African religions and philosophy 0385037139

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8 A Doubieday Anchor Book

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African Religions and Philosophy

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JOHN

s.

College,

Rhode

MBiTi was bom in Kenya. From Makerere University in Uganda, he went on to Barrington College,

Island.

After obtaining his doctorate in theology at Cambridge University, he served in an English parish and as a visiting

Birmingham and at the University of Hamburg, in Germany. Since 1964, he has taught at Makerere University College, and in 1968 he was appointed Professor of Religious Studies. Among his publications are two books, Akamba Stories and Concepts of God in Africa, and numerous articles, poems, and short stories.

lecturer in

\

African Religions and Philosophy JOHN

S.

MBITI

Anchor Books Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, New York

African Religions and Philosophy was originally published by Praeger Publishers, in 1969. The Anchor Books edition is published by arrangement with Praeger Publishers, publisher of the cloth-

bound

edition.

Anchor Books Copyright

©

edition:

1969 by

J.

1970 S.

Mbiti

All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

In grateful and loving

my

memory

of

Mutia wa Ngaangi, died January i, 1967

uncle, Joel

Contents

Preface

xi

1.

INTRODUCTION

1

2.

THE STUDY OF AFRICAN RELIGIONS AND PHILOSOPHY [a] The early approaches and attitudes [b] Modem and current studies

8

3.

THE CONCEPT OF TIME AS A KEY TO THE UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETATION OF AFRICAN RELIGIONS AND PHILOSOPHY [a] Potential time and actual time [b] Time reckoning and chronology [c] The concept of past, present and future [d] The concept of history and pre-history The concept of human life in relation to time [f] Death and immortality [g] Space and time [e]

[h] Discovering or extending the future

8

13

19 21

24 27 29 31

31

34

dimension

of time

35

4.

THE NATURE OF GOD [a] The eternal and intrinsic attributes of God [b] The moral attributes of God

37 39 46

5.

THE WORKS OF GOD

50 50

[a] Creation

African Religions and Philosophy

viii

[b]

Providence and sustenance

[c]

God and

53 56 58 60

afflictions

[d]

The governing work of God

[e]

God and human history

6.

GOD AND NATURE [a] Anthropomorphic attributes of God [b] God, animals and plants [c] God, natural objects and phenomena

62 62 65 67

7.

THE WORSHIP OF GOD [a] Sacrifices and offerings

75 15 79

[b] Prayers, invocations, blessings [c]

[d] Religious intermediaries [e] 8.

and

salutations

Miscellaneous other acts and expressions of worship

and

specialists

Occasion and place of worship

SPIRITUAL BEINGS, SPIRITS AND THE LIVING-DEAD [a] Divinities

and God's associates

[b] Spirits [c]

9.

10.

The living-dead

97 98 102 107

THE CREATION AND ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN [a] The creation and origin of man [b] The original state of man, and God's provision for him [c\The separatiQU between God and man

119 119

ETHNIC GROUPS, KINSHIP AND THE INDIVIDUAL [a] The tribes, nations or peoples of Africa

130

[b] Kinship [c]

11.

86 88 93

The family,

the household

and the individual

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD [a] Pregnancy [b] [c]

The actual birth The naming and nursing of children

12. INITIATION

AND PUBERTY RITES

[a]

Akamba

[b]

Maasai

initiation rites

initiation rites

123 1 25

131 135

138 143 143 146 154 158 159

165

Contents

13.

Jx

[c]

Nandi female

[d]

Ndebele puberty

initiation rites rites

MARRIAGE AND PROCREATION [a] Preparation for marriage and procreation Choosing the marriage partner and courtship [d] The wedding ceremony [e] "Polygamy" and inheriting wives or husbands [f] Divorce and separation [g] The place and use of sex in married life

[b]

[c] Betrothal

14.

DEATH AND THE HEREAFTER [a] Death among the Ndebele [b] Death among the Abaluyia [c] The causes and meaning of death [d] The hereafter [e] The destiny of the soul

15. specialists:

The medicine-men [b] Mediums and diviners [c] Rainmakers [d] Kings, queens and rulers [e] Priests, prophets and religious founders [a]

17.

195 196 199 203 208

212

217 217 224 234 238 245

mystical power, magic, witchcraft

and sorcery

253

THE concepts OF EVIL, ETHICS AND JUSTICE [a] The origin and nature of evil

266 266 214 277

[b] Restitution [c]

18.

174 176 111 180 181 186 190 191

medicine-men, rainmakers, kings

and priests

16.

