THE QUESTION OF GOD IN AFRICAN CULTURE

1.0 THE QUESTION OF GOD IN AFRICA

The God question in Africa is ineluctable for the African at the face of agitating problems of the origin and the purpose of the universe in which he/she lives, the meaningfulness of his life and the threat of death to it. The question of existence and nature of operation of the Supreme Being (God) has perturbed man down the history; the primitive and the civilized alike.

Man however primitive he may be realizes his insufficiency from which he is compelled to inaugurate a project in search for fulfillment outside himself; either in another creature or in the Supreme Being. Other creatures are limited meaning that they cannot meet all the needs or the full realization of man. The exteriorization of the desire for perfection and security plunge him into the inevitable belief in gods or God. It is worth mentioning that the teleology of this project is not towards futility.

Most Africans have the concept of an Immanent and Transcendent God whose presence is felt in their midst: though invisible. Others have a notion of a hidden God who lives far away from men operating through gods and spirits by the principle of subsidiarity. Such a God, for them, acts in person only under extreme necessity. The Mende of Sierra Leone believes that God retired into the heavens after creation due to the nuisance of man and has little to do with the world now.[1] The gods act in proxy to represent such a god to whom the people look upon as more close, friendly and concerned.

The existence of God is neither self-evident nor obvious for most Africans. The knowledge about his being is immediate either by reflection about the universe or passed down through myths. Children come to know about God from their parents and elders from their earlier days as they learn speaking. The author of this paper is conscious that the God question in Africa has been influenced by external factors, for instance, other world Religions and Philosophies from ancient times.

Ancient trade centers in North Africa have brought together peoples of different convictions, which have doubtless created an impact to the African on his view about God. The question of migration of the African has influenced the worldview since he has battled against various geographical conditions in that process. This may have affected, modified or perhaps made him forget some of his believes selectively. A transformation from migrating in to settled lifestyle could also bring about a shift in the notion of God.

Some of the oldest concepts of God or gods can be traced from the earliest Centers of Civilization in Africa that include Egypt, Sudan and Abyssinia. They were either as a result of parallel inventions and discoveries or cultural diffusion from one community to the other in the course of interaction and cultural interchange.

The Africans in history have encountered the Hebrews: the founders of the Jewish Religion, and this has left an indelible mark in the African culture. Christianity is thought to have arrived in Africa around the year 42 AD. Traditions hold that St. Mathew is believed to have evangelized Abyssinia while Mark is believed to have evangelized Alexandria. However, reliable evidence fixes it at around 180 AD.[2]

During the infancy of the Islamic Religion, some adherents escaped as refugees to a Christian Kingdom in Abyssinia under King Negus in the year 613 AD.[3] These are examples meant to express how difficult it is to talk of a purely African concept of God.

Despite all this, there is the original idea of God (Substratum) upon which all these foreign ideologies inhere. There is only ONE GOD and the task ahead of me is to view Him through an African eye bringing out the factors that contributed to this perspective of approaching God and his descent to meet man.

 

1.1   THE AFRICAN IDEA OF GOD.

The idea of God is indigenous to the Africans and He is a real person to them. Their experience about him was conditioned by geographical factors, social set-ups, cosmic forces, catastrophes, epidemics and daily occurrences: among other things. In each African community, there is a specific local name for God that implies His Transcendence though there was the possibility of other subordinate names besides this one.

This God is believed to be the creator of the universe, has absolute control over all creatures and he is unreachable since his abode is thought to be beyond the skies. His Transcendence and Immanence however could paradoxically reconciled with his ever presence, ever active and ever acting character in the universe.[4] The Agikuyu of Central Kenya believed in Ngai (God) who was the creator and giver of all things, he who has no father or mother, and has no origin of any kind. He is Transcendent; living in the “skies” though he has temporary homes on earth situated on the Four Cross- designed Mountains within the Gikuyu Land.[5]

According to the Africans, God was unique and incomparable to the gods, spirits or ancestors. These were depicted as dependent on him. Their difference was explicit in times of sacrifices and worship to which the Supreme Being received greater share and more reverence than these subordinate deities. The nature of uniqueness and incomprehensibility of God was evident since there is seldom a representation of him in images or carvings in spite of their expertise in art and craft that have earned them the plaudits of foreigners.

