The Ultimate Reality and Meaning in African Cosmo- Logy and Religion

FRANCIS ANEKWE OBORJI

AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY

The Problem of Interpretation

Introduction The primary focus of this study is the African concept of ‘ultimate reality’ and its relation with human life and history. How do we bring the African worldview and traditional religion into contact with the liberty and historicity of the self-communication of God in Jesus? The underlying intent, however, is to highlight the fruitful way in which studies on African concepts of ultimate reality have come into contact with the Christian and Western thought pattern and philosophy. How will this contact encourage and enable those from each tradition to learn from the other and by so doing, foster a more humane understanding of how to see ourselves, one another and the world at large?1

Again, the Africans’ preoccupation with life and its security provides the ingre- dients for our appreciation of their concepts of the divine beings, in particular of God as the supreme being who is the ‘ultimate reality’ that is above all history and that is at the root of the religious formulations of the Africans. The value which the Africans attach to life, its prolongation and security is the basis for our understanding of their concepts of ultimate reality. In fact, the whole of African Traditional Religion is geared to the protection and guarantee of life and its security. The study aims to demonstrate how some authors have applied the concept of life in the African worldview and traditional religion in providing an African reading of ultimate reality and meaning. The study will also look at the challenges that have accompanied the African Traditional Religion and its concepts of ultimate reality over the history, especially since the continent’s encounter with Christianity.

1 For the most recent text that has appeared on the theme of this essay, cf. Brown 2004. The volume is a collection of essays on traditional African conceptions of mind, person, personal identity, truth, knowledge, understanding, objectivity, destiny, free will, causation and reality. The volume encompasses metaphysical and epistemological concerns from various traditional African folk philosophical perspectives.

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This shows that the role which the traditional religion played in the history and life of the human person in the African context could be studied from the perspective of the Christian mission. Right from the beginning of the renewed effort in the study and appreciation of African cultural and religious values, theologians and other scholars have demonstrated that life stands out for the Afri- can as a value around which other values gain their meaning. Thus, studies in African Traditional Religion (ATR) have shown that life is at the centre of the African person’s experience of ultimate reality and meaning. The search and project for life that is meaningful, its continuity and dynamic progress towards fullness and realization (ancestral status, divinization) are fundamental for our understanding of the African person’s perception of ultimate reality and meaning (Uzukwu 1983: 9).

Furthermore, the study of African concepts of ultimate reality brings with it the problem of interpretation of the African worldview in and through the Western conceptual schemes. One of the problems in the studies of ATR is the problem of interpretation. Most writers in ATR are either of Western origin or a West- ern trained African elite and write in one of the European languages. Thus, the problem of interpreting and translating African traditional beliefs into Western patterns of expression arises. In Latin it is said that “every translator is a traitor.” The problem of translation and interpretation is not peculiar to ATR. But ATR as a cultural religion has some peculiar problems of its own which may turn many unwary translators and interpreters into traitors (Ikenga-Metuh 1985: vii). So, we still have the problem of interpreting and translating ATR concepts into Western concepts and languages. Are the concepts of God, beings (divine and human), life and so forth in ATR and those of Christianity identical or different? How can the meanings of ATR concepts be expressed in Western forms of expression without betraying their original African meanings?

Closely related to the abovementioned problem is the question: Why is it that, in spite of the influence of modernity and of other world religions (Christianity and Islam) present on the continent, the African worldview has continued to be the determining factor in the people’s search for ultimate reality and meaning? And as a way of dialogue with the Christian religion: What is the relationship between the type of life of which the Africans speak in their traditional religion and that of which the Bible speaks with regard to the self-communication of God in Jesus Christ? Put in another way, what and who is the source of life for the traditional African? And finally, what are the similarities and differences between the source of life in the African world view and that of the Christian religion?

We shall attempt to discuss these issues in this order: 1. Ultimate reality in the worldview of some African societies; 2. Historical changes and the African concept of ultimate reality; 3. Conclusion and evaluation.

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Ultimate Reality in the World View of Some African Societies What ultimate reality in ATR is is apparent from the way life is conceptualized in some African societies. Apart from the category of myth of great importance among many African societies,2 the writings of many African authors and theologians of our time relate this reality (Magesa 1997:37). In discussing this issue we shall be guided here by the already celebrated studies of some authors on the culture and traditional religion of some African ethnic groups.3

Philosophical approaches dominated the early efforts in the study of the ultimate reality and meaning in African traditional religion and culture. In this regard the leading voices came mainly from Francophone African countries (but also from the Anglophone and Portuguese speaking countries on the continent and Africans in diaspora). Generally speaking, these studies seem to agree that the African’s search for the preservation and realization of life that is meaningful are the key for understanding his conception of the ultimate reality and meaning. They also agree that the human person is at the centre of chains of relationships among beings (visible and invisible) in the flow and sharing of life which is sustained and maintained always by the Supreme Source of life (God). Thus, the African worldview brings out the central place of life of the human person and other beings in the universe. This is so because African ontology is basically anthropocentric. The human person is at the very centre of existence. The created world and the spirits are there for the service and realization of meaningful life for the human person. Africans see everything else in relation to this central position of promoting the life of the human person. The origin and sustenance of life of the human person is traced back to God. It is as if God exists for the sake of the human person (Mbiti 1999: 90). The beings in the universe (visible and invisible) exist for the sake of the human person. The spirits, ontologically, serve as mediators between God and the human person. Their benevolence functions, among other things, is to guide, protect and en- hance the realization of the fullness of life of the human person.

2 Laurenti Magesa, a Catholic theologian from Tanzania, provides in a recent work (Magesa 1997) a good presentation of important African myths as well as arguments by leading African authors about life as the ultimate reality and meaning in African cosmology and religion. Magesa argues that African Traditional Religion is about moral traditions of the abundant life.

3 For an in-depth treatment of this topic we shall limit our analysis of the studies done on this subject to a few cultural and ethnic groups. However, from time to time allusions may be made to the presence of similar characteristics and efforts elsewhere among some other cultural and ethnic groups.

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THE PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH Placide Tempels, a Belgian missionary who worked in central Africa and who has been described as the father of contemporary African theology and philosophy, was among the early scholars to begin an inquiry into the African concept of ultimate reality and meaning (ontology) (cf. Bujo 1992: 58; Nkafu 1995: 26). Tempels began his inquiry with the question: Does an African ultimate reality exist? And if does, what is it? The result of his research was an original study entitled, La Philosophie Bantoue, published in 1945.4 In this work Tempels posited the ‘life force’ as the central philosophical concept in the Bantu worldview. Thus he used the ‘life force’ (force vitale) category as a basic ontological structure for understanding Bantu culture and thought patterns. The central concept and supreme value of the Bantu is ‘life force,’ according to which the universe is a composite of divine, spirit, human, animate and inanimate elements, hierarchically perceived but directly related and always interacting with one another. This constitutes the visible and invisible spheres of the universe, the visible world being composed of creation, including humanity, plants, animals and inanimate beings, and the invisible world being the sphere of God, the ancestors, and the spirits. Tempels calls all these “forces of life” or “vital forces” (Tempels 1959: 17ff). For the Bantu at the top of the hierarchy of the universe is the ‘Divine Force,’ which is both primary and the ultimate life- giving Power, God the Creator and Sustainer, the Holy. All life and the power that is life or existence flow from God. The human person is the primary and most important beneficiary of God’s life force. In this African worldview God is the ultimate guardian of the human life. He does this for the sole ultimate purpose of benefiting humanity. Moreover, humanity, being central in the universal order, is morally bound to sustain the work of God by which humanity itself is, in turn, sustained (cf. Magesa 1997: 46). Thus, we are confronted with the question: How does the human person participate in sustaining life which flows from God? The human person does this by maintaining the link between himself and God, the ultimate source of this life. Again, because of the common divine origin of this life, however, all creatures are connected with one another in the sense that each influences the other for good or bad.