166 171

and punishment

Summary and

conclusion

CHANGING MAN AND HIS PROBLEMS [a] The causes of this rapid change [b] The nature of this change [c] Problems of the rapid change

19. CHRISTIANITY,

AFRICA

282 282 285 289

ISLAM AND OTHER RELIGIONS IN

299

African Religions and Philosophy

X [a] Christianity in

300 317 333

Africa

[b] Islam in Africa [c]

20.

Other religious traditions in Africa

THE SEARCH FOR

NEW

VALUES, IDENTITY AND

SECURITY [b]

The religious claim The ideological claim

[c]

Conclusion: Religion in the African

[a]

Dilemma

343 343 348 355

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

364

INDEXES

372

Preface

This book

is

an expansion of lectures to

my

students

at

Makerere University College, Uganda, and Hamburg University, Germany. Not only did the students in both universities show continued interest in the lectures, but many requested that they be available in book form to meet a need for a textbook on the subject of African traditional rehgions and philosophy. I hope that this book will be a contribution in the study of the subject which is increasingly coming into the curricula of universities, seminaries, colleges and senior secondary schools not only in Africa but overseas as well. The is intended therefore for use in such institutions of higher learning and by readers who may have reached that

book

It is primarily an introduction to the and for that reason I have kept to a minimum analytical interpretation. For the same reason I provide fairly substantial references and bibliography, so that readers wishing to pursue certain lines of interest might have a reading list with which to start. As journals are not easUy accessible except in large hbraries, I have not included them in the foot-

standard of education.

subject,

note references, except occasionally, but a

number

are listed in

the select bibliography.

African Religions and Philosophy deals almost exclusively with traditional concepts and practices in those societies which have not been either Christian or Muslim in any deep way, before the colonial period in Africa. In my description I

African Religions and Philosophy

xii

have generally used the present tense, as

if

these ideas are

held and the practices being carried out. Everyone

changes

is

still

aware

in Africa, so that abandoned, modified or coloured by the changing situation. At the same time it would be wrong to imagine that everything traditional has been changed or forgotten so much that no traces of it are to be found. If anything, the changes are generally on the surface, affecting the material side of life, and only beginning to reach the deeper levels of thinking pattern, language content, mental images,

that

rapid

are

taking place

traditional ideas are being

emotions, beliefs and response in situations of need. Tradistill form the essential background of many African peoples, though obviously this differs from individual

tional concepts

to individual

and from place to

place. I believe, therefore,

do not subscribe to all the and philosophical practices and ideas described here, the majority of our people with Httle or no formal education still hold on to their traditional corpus of beliefs and practices. that even if the educated Africans

religious

Anyone

familiar with village gossip cannot question this fact;

and those who have eyes will also notice evidence of it in the towns and cities. In this study I have emphasized the unity of African religions and philosophy in order to give an overall picture of their situation. This approach does not give room for the treatment in depth of individual religious and philosophical systems of different African peoples. There is an increasing number of monographs coming out through which this aspect of study is being met, and I do not feel it necessary to duplicate the work when so many other fields remain scarcely harvested. I have therefore chosen to highlight both similarities and differences considering the African picture as a whole. For this reason, I have drawn examples from aU over Africa, both making general observations and giving detailed illustrations.

modem

change cannot be ignored, I have devoted towards the end of the book, emphasizing particularly the human aspects of this change and how these affect individuals and families. In another chapter I discuss the present situation of Christianity, Islam and other religions Since

one chapter to

it

Preface

xiii

in Africa,

all

of which are very relevant to any study of

Both Christianity and Islam are "tradiand "African" in a historical sense, and it is a pity that they tend to be regarded as "foreign" or "European" and "Arab." It is, however, in their contact or relationship with traditional religions that I have discussed these other religions. traditional religions.

tional"

The

chapter

final

religion in

is

an attempt to assess the place aPxd role of

modern Africa which has

religious systems

and

is

inherited these different

subjected to a world-wide and radical

change.

deep gratitude to my students at and Hamburg (1966-7), for reacting with such encouraging and stimulating response to the original I want Makerere

lectures.

express

to

my

(since 1964)

Many who

heard these lectures enriched some of the

comments from their own reand experiences. I valued these comments very much, and have incorporated some of them into the book, for which I am equally grateful. In innumerable ways my dear wife has been a constant source of help while I was working on the lectures and the book, especially in Hamburg, and to her I am duly indebted. The publishers have given me unending encouragement and co-operation from the time I contacted them about the manuscript. For this and for the quick propoints with illustrations and flection

am

very thankful. have acknowledged in the footnotes the sources of my information and quotations. Where a particular work is mentioned half a dozen or more times, only the author and pages of his book are given in the footnotes and full details of the work concerned will be found in the select bibliography. I apologize for any omissions in acknowledging duction of the book,

