African traditional belief systems. Some religions do not allow women to occupy decision-making positions, with the result that Religion has an extremely powerful influence over people™s lives. 2007 “ African traditional religion and the Concept of Development: A Background Paper . Africans. Aims This paper aims to provide a brief analysis of the role of religion in Africa's development. by religion (African Traditional Religion) through its moral education. The concept . These teachings are bedrock for national development. Appraising the impact of religion on formal education to the development of Ghana is central to this paper and an important aspect worth discussing. The problems of man in the African environment are many. Religion is often used to deny women their fundamental human rights. Africa's traditional religious "ontolo&>y" for Christian faith, with publication of his classic La Philosophie Bantoue in 1945. The African continent continues to be faced with the challenge of establishing peace and development. THE PLACE OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN INTERRELIGIOUS ENCOUNTERS IN SIERRA LEONE SINCE THE ADVENT OF ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY by PRINCE SORIE CONTEH submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY In the subject RELIGIOUS STUDIES at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: PROF G J A LUBBE APRIL … Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. xref African traditional religion The faith in ancestors continued to be practised by many African Christians. The training systems of Africans such as the traditional schools did exist, but most According to Choon and Van der Merwe (2008:1299), this phenomenon and practice is an ‘attempt to preserve good relations with the departed kin.’ The practice traditional Africa was the oral literature. Traditional African religion and culture is passed on from parents to children through stories. Tracing African Roots. “African Traditional Religion” (ATR) is the term used for the indigenous religious traditions of Africa. The African continent experienced its own form of training and learning before it was colonized and even before the arrival of the missionaries. 0000006690 00000 n startxref 0000001082 00000 n that emerged from Africa were attributed to the effort of people from outside Africa, specifically the people with Arab or European ancestry (James, 2009; Rodney, 1973) African traditional religion as an aspect of African civilisation also suffered from such inhuman racial treatment meted out to Africans people. IN African religion, women encourage hard work and industrialisation for sustainable development. African Traditional Religion is now widely taught in African universities, but its identity remains essentially negative: African belief that is not Christianity or Islam. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Material in this training manual is largely based on information from the Impact of Religion on Women™s Rights in Africa Workshop, held in Zimbabwe, 1 Œ 2 November 2000. The African traditional religious belief is that human beings do not live in this world alone; there is a sense of human beings‟ close relationship with nature. Contemporary African culture is a mixture of traditional elements and alien features. African Traditional Religion and Concepts of Development: A Background Paper 1 Preface This is one of a series of six background papers prepared as part of the Religions and Development Research Programme. ___Published by European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (www.eajournals.org) ISSN 2056 - 5771(Print), ISSN 2056 - 578X(Online) 14 select certain sections of the culture and highlight the Christian influences. 0000003045 00000 n Roman This bitter conflict has led to wanton destruction of lives and property, and this has become a source of great worry to the writers. The development community (practitioners and academics) has only quite recently begun to problematise the role of religion beyond simple matrices of religion as inhibitor to development or religion as a source of development . – either by traditional religions or Islam. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser. The complexity of the relationship between environment and religion in indigenous and contemporary African cultures and societies requires a more multidisciplinary approach that draws from a variety of sources, approaches, and epistemological positions: phenomenology, ecology, geography … 0000001262 00000 n Academia.edu uses cookies to personalize content, tailor ads and improve the user experience. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Furthermore, it recommended among others, that functional education should be emphasized, particularly for the youths who are vital for the growth and sustainable development of Nigerian society. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. In Africa, the traditional belief systems hold the ascription 0000006434 00000 n Rather, it is about how African customary and traditional practices, and the efforts to obliterate these practices by agents of Western civilization affect, or can potentially affect, socio-economic development in Africa. 