It is as a result of this African worldview that Tempels goes further to develop his Bantu theory of the human person (muntu) as a relational being. This is the basis for understanding the Bantu wisdom or criteriology, ethics, and conception of the restoration of life (sanctions, reparation, punishment, amendment, and ontological purification). It is also the category for the appreciation of the mode of Bantu community. Indeed, Tempels discovered that the Bantu community life was strongly characterized by relationality. Each being existed in

4 In this study I am using the 1959 edition of this work published by Présence Afri- caine, Paris.

132 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY relation to other beings; it influences and is influenced by other beings. This means that the growth or the weakening of the ‘life force’ depended on this relation to other beings. To be happy is to have the fullness of the life force and to be sad is a sign of diminution of the life force, which may be caused by sickness, suffering, injustice, oppression or death. For the Bantu, sickness and death do not originate from the ‘life force;’ rather, they come from external superior agents. These external superior agents are to be resisted by living according to the customs and traditions set down by the ancestors and by ap- pealing to the benign beings (God, ancestors and spirits) for protection.

All in all, Tempels rmaintains that an ontology founded on the ‘life force’ is the soul of the Bantu culture, the soul of the African. This is because for the African, the central concept of the ultimate reality and meaning is the ‘life force.’ Tempels identifies this ‘life force’ with the ‘Being’ of Western philosophy and came close to almost affirming that without this ‘force’ it would be difficult to think of Being or even conceive of it at all. For him, among the Bantu there is no other idea of ‘Being’ apart from the ‘vital force’ (Tempels 1969: 50-51). The nature of being is force and being is force. This affirmation of Tempels gives us much food for thought. It provoked further debate among other African authors (cf. Filesi 1981:7-8). In this regard, the contributions of Alexis Kagame and Vincent Mulago deserve special attention.

Kagame (from Rwanda in the Bantu region), celebrated for his historical, linguistic and literary knowledge and writings, is also revered as the first African Catholic priest to undertake a scholarly work on the philosophy of the Africans. He postulated an ontology in which he spoke of the Kinyarwanda categories of being or ‘forces.’ Applying his linguistic skills, Kagame notes that the Bantu languages are noted for the phenomenon of classes of words and sweet prefixes, suffixes, and infixes of a complex nature that found their unity in the subjective term. Thus, these characteristics which constitute the manner of speaking by the Bantu, help to bring out the structural dynamism that comes from a true and sure metaphysical vision. This justifies their articulation about the function of the ultimate reality and meaning as exemplified in Tempel’s understanding of Bantu philosophy. Moreover, the whole linguistic system of the Bantu is generally open to concrete abstracts. Starting with any word (substantive, adjective, verb, adverb, etc.), il muntu can form an abstract concept by adding a prefix ad hoc. Based on this, Kagame postulated some categories of being or ‘forces’ in the Bantu philosophy. These include, muntu (God, spirits, men); kintu (animals, plants, minerals); hantu (time and space); and kuntu (modality, such as beauty, laughter) (cf. Kagame 1956: 99-120). Thus, in the tradition of Tempels, one could conclude that for Kagame, the do- main of an African ultimate reality is within the ‘life force’ that unites the beings that constitute the Bantu cosmology and philosophy.

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In any case, critics see Kagame’s approach as a mere sentimental concern to respond to the prejudice according to which Africans are judged incapable of grasping abstract ideas and of not being endowed with the capacity for systematic and coherent thought (Boka di Mpasi 2000:863).Thus, with studies such as those of Tempels and Kagame, among others (as we shall see shortly), there began to emerge a positive evaluation of the essential characteristic and dynamism of the African ontology.

This new awareness of the basis for an African worldview and ultimate reality was the preoccupation of Vincent Mulago (from the Congo, also in the Bantu region). In fact, it could be said that the real evaluation of ‘life’ as the basis for African ultimate reality in the tradition of Tempels found its most eloquent spokesperson in the person of Vincent Mulago (although each developed his own theory with different nuances). Because of this, Mulago has been rated as an enthusiastic African theologian,5 principally because of his treatise on the Bantu concept of life which he calls “l’unione vitale.” A graduate of the Urban Pontifical University in Rome, Mulago wrote a doctoral thesis entitled L’union vitale chez les Bashi, les Banyarwanda et les Barundi (The Vital Union among the Bash, Banyarwanda and Barundi). Part of this thesis was published in 1956 under the title L’union vitale Bantu ou le principe de cohésion dans la com- munauté chez Bashi, les Banyarwanda et les Barundi, in the series Annali La- teranensi XX: 61-263).

In his doctoral thesis Mulago set out to answer the question: Can we speak of ultimate reality among the Bantu? And if such ultimate reality exists, what are its traits and can it be specifically Bantu? In other words, Mulago was confronted with the question of whether there is something that could be called Bantu philosophy (Mulago 1965: 147). Following his analytical treatment of the Bantu cultural and religious elements, which he compared with Western religious and philosophical categories, Mulago locates the African ultimate reality in the phenomenology of the Bantu concept of the ‘vital union.’ For him, among the Bantu, the centre of gravity is found in the concept of ‘vital union’

5 In a romantic way Bénézet Bujo traces the ‘real’ beginning of African theology back to Tempels and Mulago and to the symposial debates about African Christianity and African theology among the staff of the Faculty of Catholic Theology in the University of Louvain in Kinshasa in 1960 and 1968 respectively. However, recent studies have shown that Bujo’s representation of the origins of African theology does not have general ac- ceptance. He limits himself to francophone east and central Africa and to the Catholic sphere and to what is known today as African cultural theology. The birth of African theology has had a long and gradual process, the result of which has been a reality whose het- erogeneity is a practical reflection of the plurality of factors which lie behind it and of its general context (cf. Bujo 1992:56-57; Parratt 1995:4-13; Nwachukwu 1994: 80-86).

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(life unity), which is epitomized within family relationship. In its strict sense this embraces only the immediate family, but in its wider application it includes all blood relations. The unity found among people of the same ethnic group can be regarded as an extension of the family. But it can still be further widened by treaties and alliances between different clans. The essence of ‘vital union’ for Bantu life then is communion, one with the other. Such communion survives even death, for a fundamental idea of Bantu religion, as Mulago interprets it, is the link between the living and their dead ancestors, who are the intermediaries between the living and God, the ultimate source of all life. Thus, Mulago affirms that the cult of ancestors unites the two worlds, the visible and the invisible. Humans can exist only in the community and for the community. Vital union thus has a twofold function, corresponding to the ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ dimensions of religion. It is the link with God, the ultimate source of life, and at the same time the link between human beings and their fellows and the world of things. In this respect vital union is neither exclusively corporeal life nor exclusively spiritual life; rather, it is life in the totality of its being, in its full integrity. As such it is ‘super-empirical,’ for life here and now and life beyond the grave are inseparable and interdependent.

