid offending one’s human community. However, should one offend either community, the responsibility is not solely one’s own but is shared by the community to which one belongs, for one is the product of one’s family, clan and tribe and of the spirits. This traditional belief results in a denial of responsibility for one’s own actions that has serious consequences for morality and ethics in Africa.

c. Communalism in relation to nature

The law of holism, which was presented earlier, stresses that everything is part of an organic whole. Thus people seek to understand the mysterious forces that lie behind natural phenomena. Any natural object may carry a message that needs to be deciphered.

Totemism is one expression of this relationship to nature:

In totemism certain taboos apply to the totem animal(s) and/or plant(s). Totem objects are not to be killed, spoken of by name, eaten, or even looked at in some cases. They elicit feelings of brotherliness. They are believed to have souls of similar nature to man’s. They may be emblematic of abstract and emotional attitudes claimed by a group of people.

The belief in totemism sets apart some animals or plants for certain kinship affinity, religious or medicinal purposes. The potency, value, and efficacy of each are determined by its nature, which can be enhanced or reduced by other objects in its proximity. Animals and birds for sacrifices, objects for offerings, and ritual or ceremonial sites or groves are carefully selected on the basis of their religious value and efficacy. Nature provides a vast array of contact points with the world of the spirit.

6. Summary

Given the traditional African worldview and beliefs as defined in the previous sections, it should occasion no surprise to learn that the traditional African may act in the following ways and that these behaviors often become syncretized into various expressions of Christianity in Africa. The traditional African . . .

1. May seek to control, conciliate, acquire and use spiritual and mystical powers and forces to meet his personal, communal needs and purposes.

2. May develop types of rituals and ceremonies as means of controlling, conciliating and acquiring these spiritual and mystical powers and forces.

3. May develop mystical means of exercising control over the spirit world.

4. May develop mystical means of communicating with the spirit world.


Specific examples may be found of all of these behaviors even within otherwise orthodox African Christian churches. Just as in the West, in Africa, philosophical and cultural values have impacted and continue to impact the Christian church. Those who would care for that church must be alert to such impact in whatever forms it appears.

8. Conclusion

This paper has emphasized the fact that neopaganism and new age religions in Western society must be understood from the twin perspectives of (1) the powerful and pervasive influence of modern philosophies on the Church; and (2) the dominance of Western colonialism and ethnocentrism in much of the theologizing of the Western church. Western Christianity must repent of the influence and power which it has allowed secularism, pluralism, relativism, postmodernism, humanism, materialism and hedonism to exercise. And Western Christianity must return to the simple apostolic presentation and proclamation of the Gospel of Christ.

The African church faces a similar challenge. Syncretism and religious cults plague the church in Africa and these two phenomena cannot be fully understood and combated unless we understand thoroughly (1) the traditional African religions and their religious beliefs, practices and worldviews; and (2) such African philosophical issues as holism, spiritualism, dynamism, fatalism, and communalism. African Christianity has repentance issues of its own and it, too, is called to return to the apostolic Gospel.

Perhaps, in this work, African Christians and Western Christians can share the burden of defending the Gospel to the honor and glory of the Savior, Jesus Christ.





Notes

. B. H. Son, “Cultural Relativism and the Transformation of Culture,” in Philisophia Reformamata, Vol. 66, No.1, 2001. pp. 12.
. Yusufu Turaki, 1993a. “Christian Worldview Foundations: A Methodological Approach” in Orientation, 1993, p. 86.
. Jon Chapin, et.al., An Introduction to Christian Worldview (London: The Open Christian College, 1986), p. 131.
. Ibid., p. 134.
. Ibid., p. 136.
. Ibid., pp. 140 - 42.
. Ibid., p. 144.
. Ken Gnanakan, The Pluralistic Predicament (Bangalore, India: Theological Book Trust, 1992), p. 3.
. Ibid., p. 211.
. Dallas Willard, “Being a Christian in a Pluralistic Society,” in The Student, 1992.
. Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), p. 10.
. Newbigin, Op. Cit
. V. B. Cole, The Christian and African Traditional Religion and Culture: Some Basic Principles of Understanding and Ppproach (Unpublished manuscript, 1989), p. 3.
. J. S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (London: Heinemann, 1969), p. 75
. Cole, Op. Cit., p. 3.
. E. D. Oji, Ikpu Alu (Atonement) in Igbo Traditional Religion (Jos ECWA Theological Seminary: B. A. Thesis, 1988), p. 17.
. B. H. Kato, Theological Pitfalls in Africa (Nairobi: Evangel Press, 1975), pp. 36 - 41
. E. B. Idowu, 1962. Olódùmarè: God in Yoruba Belief (London: Longman Press, 1962). See also J. S. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion (London: Heinemann, 1975).
. Idowu, Op. Cit.

. Philip M. Steyne, 1990. Gods of Power: A Study of the Beliefs and Practices of Animists (Houston: Touch, 1989), p. 35.
. Emefie Ikenga-Metuh, 1987. Comparative Studies of African Traditional Religions. Onitsha, Nigeria: IMICO, 1987), pp. 243 - 59.
. Steyne, Op. Cit., p. 58.
. Ibid., p. 59.
. Kwame Bediako, Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non–Western Religion (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995), p. 95.
. Oji, Op. Cit., p. 15.
. Bediako, Op. Cit., p. 85.
. Steyne, Op. Cit., p. 37.
. Ibid.
. Ibid., p. 59.
. Ibid., p. 60.
. Ibid.
. B. J. Van Der Walt, ed. 1991. Cultural Diversity in Africa: Embarrassment or Opportunity (IRS: Potchefstroom, South Africa, 1997), pp. 29 - 44.

. Steyne, Op. Cit., pp. 64 - 65
. Ibid., p. 66.
. Ibid., p. 70.