African Traditional Religion In The Light Of The Bible

Seeking to evaluate African traditional religions from a biblical perspective, this book is a must have for lay persons, pastors, and Bible students alike. With great knowledge of both African traditional religions and the Bible, Dr Gehman explores the issues of the supreme being, divinities, ancestral spirits, witchcraft, and sorcery in the light of God's Word. This abridged version of African Traditional Religion in Biblical Perspective is for anyone struggling with knowing the truth and error of African traditional religions.

This book provides a new, constructive and critical approach to African traditional religion, from the standpoint of Christian faith.

For more than a generation Yusufu Turaki has been one of Africa's most distinguished and productive evangelical theologians. Here in two substantial volumes we have the fruit of his mature reflection on a principal crux of the African theological project, namely the appropriate way for African Christianity to understand and address Africa's traditional religious heritage. Since one cannot understand Africa without understanding Africa's traditional heritage, and since the religious dimension Africa's traditional culture affects all aspects of modern African life, Christian presence and witness in Africa cannot flourish within its context without a serious theological and practical engagement with these realities. This is not Turaki's first endeavour in this field of inquiry. He has been engaging these issues throughout his academic and ministry careers. And in doing so he has also been interacting with the considerable range of thinkers and literature in this field. Furthermore, within what otherwise has often been an ill-defined and poorly disciplined discussion, Turaki proposes a particular and fruitful way forward. In these two large volumes Turaki is both commending and demonstrating a biblically-grounded, theologically-responsible methodology for a Christian understanding of African Traditional Religion. He seeks to show how Christianity can best address African Traditional Religion with informed realism, with scholarly depth and integrity, and with biblical faithfulness. Having taken his first degree in Nigeria, Turaki then earned masters and doctoral degrees at leading academic institutions overseas. Thereafter he was long involved in the leadership of one of Africa's principal theological institutions, Jos ECWA Theological Seminary (JETS), and in the leadership of one of Africa's principal evangelical denominations, the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA). In more recent years Turaki has also been engaged in international ministries and venues, including work with the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA), the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), and the Lausanne movement (LCWE), as well as in extensive writing and teaching ministries In the first volume of this major contribution Turaki provides an in-depth study of the African traditional religious worldview. He is convinced that a thorough familiarity with the religious mindset of traditional Africa is essential for any effective Christian presence and witness in modern Africa. He first surveys both western and African scholarly approaches to traditional religion. Then he undertakes a detailed introduction to the foundational theological, psychological, philosophical, ethical, and moral beliefs of African Traditional Religion, together with the relevant rituals, sacrifices, ceremonies, and festivals. He also emphasises how those beliefs pervasively influence religious attitudes, practice and social behaviour throughout Africa today. In the second volume Turaki then turns to outline a Christian and biblical approach to the realities of African Traditional Religion in modern Africa. He discusses each major component of an African traditional worldview from this standpoint. In doing so Turaki emphasises that the principal task of Christian reflection in Africa is not to understand Christianity from the perspective of African traditional culture and religion, but to understand African traditional culture and religion from the perspective of a Christian and biblical worldview.

Our problem on the African continent at the moment is the following: Western people in general and Christian missionaries in particular, were mostly uncritical about their own (European) culture and over-critical about African culture. In reaction, African Christians in general and theologians in particular are today, on the one hand, very critical about the Western type of Christianity which has been transplanted to the continent, but, on the other hand, not critical enough about their own African culture and traditional religion. Many African theologians, for instance, claim that before the Gospel came to our continent, Africans already correctly worshiped the true God. They say that the Gospel was not the beginning of the true knowledge of God, but merely a continuation or fulfillment of true faith that already existed in the pre-Christian African's heart. Some even go so far as to suggest that the African's method of approaching God is as valid as the way of salvation through the Gospel. Such ideas are emphatically denied in this book. The whole book is more than an attempt to present African indigenous beliefs in a systematic manner, comparing it with Biblical teaching. It is not only against Western secularism, but also strongly opposed to the very strong syncretistic tendency in African church life and in African theology. It convincingly argues that the idea of adaptation should be replaced by the idea of transformation in the light of God's Word. We cannot have a peaceful accommodation but only a powerful confrontation between traditional African religion and real Biblical Christian faith. This clash of irreconcilable spiritual powers becomes clear on every page - a struggle between life and death, a struggle for control of the hearts and minds of the African people. The writer pleads with his fellow African to make a definite choice (either the Gospel or traditional beliefs) and not to opt for a

In this reprinted edition of Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs, the contents of traditional African religions and their relevance to Christian ideas are explored. Through presenting the principal papers of a consultation of African theologians, Dickson and Ellingworth offer an extensive exploration of how these traditional religions and their ideas can enrich and enlighten Christianity in Africa. Rejecting a Eurocentric vision of Christianity in Africa, Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs explores ideas such as the knowledge of God, the notion of power, time, and man, as well as examining the ethical content of African traditional religion and when it can be reconciled to Christian ethics. This group of esteemed African theologians offers a framework for a synthesis between the Christian gospel and African theology, which is illuminating for historians and Christian theologians alike.