Furthermore, Mulago accepts the concept of a hierarchy of being as expounded in Tempels’ Bantu philosophy (although with some nuances)6and developed in modified terms by Alexis Kagame. Beings are ranked in order of potency and are broadly divided into invisible and visible worlds. In the former Imana (God) is supreme; then in descending order come the founders and spirits of cultural heroes. then deceased parents and relations. The hierarchy of the visible world is headed by the King and Queen Mother, broadening out into a kind of pyramid with ranks of chiefs, patriarchs, and family heads, and finally, as the base, the ordinary family members. Animals, vegetables and inanimate created things are regarded as part of the total existence of those to whom they belong. Beings can influence each other for good or ill, to the increase or decrease of their vital power.

In this way, Mulago adds his own thesis of the Ntu as ‘being,’ which is clearly different from Tempels’, who identifies ‘being’ as the life force. He argues that among the Bantu nothing authorizes the identification of being (Ntu) with the life force (being is life force).7 Mulago traces all the subdivisions of the Bantu

6 Mulago found Tempels’ interpretation of the Bantu concept of muntu as “philosophically unsound.” However, it appears to be “justified from a phenomenological stand- point.” Cf. Mulago 1965: 147; Parratt 1995: 31-34.

7 However, despite this criticism, Mulago appears to have followed the same scholastic methodology and philosophical categories as Tempels in the elaboration the specific Bantu philosophy.

135 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 concept of Ntu as okuntu (among the Bashi) and nkuntu (among the Banya- rwanda and Barundi). For him, the Ntu is ‘being,’ but he rejects categorically the notion of Tempels’ Muntu as being, because ‘wisdom’ philosophy does not stop at causality. In Aristotelian terms there must be a causa finalis which has the perennial duty of maintaining the life union in its extension to both the ancestors and clan, and to the first-born as much as to the rest of the members of the family (Mulago 1965: 157). Because of this intimate union and participation, there is mutual influence among all the members of the community. This comes into being by means of the Ntu, in the mutual influence of the living and the dead. The Ntu may influence one another. Such influences are never interrupted, not even by death, among those who share in the same vital source.8

One can conclude that Mulago has identified the central element in the African worldview, namely, interrelatedness and the relational nature in the flow of life among beings (divine and human). Relationality therefore, is at the heart of the African conceptions of the ultimate reality.

AFRICAN ULTIMATE REALITY AS RELATIONALITY Tempels and his immediate disciples studied above have been criticized for trying to summarize the totality of a people’s concept of reality by means of a Western category (cf. Hountondji 1983: 51).Their approach and evaluation of African philosophy were influenced by the time and milieus in which they were formed. It is not surprising therefore, that their analysis of the African ultimate reality has been clothed in neo-scholastic pattern of thought (cf. Bujo 2003: 16). This is the basis of Henri Maurier’s9 criticism and rejection of Tempels’ notion of force vitale and that of nyama (transmitted life energy) from the Dogon ethnic group. Maurier considers these concepts vague and therefore too imprecise to be philosophically sound. In their place Maurier presents the category of ‘relation’ as the most fundamental in the African view of ultimate reality. All existence, occupation and functioning is a matter of relationship. The fundamental reality of things is that they are related. Their existence is defined by their relatedness (cf. Maurier 1985: 65; ID 1997).

Maurier outlined five categories which according to him lead to ‘relation’ being seen as the fundamental category in the African pattern of thought.

8 Mulago used this concept to develop his ecclesiology of the church as a mystical body, influenced by the teaching of Pius XII’s 1943 Encyclical Mystici Corporis. Mulago proposes an ecclesiology of this mystical body of Christ as related to the Bantu concept of vital union.

9 Like Tempels, Maurier is a foreign missionary who worked for many years in Africa.

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These are subjectivity, tradition, corporeality, manipulation and irreducible exterior. Subjectivity is one’s consciousness of one’s being and that one is an individual, different from others. At the same time, however, one is defined by his relation with the others in the society or community. The reasons for subjectivity include the individual’s need for security of life and from total absorption into the society. Thus, subjectivity achieves the personal goals of self-fulfilment and security in the context of traditional values. The second category, tradition, is based on the consciousness of the people as a group to arrive at consensus on how to live and interact with one another in their society. Such consensus is based on their past and as handed on by their ancestors. But it is not a blind adherence to the past. It evolves as new circumstances arise with respect to making the person and community survive and progress. In his third category, corporeality, Maurier asserts that, since Africans like other peoples, live with physical things, they (Africans) engage in corporeal representations to make their spiritual and meta-empirical data as well as their other rationalized concepts real and available to the community and individuals. This is because all relationships by nature are incorporated as subjects in traditional relationships. As an African metaphysical reality, the fourth category, manipulation, is not pejorative. It means the use, and in-use of things, persons and events to produce life-promoting or value-enhancing goals. It is the positing by interested persons, of relations in themselves and in their interdependence in view of obtaining the beneficial fruit of relational life. Thus, it falls within the corpus of the African concept and praxis of dynamic reality (cf. Iroegbu 1995: 293).

Lastly, Maurier speaks of the irreducible exterior category as the sacred, the divine or the supernatural. It is that which is beyond normal relation, l’au-dela de la relation normale. It is that which is both immeasurable, immanent and transcendent and which both escapes and encompasses all (cf. Maurier 1985: 110). This means that, in the final analysis, there is something that surpasses the human in the myriad of relationships. Relation has produced the human agent, subjectivity has identified him as different from others, tradition has concretized the avenue and passage of his mutual relations and manipulation has substantiated how he acts and reacts in his use of things to serve him. At the end of the road, there is that which is not done and cannot be done— something that he cannot solve, surpass or overcome. This is God. The question of God poses itself both as a question (irreducible) and as an answer (the Exterior).

Maurier introduces the expression Je-Avec as the unifying cord of the six categories of the African worldview. Je-Avec is the fundamental substratum of relationship that underlies all others. Everything is Je-Avec. The person (Je) begins the questioning and the relationship and it is expressed in all others (God, community, individuals, events, etc.). One can therefore conclude that what force vitale is for Tempels, Je-Avec is for Maurier. However, Maurier’s

137 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 work has some advantages over Tempels’: that of being comprehensive, general and systematic. But it suffers the same fundamental weakness of failing to be a personal critical reflection on the African view of reality as experienced by the writer. Both authors try to interpret all reality by means of one (Western) concept: Je-Avec (relation) for Maurier, and force vitale for Tempels.