God was thought to live in a place contiguous to the furthest an African’s Mind could extend or ascend, though this neither implied his non-existence nor his withdrawnness. Though most of the Africans were polytheistic, they conceived of a Being who was at the apex of the Spiritual realities surrounded them. They were thought to assist him in the administration of the universe: Him being the Commander. God was not to be pestered with, they thought, which forced them to seek for the mediatory function of their ancestors, spirits and other deities to avoid offending Him unnecessarily.

God was seen as an absolute and perfect King in communities whose political set-ups were in form of Chiefdoms, Monarchies or Kingdoms. To arrive at God’s reality, they ascended from tangible and physical realities (Kings, Chiefs or Monarchs) to the intangible and Spiritual reality: God. He was understood as the Being who epitomized a hierarchy of administration. This for instance, influenced the people of West Africa to formulate a proverb that states: There is no King as God.[6]

He was believed to control the universe; its cosmic forces, epidemics and catastrophes. This made the Africans to appease him to secure harmony in the universe. They looked upon him with awe thereby attributing to him works that superseded human capacities. The Agikuyu for instance have a proverb denoting this; that goes: Mwaki wa Ngai uraragio ni igoto.[7] This proverb can literary be translated as … God’s fire keeps aglow throughout the night with a dry banana bark. He was a Benevolent Deity to the Africans who readily accepted them when they sought reconciliation with him: following their disobedience.

 

1.2   GOD-MAN RAPPORT IN AFRICA.

The Africans construed God as the Supreme, Transcendent and Creative Being.[8] it was believed that he had laid down the ethical foundation governing mankind from which he punished or rewarded them as the case maybe. Traditions and norms had stipulated how this relationship had to be effected. In so far as the Africans approached God, they found it very difficult to separate corporeality from him.

Most of the communities employed functionalism in their relationship with God. He was there for them only in times of need to assist them acquire earthly goods e.g. wealth, fecundity, health, power, rain; but never attempted to transcend these temporal gains. They also sought physical harmony with God who revealed himself through the nature and cosmic forces. They did not hold to God for the purpose of salvation and spiritual eternity as understood in the Christian light since it was never conjured of.

The relationship between God and man was experienced in the creative work of God. From the nature, man conceptualized God and gave attributes to him. They used things from the created world like animals to offer sacrifices and in worship. For many Africans, God was only concerned with the community worship having least to do with individual’s worship. The Agikuyu held that “Gutiri itega ria mundu umwe”[9] which means that there is no one man’s religion or sacrifice. In so doing, they maintained an exclusive God-community relationship. Others feel that God related with man through the mediation of either ancestors/spirits or the set-apart elderly members of the family.

There were special cases where God would meet the African man through divination. The young children in many communities were taught of their dependence on God and exhorted to behave in manners that will please the living, the living dead, the spirits and above all God.[10] The surroundings facilitated or hindered God-man relationship. This could possibly explain why Africans living in different parts of the continent have different notions and varying relationship with God.

Other factors that could enhance this relationship included; the political constitution of the people, personality and temperament differences, peoples’ personal experiences, the health condition of the subject, the age of the person or the group and the talents imbued in the person for instance the rainmakers or the fortune tellers. The social set-ups of the communities also influenced this relationship with some comparing it to the father-son or mother-son/daughter. Many communities were generally patriarchal though there were instances where they were matriarchal like the case of the Fon of Togo (West Africa) who believed in the “Great Mother” thought to be responsible for human and animal fertility.

Quite often, the Africans felt contented with the worship of deities, ancestors and mystical forces. They reserved God only for grave needs and were to be approached as the last resort when all other helpers failed. Even then, He was commonly approached through intermediaries since he was thought to be so far from them.[11]

 

2.0 CRISIS IN THE GOD-HYPOTHESIS IN AFRICA

It is untrue to affirm that the Africans were in harmony with God in and out of season. Upheavals in the God-man relationship prompted the African to re-evaluate his outlook of the supreme and to start all over again. However beautiful the ideas about God were; some factors within the African societies were an explicit testimony to the fact that not all people abided with the morals ascribed to the Supreme Being.