As much

I

as possible I

the sources, for misinterpreting or misrepresenting anyone's ideas,

where

and for errors in quoting other people's writings, may have happened without my knowledge.

this

John Mbiti

Makerere University College Kampala, Uganda

Acknowledgements

Grateful acknowledgement

is

made

for permission granted by

make quotations from the following works: J. B. Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God, Lutterworth (an Edinburgh House Press book) 1944; E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande, Clarendon Press, 1937; and Nuer Religion, Clarendon Press, 1956; M. J. Field, Religion and Medicine of the either the authors or publishers to

Ga

People, Oxford University Press,

1937; D. Forde,

African Worlds, Oxford University Press, 1954; G.

W.

ed.,

B.

Huntingford, The Nandi of Kenya, Routledge, and Kegan Paul, 1953; E. B. Idowu, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief, Longmans, Green & Co., 1962; J. Jahn, Muntu, Faber and

Faber,

ET

1961;

L M. Lewis,

ed.,

Islam in Tropical Africa,

Oxford University Press, 1966; G. Lienhardt, Divinity arid Experience, the Religion of the Dinka, Clarendon Press, 1961; R. A. Lystad, The Ashanti: a Proud People, Rutgers University Press, 1958; J. H. Nketia, Funeral Dirges of the Akan People, Accra 1955; A. Oded, "A Congregation of African Jews in the heart of Uganda," in Dini na Mila: Revealed Religion and Traditional Customs, Vol. 3 No. 1, 1968; J. Okot p'Bitek, "The Concept of Jok among the Acholi and Lango," in The Uganda Journal, Vol. XXVII No. 1, 1963; E. G. Parrinder, West African Religion, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.) 1961; P. Schebesta, My Pygmy and Negro Hosts, Hutchinson & Co., ET

xvi

African Religions and Philosophy

1936; Revisiting my Pygmy Hosts, Hutchinson & Co., ET 1936; E. W. Smith and A. M. Dale, The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia, Macmillan, Vol. 1, 1920; E. W. Smith, ed. (later E. G. Parrinder), African Ideas of God, Lutter-

worth (an Edinburgh House Press book) 1950; T. C. Young, Contemporary Ancestors, Lutterworth (an Edinburgh House Press book) n.d.

1

Introduction

Africans are notoriously reli^ous. and each people has

own

religious system with a set of beliefs

and

practices.

its

Re-

Ugion p e rmeates into all the ^fipflrtmpnts ^f )ifq so fully that it not easy or possible alway tn isnlatft it. study of these religious systems is, therefore, ultimately a study of the peoples themselves in all the complexities of both traditional is

and

??

modem

life.

Our

A

written knowledge of traditional re-

little, though increasing, and comes from anthropologists and sociologists. Practically nothing has been produced by theologians, describing or inter-

ligions

is

comparatively

chiefly

preting these religions theologically.

We speak of African traditional religions in the plural because there are about one thousand African peoples and each has its own religious system. These rewhich calls for academic scrutiny and which must be reckoned with in modem fields of Ufe Hke economics, politics, education, and Christian or Muslim work. To ignore these traditional behefs, attitudes and practices can only lead to a lack of understanding African behaviour and (tribes),

ligions are a reality

problems. Religion

is the strongest element in traditional _ background, and exerts probably the greatest influence upon ^ the thinking and living of the people concerned While religion can be discerned in terms of beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and religious oflBdants, philosophy is not so

easily distinguishable.

We

shall consider different religions in

2

African Religions and Philosophy

terms of their similarities and differences, to give us a picture of the overall situation in Africa. But, since there are no parallel

philosophical

which can be observed

systems

in

similarly concrete terms, we shall use the singular, "philosophy," to refer to the philosophical understanding of African peoples concernmg different issues of life. Philosophy of.,on£

kind or another i s behind the thinking and acting of eve ry £eople, and a study of traditional religioflg brmgs us into those areas of Af rican life whe re, through word and actio n,

we may be

able to discern the philosophy Behind. This inT

volves interpretation of the information before us, and interpretation cannot be completely free of subjective judgment.

What, therefore, to

is

"African Philosophy,"

more than simply

my own

may

not amount

process of philosophizing the

items under consideration: but this cannot be helped, and in any case I am by birth an African. Philosophical systems of

have not yet been formulated, but where they may be found are in the religion, proverbs, oral traditions, ethics and morals of the society concerned. I have incorporated some of these areas different African peoples

some of

the areas

into this study, but proverbs in particular deserve a separate treatment since their philosophical content is mainly situational.