Kwame Gyekye, in his relational theory of the African view of reality among the Akan of Ghana, surpassed the weaknesses in the works of the two Franco- phone missionaries (Tempels and Maurier) discussed above (cf. Gyekye 1987). Gyekye speaks of categories of being. Primary in the Akan doctrine of being is the reality of a Supreme Being (Onyame, Onyankopon), which is part of a descending hierarchical order. After the Supreme Being comes gods and god- desses, ancestors, humans, and the physical empirical world in its various forms. In Akan ontology the gradation of beings is not pyramidal as Parrinder suggests is the case for African societies. Rather, it is vertical: God, spirits, ancestors, humans and other cosmic beings. The ancestors who were formerly humans occupy a privileged status, having acquired higher powers in the spiritual world. Although God is viewed alongside other beings, he is still a casus sui generis (special case apart). That he is worshipped is taken among the Akans as proof of his existence. The qualities attributed to him bring out his ontological status as the ultimate ground of all reality: the Nyame. Nyame is the great, the creator of all things. He is infinite, absolute, eternal. He is he who endures from ages past, boundless and unsurpassable. Finally, he is invisible and omnipresent.

Furthermore, for the Akans, as for Ashanti and for many other African traditional societies, the universe is inhabited by spirits: the highest sunsun (Spirit) being God, then the lower spirits. Different phenomenal beings in their hier- archies share in sunsun. The human being, for example, has a sunsun aspect in his being. There are variations within the Akan view of the human with respect to both the exact constituents of the person and the precise meaning and relationships of the terms proposed, yet it is generally believed that the human person is constituted of three elements: the okra (soul), sunsun (spirit) and honhom or nipadua (body). The okra, which is immaterial, is that which constitutes the individual’s life force. It has a close link with honhom, breath. In fact, the okra is the ontological reality that causes the breathing effected by the honhom. It is for this reason that Kwasi Wiredu explains that it is definitely wrong to translate okra simply as soul. He defines it as a life-giving entity: “That whose presence in the body means life, and whose absence means death, and which also receives the individual’s destiny from God.” (Wiredu 1980: 162). Wiredu argues that okra cannot be equated with the English term ‘spirit.’ For while the spirit is purely immaterial, okra is quasi-physical and has para- physical properties. Gyekye, however, rejects this. The Akans, he argues, believe in disembodied survival or life after death. If okra were partly physical,

138 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY such a survival would be impossible. For Gyekye, thought (adwen) is, strictly speaking, the activity of the sunsun which later is a part of the okra (soul). For this reason Gyekye defines sunsun as a general term and sees it as the mystical force in any given reality. Specifically, it is the activating principle in a person. It is the essence of a given reality: deity, human being or plant. It activates the being and gives it identity and functionality. The mind is a function of the sunsun and is at times identified with it. Sunsun, according to Gyeke, is more immaterial than material. It is a force of life, of action, of being. Sunsun is personality. It is the human ego (cf. Iroegbu 1995: 301).

On the relationship between okra and sunsun, Gyekye, acknowledges the complexity involved. He holds that in the thought of many Akans, though closely related, they are different. For instance, in dreams it is not the okra but the sunsun that leaves the body to contact other spirits. If the okra leaves the body, the person is dead. One can say that while the okra is the seat of life, the sunsun is the operative principle: the okra in action. Both however, are constitu- tive of the spiritual unity of the one person. In the thought of Ogbu Kalu (speaking from an Igbo background), the okra may be regarded as spirit-soul and sunsun as personality-soul. In this case what is reincarnated is the sunsun and not the okra, for the reincarnation shares the personality traits but not ne- cessarily the soul of the living-dead. Moreover, honam (body) is the physical aspect. Its relation to the okra (soul) and sunsun (spirit) is not dualistic but unitive. The person is body (+ blood) and soul (+ spirit) in unity. Although they are different elements, their interaction is close and unitive. Gyekye defines this as interactionist psychophysical dualism and believes it to be a realistic Akan conception of personality (cf. Gyekye 1987: 103).

All in all, the Akan concepts of the ultimate reality as discussed here are based on the categories of beings, composites and the understanding of the relationships for the realization of the destiny of the human person. These traditional concepts are meant to explain the ‘ultimate mystery’ as well as the origins and purpose of human life and existence. Such preoccupations and conceptions of the ultimate reality are widespread in traditional African societies.

How the Yoruba of Nigeria conceive of time tells us much about their conceptions of ultimate reality (cf. Olabimtan 1994:36ff). Their concept of time is not like that presented by John Mbiti. For Mbiti, ‘African’ time is two-dimen- sional: a long past, a present, and virtually no future. This is so because, for Mbiti, in African thought time is tied to events. The future is not yet and therefore has no events. It has, therefore, no time. But this exclusion of future time is not entire or real but only virtual. Mbiti admits there is a future dimension—albeit a short one (cf. Mbiti 1990: 17). However, for the Yoruba future time is a full reality. The past has come and gone. It can be recalled and discussed. It is real. The present is the now, the most real. In it we live and move and act. The future, although not truly there, will nevertheless be there. Events

139 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 will take place. The Yoruba plan for events in the future: farming, harvesting, festivities and other activities are projected for a future execution. Therefore, in Yoruba thought, the future is real. The reality of time (past, present and future), is the reality of concrete life lived in the circumstances of different projects: personal, public, individual and communal. It is from these different aspects that the basic existential platform called time (and space) is measured. Time is the locus of all activity and of all events. There is a long line arising from the uninterrupted passage of the present into the past. Events have continued to take place even before other events of more recent occurrence. Things have been. Events have been taking place and will continue to take place (cf. Iroegbu 1995: 306).

Therefore, for the Yoruba there is ontology in time, the fact of the irreversi- bility and the uninterruptedness of time. In a word, temporality is absolute. Time can never be stopped, not even for a moment. It is ever-flowing. The human person must therefore act in time and according to time as it unfolds itself in days and nights, through sunlight and moonlight. Events must keep pace with time and not vice versa. The ancestors live in their own time and will be reincarnate into human cosmic time after a given period of their own time. In their worlds an ontological synthesis of the three aspects of time is embedded. They lived (past); they are dead. But they are still living (ancestrally) (present). They will live again (future). The Yoruba conception of the ancestral world brings out clearly the ontology of time and the existential temporality in its threefold manifestations. It shows the practical daily interaction of time past, time present and time future. Moreover, while time is inevitable, the people make provision for uncertainties and are therefore not helpless victims of temporal circumstances. The driving force for making such provisions (their scheduling and rescheduling of things following the rhythm of time and events) is guided by natural instinct and the traditional preoccupation with protecting the life of the human person and that of the community.