Some societies tacitly tended towards pantheism due to occasional identification of God with nature.[12] There are those who had the God-question enshrined in error, magic, totemism, animism and the deification of the ancestors.[13] The belief in the efficacy of amulets, the power of the evil eye, omens, idolatry and the cult of the spirits defamed God.[14] Some monarchies were deified, for instance the Lozi, almost competing for supremacy with God.[15]

The inseparable presence of malevolent spirits and persons who brought about confusion, pessimism, dissatisfaction and mistrust challenged the African concept of the Deity. Secret cults tending towards evil, present in some communities should not be overlooked.[16] At the crepuscular of participation in these practices stood desperation, fear and self-rejection that were tantamount to tacit atheism.

The Africans never marginalized the question of the origin of God, universe and man. The explanation for this was expressed through their mythologies that contain their theology and cosmogony. Some myths had inflated anthropomorphism that often led to misconception of the nature of God. The concept of God being Androgynae was found in some South African communities[17], which added flavor to the problem of the gender of God.

God in Africa was approached in proxy and seldom directly. He was, for many communities, the last options before resigning to fate. This was evident among the Ga people of Ghana who talked of a forgotten God: whose name remains unknown.[18] The reality of witches, outcasts and sorcerers in various societies point out to the fact that there was deviation from the notoriety of upright religious practices. This reveals to a scholar pursuing the hypothesis of the question of God in Africa that they were not all of one heart and mind thereby acting for different ends: for good and others for evil.

The elders were the custodians of the community’s customs and norms contained in mythologies, proverbs and others that were passed down by word of mouth.[19] With time, there is the possibility that some ideas could be lost on transits from one generation to the next leading to a change in the beliefs and practices. Famine, deaths and raids among other catastrophes were frustrating moments upon which death was sought by some people while also opening a new vent to the challenge of the God-hypothesis. Desperation could make people grow indifferent to the deity, escape from reality through night gymnastics at graveyards or even tend to mysticism.[20]

Africa in the past and more than ever in the recent times has been devastated and ravaged by acts of inhumanity that has put to a trial the metaphysical foundation of their religious beliefs and social interaction. How could we explain the existence of intertribal raids, land clashes, ravenous and rapacious appetite for power that leave most subjects dead if all Africans had the same notion of God and if they regarded each other as the sons and daughters of the same father? Where was God for the Tanganyikans when they amassed all their trust in the mystified water to repel the Germans in the famous Maji Maji uprising? The crisis is epitomized with the slave trade where Africans cooperated with the foreigners betraying their fellow brothers. Such events seduce one to think that some Africans had dismissed God from their lifestyles.

 

2.1.0 AN AFRICAN DEMONSTRATION OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD: THE AGIKUYU OPTION

The Agikuyu[21] are a people of the Central Kenya whose mythical ancestral land is at the slopes of Mount Kenya. Children in the traditional setups grew informed in the knowledge of Ngai (God). They were taught from the very early days that the community was not self-sufficient but relied on the providential support of Mugai (Divider) who allocated their “Nation” to their ancestors: Gikuyu and Mumbi. This knowledge was transmitted through stories, proverbs and other wise sayings.

The author of this text is a child of this culture who is well versed in his language, has exploited the wisdom of the sage in the community and has lived in the ancestral cradle land despite the changes that have taken place down the history. He intends to use his integrated knowledge to demonstrate the existence of God among his people in the Traditional setup. His grasp of their daily parlance and experienced interpretation of the cosmos are of paramount importance to the development of the consequent theories.

2.1.1 Demonstration from their semantics.

The language of the Agikuyu (Gikuyu) is spiced with an amalgamation of reflected upon ideas sought from a wide range of their lifestyle. The metaphysical foundation of their various setups whether social, religious, political or economical were hinged upon the belief in a Supreme Being. This fact was evident in their semantics. Some stories, proverbs or wise sayings based on evident realities point out to the reality of God who is real in African circles: though neither self-evident nor obvious. Some proverbs that are an explicit expression of various first principles are used to demonstrate the existence of God.

