African religion and christianity Essay

Although Africa was not a plain or bear continent, Africans had their route of life, structure of government, piety, economic activities, education,systems of marriage and development plans for their societies, nevertheless the British brought their systems which conflicted with Africans effected way of life, this was because the British, as umteen other European springs were economically dispirited and Africa appeared to be the only way out.The British wanted to pass the triplet Cs Commerce, that is to make m wholenessy by means of acquisition of justify labour form Africans, raw materials for their industries as industrial revolution adventure in Britain was rapidly taking place, market for their surplus production Christianity to give birth Africans as alluded in the Gospel of Saint Mark 16 versus 5 Go ye to the entire world, baptizing all men in the name of saviour.Explorers such as David Livingst 1 and only(a), Vasco Da Gama, Portuguese Diego Cam and Arabs with Mus lim faith had missionary zeal. The prevail C is for Civilization, they wanted to civilize Africans in terms of education, culture and realityy other perspectives I will bring out later in this essay.RELIGIONBlacks Law Definition of godliness This is mans relation to Divinity, reverence, revere, obedience, and submission to mandates and precepts of supernatural or superordinate beings. In a broad sense, it includes all forms of belief in the initiation of superior beings exerci viceg power over human beings by volition, imposing rules of expect with future rewards and punishments.AFRICAN RELIGIONAwolalu defines African morality as mostly written in the peoples myth and folktales, in their songs and dances, in their liturgies and shrines and in their proverbs and pithy sayings. It is a religion whose historical founder is neither known nor worshipped it is a religion that has no zeal for the social station drive, yet it offers persistent fascination for Africans, young and old. The African traditional religion was not same as the communities had different ethnic screenground thereof the ghostly practices such rituals varied ace community to the other. It is worth noting that it was oral, not scripted or written and was passed from nonpareil extension to the other by word of mouth as I earlier alluded in the Awolalu translation of religion. Within their organized societal structures, Africans believed in supernatural beings together with contagious spirits.The transmittable spirits were believed to link the living societal members to the divinity fudges.We all sustain that one cannot talk about African religion without African set as they are intertwined and inseparable. African religion was embedded in moralistic values or codes or standards which were believed to rail lineate from God through the heritable spirits, these values when followed or observed one would be rewarded with maybe well-grounded harvest from their cultivation of land or increased number of a flock of cattle. When these values beat violated the culprits were reprimanded, for instance, adultery was highly condemned whence in case a member engaged in it he or she could be punished by God through the transmissible spirit. This punishment could be through the infliction of sickness to the culprit or barrenness.The concept of values is a vital point as one talks of the African religion. African religion is given from the African values. The African religion had some institutions which presided over apparitional functions, these institutions were believed to communicate directly to ancestral spirits (living dead) who in turn would communicate to the gods and grievances of the living societal members would be heard. In the Kenyan context, these institutions include Orkoyot of the Nandi, Oloibon of the Maasai, Seers, Diviners, and Rainmakers depending on the ethnic communities which they came from.These institutions apart from the fear of the ancestors, they blessed warrior before going for war, advised the political leaders, offered sacrifice to god and conducted rituals for the culprits who violated moral values in the community. The gods had some specific call for instance, in Kenyan context, we had Enkai for the Maasai, Encore for the Abagusii, Mulungu for Akamba, Asis the Nandi, Ngai for the Agikuyu and Nyasaye for the Luo. There were specific worship places which were regarded as holy, this places include shrines, mountaintops some special trees such as mugumo, hills, and some caves. The transformation of the names given to gods and places of worship, show the lack of uniformity in the African Religion. This concludes that Africans were of different ethnic background and had their own religion, gods, and religion as a community.CHRISTIANITYThis is a religion based on the life, teachings, and practices of the person of Jesus Christ. The origin of Christianity is drawn from a character, believed to be the Son of Go d. It is a religion much about the relationship between one and Jesus rather religious practices. A Christian, as the name suggests is a follower of Christ. The origin of Jesus of extra-ordinary or Supernatural happening as it is believed He was conceived by the power of Holy Spirit and born of a Virgin. This small description ascertains the rendering of religion as I had earlier defined it.Christianity is practiced through reading the Bible and attendance of services for