The Igbo (of Nigeria) worldview explains ultimate reality and life in terms of spirit rather than of the flesh. The Igbo is not a materialist. Indeed nothing was farther from his mind than a materialistic philosophy of existence. It does not appeal to the Igbo. According to Joseph Jordan, it is an obvious fact of experience that the Igbo live a life of a continual consciousness of their absolute dependence on spiritual beings for a realization of a meaningful and rewarding life (Jordan 1948: 124). In his pioneering studies of Igbo traditional religion, Stephen Ezeanya notes that Igbo metaphysical reality can be seen by looking at the people’s motivation for offering sacrifices to Chukwu (Supreme God, Great Spirit) through the mediation of subordinate spirits in order to ward off evil that may threaten life, its prolongation and security. This attitude that is centred around safeguarding life is also seen in the qualities which the Igbo attribute to God which are often expressed in the names which they give to their children (cf. Ezeanya 1956: 24-25). Moreover, the centrality of life, its prolongation and

140 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY protection in the Igbo worldview explain neatly some of their worries in cases of sickness or lack of children.10

The Igbo speak of a universe that is made up of heaven and earth (visible and invisible realities). The visible world is the earth (uwa), the world of human beings. The invisible world is the world of spirits. Here the Igbo distinguish four main categories of spiritual beings: the Supreme God (Chukwu), a multitude of lesser divinities and spirits, the ancestral spirits, and evil spirits. Chukwu, who is the Chineke (Creator God), is the author of heaven and earth, sends the rain and makes the crop grow. Above all, he is the source of life as well as the source from which human beings derive their Chi (accompanying spirit, destiny or selfhood). But Chukwu is also conceptualized as a metaphysical personality, almost oriental in character (cf. Ezeanya 1969: 35). He is a distant Being of vague personality and sacrifices are seldom offered to him directly, although he can be invoked directly through prayers. This accounts for the presence of lesser spirits and deities in the Igbo worldview. Chukwu has left the affairs of human daily life to his subordinates (deities, ancestors, and other spirits). He is nevertheless a good God, so good that he does not do evil to anyone.

There are therefore many spirits, good and evil, that are subordinate to Chuk- wu. At the head of the bad ones is Ekwensu or Akalogeli (the Devil). This great evil spirit does not do any good for any one. Its work on earth consists in doing evil—causing misfortunes, sickness of different kinds and premature death. At times it appears visibly and then is a sad omen for anyone who sees it. There is a host of malignant spirits of this kind (cf. Ezeanya 1956: 26). Nevertheless, the good spirits are very numerous as well. Among these good spirits, we have first, the Ikenga, which is the first household spirit sought by a young man at the beginning of his career for protection and success in life. There is the Ala or Ana (land spirit), which is another prominent deity and is regarded as the queen of the earth and the custodian of human morality. There are also the deities named after the four days that make up the Igbo week (Izu): Eke, Oye, Afo, and Nkwo. There are many other deities which are particular to certain villages. Each of these has its own special function with regard to the village at large, to the families and to the individuals. In addition to these spirits, most Igbo groups believe that every human being has a genius or spiritual double known

10 Ezeanya seems very close to suggesting that this may be responsible for the proliferation of healing churches and also of young couples delaying their Christian wedding until they are sure an offspring is forthcoming (male children are often preferred among the Igbo). And this also explains why some Christians, for example, whose marriages are not blessed with a male child or where one partner is sterile, feel like fish out of water in society (cf. Ezeanya 1956: 152-154; ID. 1994: 233-236).

141 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 as Chi11 which is associated with him from the moment of conception, to which his abilities, faults, and good or bad fortunes are ascribed and into whose care is entrusted the fulfilment of the destiny which Chukwu has prescribed.

The philosophical principle that every effect must have a cause finds an exag- gerated application in the life of the Igbo: prosperity and adversity, sickness and health, long life and premature death, years of plenty and years of famine, fecundity and sterility—all these have a cause which is above human power to explain. They are controlled by a multitude of spirits who supervise everything that humans do. These spirits, even the good ones, are very sensitive to disre- spect by humans and, when offended, very quickly take revenge, striking the offender with various kinds of misfortune. The foregoing explains why the Ig- bo live in fear of the spirits rather than with love towards them. The Igbo believe that an invisible universe is active around them and that one’s life will be short if one happens to offend its denizens. Thus, most of these good spirits have shrines dedicated to them and various kinds of sacrifices are offered to them in atonement, in propitiating them or in asking for favours. People salute, bow, genuflect and prostrate as the case may be when passing these shrines. But, as Ezeanya notes, it must be clearly remembered that the Igbo does not bow down to wood and stone. He bows down only to the indwelling spirit and therefore troubles little about the outer husk.12 No Igbo would for a moment credit a material ojbect with spiritual power as such; it could never be more than a receptacle for a spirit which worked through it. These spirits and deities, more in theory than in practice, serve as mediators between God and human beings. In practice, the Igbo attribute so much power to them that they are con- sidered almost next to God and also as having been endowed with power to op- erate sometimes independently of the Great Spirit. Francis Arinze observes that the Igbo often offer sacrifice to God through the spirits, a;though God is often invoked first, even in sacrifices to the spirits and the ancestors. The Igbo invariably invoke God at the beginning (cf. Arinze 1970: 49).

For Ezeanya the qualities which the Igbo attribute to God are often expressed in the names which they give to their children (cf. Ezeanya 1994b). We have

11 The word Chi is at times used to denote the Supreme Being and at times this accompanying spirit. The commonest use however is in the latter sense. It is important also to note that for the Igbo the word Chi does not mean ‘soul’ (or human spirit). Some have translated it as ‘destiny’ or ‘selfhood’ (cf. Synod of Bishops, Special Assembly for Africa 1993:Instrumentum Laboris no. 105).

12 This is an important point to bear in mind, because at times some people accuse the followers of the traditional religion of worshipping wood and clay or some other animistic objects, whereas in fact it is the indwelling spirit that the people venerate (cf. Ezeanya 1956: 28-30).

142 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY these examples: Chukwunwendu (God owns life), Chukwuma (God knows), Chukwukodinaka (everything is in God’s hands); Chukwubundum (God is my life), Ifeanyichukwu (nothing is impossible to God), Chukwukelu (God created), Chukwubuike (God is strength). Underlying these names with Chukwu as the substantive noun is the predicate and desire for life rooted in the benevolence of the same Chukwu.

Therefore, like the other African societies studied above, the Igbo belief in the chains of relationships among the beings (divine and humans) is very basic for the appreciation of the values they attach to the life of the human person.

THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH The discussion on life as the central value in the African search for ultimate reality and meaning has continued to receive attention in the cultural-anthropological and narrative approach of some African authors. Continuing with the Igbo concept of ultimate reality, we shall look briefly at the way Elochukwu Uzukwu has treated this subject. Uzukwu discusses the Igbo ultimate reality by examining the Igbo word for life (Ndu). Ndu is a noun meaning life, existence, being. The verb di or du means to be, to exist (to be alive). Uzukwu notes that in speech and action, whether in ritual or a profane context, ‘life’ stands out for the Igbo as a central value from which other values derive their meaning. Thus, the Igbo would say Ndubuisi (life is first) amd Ndukaku (life is greater than wealth). These are proper names pregnant with meaning. In other words, the term ndu seems related to the Bantu ntu (being), though the Igbo are not within the Bantu linguistic group (cf. Uzukwu 1983: 9). When the Igbo say ndubuisi (life is first), they are not referring to life as generic term but to the life of a human person (mmadu) and, to be more precise, to the life of members of the family, village group or clan. Mmadu is the term for human being. Since Igbo is a tonal language, two possible variations in tone give two different meanings: mma (beauty), du or di (is or be)—thus, knife is, or let knife be. However, the common opinion is that the first variation is the meaning of mmadu.