Yaikio iikagia iria ingi … (The goat that is pushed forward pushes forward the other).[22] This proverb has the overtones of motion and tends to the principle of causality. The Agikuyu had observed things that came into being while others disappeared. The above proverb was formulated by shepherds after observing the behavior of goats and sheep pushing one another as they progressed to “iriuko” (Watering Points) to be watered. They could trace the motion back to its origin. From such daily observation of repetitious recurrence of things in motion, they could incline to the Principal Cause of motion who propelled other things into motion without himself being affected by the process who we call God.

Ndikayaga itari nume … (It never screams unless it is bitten). Beneath this proverb lies the principle of Sufficient Reason. Things of their experience had the ground of existence outside themselves. Nothing was self-caused. The existence of things which are not self-caused indicated the existence of an independent cause who they referred to as God. For instance, they could observe a potter producing a pot without whom it could ever come into being. With such a notion, they called this autonomous creator: “Mumbi” (potter) which was an ascent from the potters of their experience to this wonderful potter of the universe.

2.1.2 Demonstration from the ordered universe

No keen observer of the beauty and order that reigned in the environment within the Agikuyu territory would remain silent. They stood in awe before the marvelous four cross-shaped mountains that demarcated their territory. These mountains were; Mt. Kenya, Longonot, Kilimambogo and the Aberdares (Kia Nyandarua). They could also admire the artistic nest weaving by birds, the unequalled talent of cell making in the honeycombs by the bees and other sort of beauties and order in the universe to which, they attribute a perfect designer worth the name God. Just as this temporal order was put into place by transitory beings, they attributed to a permanent being the apparent atemporal world that was seen to endure from one generation to another.

2.1.3 Demonstration from the administration from the African families

The Agikuyu elders meditated upon their temporal impact as administrators within their polygamous families. It was evident how they were able to maintain peace and solidarity in the family as long as they lived but often crumbled soon after their departure to the land of their forefathers. This made them question how the universe remained intact in spite of the prevalent cosmic forces. They attributed the harmony prevailing in the universe to a perennial administrator who holds things in place who is for our case God!

 

3.0 CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The phenomenon of the multiplicity of gods amongst the Africans is a reality. However, this does not compromise their belief in a Supreme Being who was the reason of their existence and determined the purposefulness of their life. The implicit knowledge of such a Supreme Being (God) could be compared to that which the Romans had in the pre-Christian times (Acts 17:23). Such a God was the life giver and could terminate it or call them back home without consultation with men.

The Africans did not have the understanding of sin, repentance and salvation as contained in major world religions they later came to encounter. They are accommodating to new religious ideologies yet conservative in what they practiced and lived. Their beliefs about God are written in their hearts and expressed in the totality of their way of life. They reserved sacred things and places for God just like their counterparts practicing other faiths.

They like the Jews who saw Mt. Zion as the abode of YHWH believed that God lived on top of high mountains that surrounded them. Their notion about God is dynamic and grows as events unfold. They exploited the nature and reasoned about the happenings getting the best out of this to know God and relate well with Him.

 

 

CONCLUSION

The author of this text comes to the conclusion that the African is no different from other human beings when it comes to the question of doubt, confusion and total rejection of the God-hypothesis. The expose+ of some activities undertaken by the people of Africa as found in this paper reveal some traces of practical atheism. It was difficult for such people to profess theoretical atheism since they dreaded having to be excommunicated from their societies: which was a very grievous social stigma.

The fact of religious functions being communal in very many African communities left the possibility of free-riders when it came to God-Man relationship. The elders normally approached God on behalf of their families leaving very little room for women and children to have a personal encounter with God. A Non-biased researcher on God-Man-Drama in Africa will appreciate how the Africans integrated their beliefs in God within their institutions and social setups.

 It is beautiful to contemplate how God came down to meet the Africans as they ascended to meet him through the media of the universe and the creatures within it. At the fullness of time, God became Man and not only for the Jews but for all mankind: the African inclusive!

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adegbola, E. A. Ade. Ed., Traditional Religion in West Africa, Uzima Press Ltd., Nairobi, 1983.

Ayisi, Eric O.,        An Introduction to the Study of African Culture, East African Publishers, Nairobi, 1992.