We

do not however have

tions of African proverbs out of

many comprehensive which an

collec-

overall analysis of

philosophy could be undertaken, '^frican philosophy" here refers to the understandin g, attitude of mind. this type of

logic

and per ception behind the manner

in

which African

peoples tJimk, act or speak in different situations of

life.

Because traditional religions permeate all the departments of life, there is no formal distinction between the sacred and the sec ular, between the religious and non-religious^ between the spiritual and the material areas of life, Wherever the African is, there is his religion: he carries it to the fields where he is sowing seeds or harvesting a new crop; he takes it with him to the beer party or to attend a funeral ceremony; and if he is educated, he takes religion with him to the examination room at school or in the university; if he is a politician he takes it to the house of parliament. Although many African languages do not have a word for religion as such, it never-

'

Introduction

:>

accompanies the individual from long before

theless

his birth

Thrmit^h mnrlp.m ghf^pgi^ ^hese traditional rehgions rannnt rprr*-^^" ioto^t^ Knt ff>^y ot-^ bv no means extinct In times of crisis they often come to to long

after his physical

death.

,

the surface, or peop le revert to them in secret-

Traditional religions are not primarily for the individual,^ but for his community of which he is p^rt. Chapters of African religions are written everywhere in the life of the

community, and in traditional society there are no irreligious To be human is to belong to the whole community, and to do so mvoives participating in the beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and festivals of that cnmmiinity. A person cannot detach himself from the religion of his group, for to do so is to be severed from his roots, his foundation, his context of security, his kinships and the entire group of those who make him aware of his own existence. To be without one of these corporate elements of life is to be out of the whole picture. Therefore, to be without rehgion amounts to a self^xcommunication from the entire life of society, and African peoples do not know how to exist without rehgion. people.

of the sources of severe strain for /Africans exposed to

One

modem

change is the increasing process (through education, urbanization and industrialization) by which in dividuals become detached from their traditional environment. This leaves them in a vacuum devoid of a solid religious foundation. They are torn between the life of their forefathers which, whatever else might be said about it, has historical roots and firm traditions, and the life of our technological age which, as yet, for many Africans has no concrete form or depth. In these circumstances, Christianity and Islam do not seem to remove the sense of frustration and uprootedness. It is not enough to learn and embrace a faith which is active once a week, either

on Sunday or Friday, while the rest of the week is virtually empty. It is not enough to embrace a faith which is confined to a church building or mosque, which is locked up six days and opened only once or twice a week. Unless Christianity and Islam fully occupy the whole person as much as, if not more than, traditional rehgions do, most converts to these faiths will continue to revert to their old beUefs and practices for

\

4

African Religions and Philosophy

perhaps

and

six

days a week, and certainly in times of emergency

The whole environment and

the whole time must be occupied by religious meaning, so that at any moment and in any place, a person feels secure enough to act in a meaningful

crisis.

and

religious consciousness. Since traditional religions oc-

P^py^the whole person and the whole of his life, conversi on to new religions like Christianity and Islam mus t embrace his" language, thought patterns, fears^ social relationships, a ttF^ tudes and philosophical disposition,, if- that conversion is to make a lasting impact upon t he individual and his com"^"^ munity. '

A

great number of beliefs and practice s are to be found any African soci ety. These are not, however, formnlntf^^ into a systematic set of dogmas which a persop is exp f rtpH trt i££SOt. People simply assimilate whatever religious ideas and practices are held or observed by their famili es an d communities. These traditions have been handed down trom forefathers, and each generation takes them up with modifications suitable to its own historical situation and needs. Individuals hold differences of opinion on various subjects; and the myths, rituals and ceremonies mav differ in detail from area to area. But such ideas or views are not consiH ^rpH ag either contrary or conforming to any orthodox opinion. Therefore, when we say in this book that such and such a society "believes," or "narrates," or "performs" such and such, we do not by any means imply that everybody in that society subscribes to that belief or performs that ritual. These are corporate beliefs and acts, and there can be no unanimity in such beliefs, ideas and practices. In traditional religions there ar e no creeds to be recited: instead, the creeds are Vnmm|pnnitv They enter into and duties rivileges p the state of responsibility: they inherit new rights, and i^andidates tn adnlt

life:

new

obhgations are expected of them by society. J|n's inrnr^I f^o introduces them to the liff^ f>f th^ living-dead as well as thp. li fe of those yet to hp. hnrp. The poration into a dul |_l]'f