Moreover, when the Igbo say mmadu, they contrast it not with non-living things but with spirits (mmuo). As we noted before, this is because in the Igbo world the spirits loom large. Mmuo (spirit) is a generic term signifying the beings inhabiting the spirit world (ancestors, deities, etc.). There are two principal distinctions of worlds in the Igbo universe: uwa (earth and ala mmuo (spirit-world). Spirits, although they live in the spirit world, are at home in the human world (uwa). There is incessant traffic between the two worlds. But, as we saw before, over and above the human, his world and the world of the dead (ancestors) is the lord of life, Chukwu, who assigns a particular Chi (destiny) to each person coming into the human world. This means that the identity of this personal Chi and his relationship to Chukwu are fundamental in the understanding of ultimate reality and meaning among the Igbo. Connected to this is

143 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 the idea that mmadu (human being) is at the centre of this universe (uwa) created by Chukwu. Thus the term ndu is the key to the Igbo’s understanding of this universe and its multiple relations. It is the core of his hopes and fears as he searches for, follows or shapes his destiny which is ndu (life) itself. The Igbo is preoccupied daily with preserving, increasing and realizing ndu to the fullest. What can we say of the concept of future life among the Igbo?

The presence of inyo uwa (often translated as reincarnation (returning to the world)) in the Igbo worldview has induced some authors to claim that the Igbo have no clear idea of an afterlife. The Igbo do have clear ideas about life after death. This is not to be confused with reincarnation (inyo uwa). Since the world of spirits is the home of the dead from which all souls come into the human world, the reincarnation occurs when the ghost enters the body of an infant at birth, becoming the seed of a heart (nkpulu-obi). This spirit assumes the role of a motivating force underlying the life of the child. So, for all practical purposes, the soul (mmuo) or (nkpulu-obi) or the spirit (mmuo) of the infant is the reincarnation of the soul of the ancestor. In this case it is more reasonable to see the term inyo uwa (reincarnation) as a way of expressing the link between the individual person and ancestors who have been loved by the community. Since they have lived a full life in the human world, they become protectors or patrons of the newborn, who in turn look up to them (ancestors) as models. Again, when the agu (the person who has returned) is a living human being or a non-corporeal local spirit, it is the living elder; it is his own agu who protects the newborn. He assumes his full responsibility when he becomes an ancestor.

Again, we have to add that this Igbo concept of reincarnation does not mean that there is no clear idea of future life among the Igbo. In the first place, the Igbo concept of life after death is patterned on life in the human world (cf. Ikenga-Metuh 1987: 266). But it is a life where status are retained in a stable way. This means that it is a life where collective and individual hopes are realized to the fullest. A person who dies a death as willed by his personal chi (onwu-chi) and the ancestors, that is, who has fulfilled his predestined course in the human world, is said to have gone back to the home of his personal chi and the ancestors. This is the Igbo way of describing a fullness of communion with the personal chi and the ancestors. In the Igbo worldview, life after death is a life in which all the complex relations characteristic of life in the human world are retained: continued interest in the affairs of one’s progeny; collaboration with Ala (the earth spirit, guardian of the land of the living and the dead) in maintaining the laws of the land (odinani); collaboration with Chukwu and the personal chi in the creative process, by playing the role of patrons (agu) and guardians of new born members of the community. It is a life lived most intensely because one is close to and a collaborator of the source of life. It is this acting in concert that marks the fundamental step in becoming an Igbo adit;. One achieves an ideal life (both for this life and the life-after death), only

144 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY when this given and chosen destiny is successfully worked out in a concrete life.13 As a result of this dynamism in Igbo culture, Uzukwu proposes a ‘personal chi ideology’ as a factor in Igbo cosmology which is very important for the understanding of meaning of life and ultimate reality.14

Thus, expressed in the model of a person, the following realities are ultimate (taking Igbo as example): Chukwu (source of life), personal Chi (destiny, selfhood/personality emanating from Chukwu), ancestors (close to the source of life, they become the immediate givers and guardians of the life of their community), spirits (favouring or endangering the continuity of life). This is the African worldview and ultimate reality in a nutshell.

Historical Changes and the African Concept of Ultimate Reality Schools of thought have emerged, agreeing or disagreeing with the claims of the African authors about the idea of the ultimate reality in ATR. The problem lies with the status of the Supreme Being (God) and the claim that he is the Or- iginator and Supreme Source of life in ATR. Related to this is the question of the dynamic relationship between the Supreme Being and the ancestors, spirits, and the human beings, which characterize the African view of ultimate reality. It is a problem of how the African concepts of ultimate reality have come into contact with Christian and Western thought patterns. Sandra E. Greene, following earlier studies on this subject, identified two main schools of thought in this debate (cf. Greene 1996: 122ff).15 These are the so-called ‘Devout’ scholars and the ‘De-Hellenists.’ A brief allusion to this debate is necessary if one is to establish the genuineness of the African conceptions of ultimate reality and

13 Some have argued that this Igbo worldview explains in part why people view the realization of ideal life as success and achievement (long life and progeny, wealth, ancestral status). And in modern times the Igbo passion and dedication, individually and col- lectively, to succeed and achieve one’s life project, coupled with the recognition by the community that all doors should be left open to realize this life project, has converted success and achievement into the ultimate values (cf. Uchendu 1965: 16).

14 The characteristics of the personal chi which underscore this point include: his identity, role in the creation (birth) of his ward and the cult directed to him. Others are the attribution of success or failure to the personal chi. But the Igbo still underline the fundamental independence of the individual in his quest for success (meaning) in life. The Ig- bo are not fatalists. The Igbo world view portrays that the people have the character of struggle and bargaining and this is materialized in concrete living in the world of man (the world is like a market place for trade and commerce). (Cf. Uzukwu 1983: 20).

15 In her analysis of these two groups Greene depended on the work of Okot p’Bitek (1971) and the works of Robin Horton (1975; 1984).

145 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 their relatedness to the Christian and Western thought patterns (cf. Oborji 2002: 5-22).

The ‘Devout’ school emphasizes the originality and the genuineness of the African concepts of God and ultimate reality as life. The authors16 of this school claim that the notions of a Supreme Being and life as the ultimate reality existed among all African peoples before contact with Christianity and Islam. As Michael Obadiegwu observes: “In essence, what the Christian missionaries taught the African (Aguleri man) was about Jesus (and the Holy Spirit) and Mary, how to worship the true God, and not the concept of the Almighty God” (Obadiegwu 1991: 43). The African concept of God or of ultimate reality and meaning have the same attributes that are currently associated with the so-called ‘universalistic’ world religions. The Supreme God is conceptualized by the Africans as omnipotent and defined as the creator of the world and the ultimate source of human life (cf. Greene 1996: 122).