the Protestants and Mass for the Catholics. The religion is scripted or written in the Bible which is the reference for all who pass judgment to Christianity. It contains all the rules guidelines, commands that Christians should observe their entire life. These guidelines govern human relationship to one another and their relationship to their God.there no diverse Christians as all of them draw their beliefs from Jesus Christ through reading and exercising their beliefs from the Bible.Christianity is a homogeneo us religion or rather uniform.There are institutions such Priests, Bishops and Catholic Fathers who lead other Christians in worship. These people undergo theology development for them to undertake their duties. There are specific places of worship where Christians congregate. These places are Churches or Chapels.THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES.They mainly to spread Christianity and CommerceDr. David Livingstone, I go back to Africa to make an open pass for Christianity and Commerce. The first flirt is dated from the fifteenth Century. The Portuguese Christianity introduction to Africans in the East African Coast. This, however, had real low success. By 19th Century Christian missionaries arrived in East Africa they included1.The Holy Ghost Fathers2.The Church Missionary Society3.The Methodist Fathers4.The loaf Hill FathersTHE ENCOUNTERI) Source/origin of ReligionThe Africans believed that their religion was sourced from god, who they believed foresighted before their ancestors exi stence. The British Missionaries conflict with Africans by telling them about the existence of a God who had a son and lived among us many geezerhood ago. The religion of British was written (Bible) thus one had to have the competency to read and frame in order to understand it, whereas that of African was passed from generation to generation by oral tradition. There is an introduction of a sore system of identifying the origin of religion which conflicts with the African system.II) Places of worshipThe Africans revered in special caves, Mountaintops, hills, Forests, Special trees (mugumo) and shrines. The British tell Africans that they should worship God places called Churches. This encounter shows that there is a bit of clashing as the African places were really clearly defined and preserved by the community members. The British as well seized African land to construct churches or chapels, Africans, as a result, became truly hostile as they had distinct worship places whic h occurred naturally. They believed that their land was for cultivation and a gift from their gods.III) The Practices of ReligionThe Africans practiced their religion by reverence to their ancestors, pass human and animal sacrifices and invoking the ancestral spirits. They offered sacrifices in order to get favors in terms of harvest. The African worship was communal that is, all community members use to convene to pray for rain and ask for the wellness of the community. The British religion had an aspect of confession of ones sins before worship, repentance, and forgiveness of sin are granted. This aspect of forgiveness of sins lacks in the traditional African religion, one had to be punished for wrongdoing. British missionary religion brings out an aspect of offerings in terms of money and tithe which is ten percent of ones total earnings.IV) Religious leadersIn African religion, worship was led by Diviners, Rainmakers, and Seers who were considered righteous. The work of religio us leaders was taught through apprecentiship and was patrimonial from specific clans in the community. There were certain clans from whom diviners would descend. They were highly respected in the community. The British Christian religious leaders attend school to be trained mainly on theology. They study formalities of worship and personality of God. Any member of Christian family can become a religious leader although there are some myths which say one has to be called by God. The Christian leader has to have the ability to read and write so as to pass the scriptures to his congregation.V) Uniformity of ReligionAs I handled earlier in this essay, the African traditional religion was diverse from one ethnic community to the other due to the linguistic differences, migration patterns and origin. Christianity is introduced as a homogeneous religion as the author of it is Jesus Christ, a joint ancestry and reference point for all Christians. The diversity of worship is take down by the British introduction of this even religion.As I have pointed above there are distinct differences between Traditional African Religion and the British Christianity and how both systems fought to outdo the other. The African religion had recondite roots in the society as it was passed orally through stories, myths, riddles and proverbs which were very appealing to the audience. These deep roots were however uprooted as change is needed in every circumstance. As an old adage, one mans meat is another mans poison. The British stricken the Africans struck back but were easily overpowered, and gave in.The British were gradually using religion as a tool to pass several other systems to the Africans. procreation which traditionally was based on oral tradition was easily eliminated as most Africans wanted to quench their thirst for knowledge, for those who resisted religion soon began to handle this Whitemans way of worship.