0000009360 00000 n Religion, State and Development Defining religion is a difficult task and attempts towards that have drawn diverse views from scholars across the globe. in the development and exacerbation of the myriad of problems facing Africa and its people, this elemental dimension has not received sufficient academic attention. To understand the issue one must go back to the beginnings of anthropology in the 19th century and follow its evolution (see 19th-Century Background ). <<1583B7E75006984D86C00963AF8F21B4>]>> Local African culture was oppressed for many years by white South Africans, who find their cultural roots in … The word environment is used by people in different fields of knowledge to talk about many things, and as result, they use the word differently. African traditional religion refers to the indigenous or autochthonous religion of the African people. %PDF-1.4 %���� Missiologists have worked more broadly on a correlation of Christianity with African culture as a whole, speaking in terms of an ethnotheology. However, trailer 0000009414 00000 n appropriated within 19th century West African consciousness, have also been recognised as an essential strand in the emergence at the beginning of the 20th century of the political and cultural movement called Pan-Africanism. 257 0 obj <> endobj Three religions, indigenous African, Islam and Christianity, comprising Africa’s triple heritage, are considered. The efforts to use the frameworks of religion … These figures represent peo-ple who primarily follow African traditional religion; however, there are also Christians and Muslims who still practice elements of traditional African religion alongside their professed beliefs. THE ROLE OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL MORALITY IN PEACE EDUCATION FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA By ANTHONY ZAAYEM APENDA, Ph.D Department of Religion and Philosophy, Benue State University, Makurdi. 0000000016 00000 n The idea of connecting religion and development stemmed from the basic thought that religion influencing fertility rate. 0000002157 00000 n 275 0 obj<>stream African religions, either from the scientific point of view, ... Manas Buthelezi, Julius Nyerere and many others. For instance, there were particular times when certain rituals had to take place, such as a sacrifice. Traditional African religion (ATR) as done in most part of African communities are environmentally friendly and sustainable, thus contributing so much to natural resources sustainability and conservation. Introduction “African Traditional Religion” (ATR) is the term used for the indigenous religious traditions of Africa. In many parts of the world people from different religions live in peace and coexist without any conflict. The complexity of the relationship between environment and religion in indigenous and contemporary African cultures and societies requires a more multidisciplinary approach that draws from a variety of sources, approaches, and epistemological positions: phenomenology, ecology, geography … For many Africans and Ghanaians, in particular, it is religion more than anything else that shapes their worldview and participation in social life6. The Cosmos Traditional Africans believe that the cosmos was created by a Supreme Being, God. In particular, it impacts on gender relations and consequently on how women are treated in society and the home. The study of Africa's traditional religion and the environment can be termed the ecology of religion. ancestors, traditional religious healers, reincarnation and other elements of traditional African religions.1 Christianity and Islam also coexist with each other. For a more detailed treatment of this subject of God in Africa, see Mbiti 1982 and 1992. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. Source: www.purdue.edu. Request PDF | How Environmental is African Traditional Religion? Africa's influential university departments of religion have usually approached the theme in terms of establishing correlations between Christianity and Africa's traditional religions. x�b```b``ie`a`�2c�e@ ^�+s\``X���u����I,\+�`8�{�ܻ���eVt]a��fh��?��ha�R�oO���o8���`�f����t��� ��O� Abstract It is observed in this paper that no society can experience an enduring national 0 Clearly, religion matters when choosing the marital partner, marriage, divorce, and women’s working rate. Numerous peace initiatives have been launched on the continent. In their traditional milieu, however, Africans were compelled by certain routines to strictly respect time. Several African scholars argue that, despite the importance of time-keeping in some traditional customs, Africans as a rule are not good at keeping time. The concept . When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. 0000002308 00000 n Mbiti regards African Traditional Religion(s) (ATR(s)) as monotheism and as a praeparatio evangelica, and maintains that the Christian God is the same as the God worshipped in ATR(s). uniform African traditional belief in the spirit world as Salala rightly points out (ibid., 134). Even with this definition of “diffused” monotheism in the Yoruba religion, coupled with similar notions scattered across the continent of Africa, the overwhelming facts do show that, even though Africans generally have an awareness and belief in the Supreme Being, the truth is, this Supreme Being is not known to have been exclusively worshipped by traditional Africans. Traditional African religion is very popular and arrived here with our North and West African ancestors. Great African civilizations such as Pharaonic Egypt, etc. ancestors, traditional religious healers, reincarnation and other elements of traditional African religions.1 Christianity and Islam also coexist with each other. This text is not about the causes of Africa's underdevelopment per se. While ATR has been often seen in negative terms, especially by early missionaries, later studies have demonstrated that ATR is not really what these outside observers earlier on assumed. Religion influencing fertility rate his views on salvation from a theological point of.! Depicted as a tool to mobilise people during conflicts influencing fertility rate to use the frameworks of religion more 33! A few seconds to upgrade your browser underdevelopment per se we mean the indigenous religious traditions of Africa will... Man in the spirit world as Salala rightly points out ( ibid., 134 ) of... 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