However, the authors of the ‘De-Hellenist’ school,17 argue that the conception of a Supreme Being and ultimate reality in ATR was a creation of the ‘Devout’ scholars. They accuse the ‘Devout’ scholars of generating this concept of a Su- preme Being and the ultimate reality out of a non-reality and that they had done so, in part, as a reaction to the Western negative attitude and scholarship which often tended to denigrate the African, his culture and religion as primitive, fetishistic, polytheistic, animistic and tabula rasa. The ‘De- Hellenist’ scholars argue that, in an effort to correct these European negative descriptions and attitude to the Africans and their traditional religion and culture, the African authors began to reject the evolutionary theories and the eighteenth-century philosophers’ as well as the nineteenth-century anthropologists’ account of Africa. Even after scholars rejected the evolutionary theories, leading Western anthropologists and philosophers still use insulting terms when describing African cultures and religious beliefs. The legendary Ugandan author Okot p’Bitek observes that the recent interpretations of African concepts of God by the ‘Devout’ scholars do nothing more than obscure the reality of African religious thought (cf. p’Bitek 1971: 43-47). In fact, in the opinion of the authors of the ‘De-Hellenist’ school, before the advent of Christianity and Islam the African peoples were not concerned with ‘ontological definitions,’ where a person’s interaction with the spiritual was governed by notions of om- nipotence, omnipresence, transcendence and eternity. Instead, Africans were most concerned about interacting with religious forces in order to obtain the

16 P’Bitek mentions the following as among the ‘Devout’: J.B. Danquah, K.A. Busia, W. Abraham and E.B. Idowu. Horton includes among this group H.W. Turner, V.W. Turner, J. Mbiti and E.E. Evans-Pritchard.

17 Among whom are Okot p’Bitek, Robin Horton, etc.

146 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY good life here and now, health and prosperity, success in life, happy and pro- ductive marriages. According to this view, African religious thought revolved principally around the desire to explain and influence the working of one’s ev- eryday life by discovering the constant principles within the spiritual world that underlie the apparent chaos and flux of sensory experience.

The ‘De Hellenist’ conception of ATR beliefs certainly does not deny the fact that traditional Africans did, in fact, have a concept of a Supreme God. Rather what is being argued is that the attributes accorded to this Being were influenced by the Christian religious background of the African authors and that in its original form the African conception of God as Supreme—was directed more toward explanation or predication and control over daily life rather than toward ‘communion’ with the holy as an end in itself (cf. Horton 1984). There is also the issue of the nature of the continued and dynamic relationship between the Supreme Being and the lesser beings in the spirit world. And how do these interact with the human person?

If we are to begin with the last point, it implies that the African conception of God as being remote and at the same time near creates some difficulty in appreciating the involvement of the same God in the affairs of the created world.18 This difficulty, however, is bridged by the fact that the Africans approach and worship God through the mediation of ancestors and other good spirits and deities. And this is why the veneration of ancestors, deities and other good spirits looms large in some traditional African societies. The presence and veneration of these mediators in ATR do not in any way diminish the traditional African concept of the Supreme Being. Rather, they help to strengthen and perfect such conception in a way most appropriate and more honourable to the Supreme Being. In fact, it is because of the new abode of the Supreme Be- ing (since his departure from the human world on earth) and which the African believes his ancestors, deities and other good spirits inhabit that makes him long for being honoured also as an ancestor one day. This is explained best by the fact that in the African worldview the spirit world is visualized as having

18 Many African societies have myths about the estrangement between God and human beings (myths of the withdrawal of God). According to these myths, it is in a bid to pacify and recapture the lost personal and cordial relationship between God and humankind (which was caused by humans not keeping the dictates of being a good neighbour in respect to the compound of God and which made God to relocate his abode in the heavens far from the physical reach of humans), that the traditional African has to appeal to the mediation role of the intermediaries (ancestors, and other deities as well as develop the religious rituals and symbols. However, the message of these myths (of the withdrawal and nearness of God) is to explain the nature of the relationship between God and humans in the African worldview (cf. Oborji 1998: 139).

147 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 the same pattern as this human world. Since the compound of the Supreme Be- ing was first in the human world, God has never abandoned his house and the created universe. In fact, he longs to return to his compound in that world. This is why what is of paramount interest in the view of ATR is that during one’s lifetime one can still have access to the eschatological realm of existence through rituals, by which the powers of the divinities to renew and revitalize one’s potencies and heal broken relationships are invoked. At death, people hope to join the ranks of the ancestors in the spirit world and to use their en- hanced powers for the benefit of family and clan (cf. Oborji 2000: 66). Unfor- tunately, some studies in ATR miss this point, thereby negating the transcen- dental nature of this religion.19

Secondly, there is the assumption that the African concepts of the Supreme Be- ing as visualized in the writings of the so-called ‘Devout’ scholars are a result of historical changes and the influence of modernity or other world religions present on the continent. Historical changes occur to any group of people but, as Horton says, they have only a peripheral and seemingly uninteresting feature in the people’s core religious systems (cf. Horton 1984: 331). Therefore, Greene’s argument that understanding the historical changes of the nineteenth century is central to an analysis of African conceptions of the Supreme Being and ultimate reality is problematic. The same applies to her claim that the Afri- cans’ attributes of God shifted and changed over time under the influence of changing political and economic relations among the various classes of people in society (cf. Greene 1996: 125). The difficulty with this approach is that it re- duces religion to a purely functionalist exercise. People’s concepts of God and ultimate reality are an integral and important aspect of their religious thought. Although ATR is a dynamic religion and non-doctrinaire in character, dynamism itself does not imply a lack of systematization and consistence. In all religious beliefs, the determining factor is the belief in God. The people’s conception of God has prime place in their religious traditions. It is the most systematic and consistent feature of every religious tradition. This is why the Afri- can authors who discuss this subject rely more on the names given to God in their local language. These names existed before the advent of Christianity and Islam in the continent. Therefore, the evaluation of African concepts of God and ultimate reality as life will depend to a large extent on our understanding of the local language in which these attributes of God were first conceptualized. It will also entail not only studying the concepts of God in the

19 For instance, Dominique Zahan writes that the preoccupation in ATR does not consist in ‘redemption’ from a transcendent being but in the adherents of this religion taking their own redemption upon themselves through appropriate spiritual techniques. He concludes that in ATR salvation is conceived of as the supposedly indeterminate return of the human being to this world (cf. Zahan 2000: 3-4).

148 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY local language but also of all other religious elements of the particular tradition. This is because, culture is not only dynamic but also integral. And for the Africans religion is an element of culture. One can not understand ATR independent of other elements of African culture (cf. Oborji 1999: xii). More- over, as the bedrock of society, culture in its dynamic function is not only influenced by historical changes, but the history itself is influenced and often transformed by the culture. This is because culture (and in this case, religious tradition) is the most permanent thing that seems to remain with any group of people despite the historical changes through which they might have gone.

Related to the above point is the argument of those who say that we cannot de- termine what actually the ultimate reality in ATR is since the religion had no written scriptures like other world religions (cf. Oborji 2002: 69-70). Laurenti Magesa has already evaluated this claim. He asserts that this argument is based on a refusal to look carefully at history. The fact is that Judaism, for example, was an orally-based religion for many centuries before its stories were codified in writing. The same was true for Christianity and Islam, although for a shorter period of time (cf. Magesa 1997: 18). Thus, the non-existence of written scriptures for ATR cannot disqualify that religion from its qualitative greatness. This argument must apply to the issue of concepts of ultimate reality as a major characteristic of religion.