Bahemuka, Judith M., Our Religious Heritage, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., Nairobi, 1983.

Barra, G., 1000 Kikuyu Proverbs, K.L.B., Nairobi, 1971.

Barret, David B., Ed., African Initiatives in Religion, East African Publishing House, Nairobi, 1971.

Bruquet, A. C., Comparative Religions, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1958.

Idowu, Bolaji E., African Traditional Religion, SCM, Press Ltd., New York, 1973.

Jahn, Jenheinz, Muntu: An Outline of Neo- African Culture, Faber and Faber Ltd., London, 1961.

Kateregga, Bandru D., Islam and Christianity in Dialogue, Uzima Press Ltd., Nairobi, 1997.

Kenyatta, Jomo, Facing Mount Kenya, Heinemann, Nairobi, 1938.

Metuh, Emefie I., God and Man in African Religion, Geoffrey Chapman, London, 1981.

Mugambi, Jesse, African Religious Heritage, Oxford University Press, Nairobi, 1976.

Neill, Thomas P., History of the Catholic Church, Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 1957.

Nyamiti, Charles, African Tradition and the Christian God, Gaba Publications, Eldoret, 1977.

Parrinder, Geoffrey, African Mythology, Paul Hamlyn, London, 1967.

______________   African Traditional Religions, S.P.C.K., London, 1962.

Ranger, T. O., Historical Study of the African Religion, Heinemann, Nairobi, 1973.

Shorter, Aylward, Prayer in the Religious Traditions of Africa, Oxford University Press, Nairobi, 1975.

 

 

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[1]  Cf. Geoffrey Parrinder, African Mythology, (London: Paul Hamlyn, 1967), P.34.

[2]  Cf. Thomas P. Neill., History of the Catholic Church, (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company, 1957), P. 29.

[3]  Cf. Bandru D. Kateregga., Islam and Christianity: A Muslim and a Christian Dialogue, (Nairobi: Uzima Press, 1997), P. 42.

[4]  Cf. E. Bolaji Idowu., African Tradition Religion, (NY: Orbis Books Mary Knoll, 1973), P. 137.

[5]  Cf. Jomo Kenyatta., Facing Mount Kenya, (Nairobi: Heinemann, 1938) Pp. 233-236.

[6]  Cf. Geoffrey Parrinder., African Mythology, P. 31.

[7]  Cf. G. Barra., 1000 Kikuyu Proverbs, (Nairobi: K.L.B., 1998), p.118.

[8]  Cf. Charles Nyamiti, African Tradition and The Christian God, (Eldoret: Gaba Publications, 1977), P.1.

[9]  Cf. Kenyatta., Facing Mount Kenya, P. 236.

[10]  Cf. Jesee Mugambi, The African Religious Heritage, (Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1976), P.114.

[11]  Cf. O. Eric Ayisi., An introduction to the study of African Culture, (Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1992), P.80.

[12]  Cf. Parrinder., African Mythology, P. 74.

[13]  Cf. Nyamiti., African Tradition and The Christian God, P. 5.

[14]  Cf. Ibid., P. 9.

[15]  Cf. O. T. Ranger, Historical Study of the African Religion, (London: Heinemann, 1972), P. 8.

[16]  Cf. Jenhernz Jahn., Muntu: An outline of Neo-African Culture, (London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1961), P.30.

[17]  Cf. Nyamiti., African Tradition and The Christian God, P. 2.

[18]  Cf. Aylward Shorter, Prayer in the Religious Traditions of Africa, (Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1975), P.57.

[19]  Cf. David B. Barret. Ed.,  African initiatives in Religion, (Nairobi:  E.A. Publishing House, 1971), P. 6.

[20]  Cf. E. A. Ade. Adegbola., Traditional Religions in West Africa, (Nairobi: Uzima Press, 1983), P. 99.

[21]  The usual European way of spelling the word Gikuyu is Kikuyu which is incorrect. It should be Gikuyu or in the strict phonetic spelling Gekoyo … A Gikuyu person is Mu-Gikuyu whose plural is A-Gikuyu. (Cf. Kenyatta., Facing Mount Kenya, Preface, xv).

[22]  Cf. Barra., 1000 Kikuyu Proverbs, P. 123.