However, in my opinion, and in fairness to the authors of the ‘De-Hellenist’ school, I would say that they presented us with the central problem in relating the Christian God to that of the ATR. They are also right to recognize the re- duction of African religious beliefs into European conceptual schemes. And this is the crux of the matter! As Emefie Ikenga-Metuh observes, the problem is not whether the Africans have concepts of the Supreme Being and ultimate reality. In fact, they do. African conceptions of a Supreme God did exist and God has been described as being greater than all other. Therefore, the problem is that of the interpretation of African religious beliefs in according to the Western conceptual apparatus. For instance, the terms ‘transcendent,’ ‘all-pow- erful’ and ‘the controller of providence” are Western philosophical concepts, but today they are being used to describe the African concepts of the Supreme Being. The African names for God are so monotheistic and pure that unless they are read and interpreted within their cultural colouring and setting, they will not only lose their original meaning but may also be confused with the African beliefs and practices on the ancestors and other beings in the spirit world. One must therefore define African religious systems according to Afri- can terms—terms, which unfortunately are not often found in Western philosophical thought. One must understand ATR as a religious tradition where it was believed that there was one Supreme God who mediated his power through a hierarchy of subordinate deities (cf. Ikenga-Metuh 1991: 37-45).

149 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2

But this does not mean that one should overlook the problem associated with this proposal. For instance, one would have to avoid the extreme position of those who advocate a near total return to the decadent past and cultivation of African indigenous values and attitudes. And also of those who call for a focus on the philosophical ideologies of ‘Negritude’ and ‘African personality.20 This approach ignores the fact that most elements of the traditional religion and also the philosophical ideologies of the freedom fighters are sometimes clothed in views and realities incompatible with the Gospel.21 This, however, does not mean that one should accept Jean Marc Ela’s theological position that compels him to reject the philosophical and theological reflections that take the traditional culture and values as their point of departure. Ela regards such projects as ‘abstract’ and which do not touch on the present reality and the praxis needed for addressing the African problem (cf. Ela 1986: 125; ID 1988). But does Ela’s proposal not confirm the value of what he claims to be criticizing? The fact is that praxis and reflection go together. Praxis not founded on the philosophy and ultimate reality of the people may turn out a superficial project. And, as Engelbert Mveng, observes, the African concept of ultimate reality must not be viewed as a ‘monad’—an individual without any concrete consis- tency. But it must be viewed, rather, as a dialectic of the monad, dyad, and triad. It is two dimensions: ultimate and concrete, reflection and praxis. If the two are placed together, one will have an African reality (cf. Mveng 1979: 139; ID 1990). It is interrelatedness that characterizes the African reality.

Finally, it is necessary to offer a critical appraisal of the assumptions of the critics who have interpreted the studies of the so-called ‘Devout’ scholars as mere sentimental efforts aimed to correcting the prejudices which have been created against the people and culture of Africa in the writings of the evolu- tionists, the philosophers of the Enlightenment, the anthropologists and explorers of the medieval era as well as those of the nineteenth century (cf. Uzukwu 1996: 22). However, even if this seems to be true, one may not ignore the fact that in the early centuries of Christianity, systematic reflection on the faith developed in an emergent situation in which the evangelizing church found itself

20 In proposing the evaluation of ATR categories through the knowledge of the original language in which those categories (concepts) were first conceptualized, one would avoid the extreme approach of some authors such as Blyden whom, as Kwame Bediako writes, proposed an adoption of a position of racial exclusiveness, and cultural nationalism based on a self-conscious cultivation of African indigenous values and attitudes (cf. Bediako 1997: 14).

21 Often the objectives and philosophy of these ideologies are defined by three closely related components, namely, pan-Africanism, nationalism and socialism which are better viewed as political agendas than a real reading of African world (cf. Martey 1993: 9).

150 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY and in which it felt the obligation to respond to and to correct what it sensed was a distortion of Christian doctrine in the teaching and writings of some people (cf. Oborji 2002c: 9).22 In other words, one need not underestimate the legitimate aspect of such endeavour. In the African context it has given birth to indigenous philosophy and systematic theology as we have them today.

Quite naturally, the ‘Devout’ scholars have been very critical of the earlier European descriptions of Africans and their cultural heritage. They have rejected scholarship that denigrates the African religion and culture. The writings of these African authors have had great impact, compelling these other scholars and ordinary people alike to rethink and alter previously held views on Afri- cans and their cultural and religious heritage. This is a contribution by the ‘De- vout’ scholars that is to be appreciated. An example is Tempels’ Bantu philosophy, which is seen as a reaction to the Enlightenment philosophy of such authors as G.W.F. Hegel. Hegel himself did not apply the ‘category of ultimate reality and universality’ to African character.23 In a blunt tone he denied that the African had any capacity to think, reflect, or reason. In his Philosophy of History Hegel postulated that characteristic of an African life is that consciousness had not yet attained the realization of any substantial objective existence—as, for example, the Law of God, in which the interest of human volition is involved and in which one realizes one’s own being. As he puts it: The distinction between himself (African) as an individual and universality of his essential being, the African in the uniform, underdeveloped oneness of his existence has not yet attained; so that the knowledge of an absolute Being, an Other and a Higher than his individual self, is entirely wanting. (Hegel 1944: 93-96) Therefore, studies on African culture, religion or philosophy (such as that by Tempels’ and others discussed in this work) have proved that Hegel’s char- acterization of the continent and other similar theories were born out of preju-

22 It suffices to recall the writings of some Apostolic Fathers and Apologists; theologians of the Third century; the Cappadocian Fathers and the early Councils (Nicea, Constantinople, etc.) on the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ, which formed both the theological and ecclesial responses to the Arian heresy among others (cf. Ladaria 1999: 153-271).

23 As a philosopher and historian, Hegel was typical of the age in which he grew up, with special love for Greece and the Germanic race. He had no consideration for Africa, although he had never set foot on the continent but relied on the accounts of missionaries and explorers. Among such missionaries was Rev. W.N. Bentley who said that his experience in Africa showed that the African can do almost everything except reason and philosophize. In other words, for Bentley the African had no capacity for ultimate reality and meaning (cf. Bentley 1900: 256, quoted in Levy-Bruhl 1978: 27-28; see also Onyewuenyi 1993: 94).

151 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 dice, ignorance, and truncated ideologies about Africa.24 This applies not just to the area Hegel called underdeveloped and unhistorical (sub-Saharan Africa) but also to the regions he called European and Asiatic Africa as well (ancient Egypt and the Maghreb).25 Innocent C. Onyewuenyi argues in his Afrocentric work that Hegel’s History of Philosophy, as far as Africa was concerned, was written with prejudice and used as a means of gaining some objective. This objective is principally the denial of the Ancient Model, that is, the African influence on Greek philosophy and civilization. In the words of Onyewuenyi: Because the Germans believe that their philosophy and civilization came from the Greeks, any suggestion that black Africa mothered Greek philosophy and culture before these were transmitted to Germany must be eliminated by all available means. (Onyewuenyi 1993: 99-100) Onyewuenyi concludes that Hegel’s History of Philosophy was his own means of contributing to a common European effort to suppress the Egyptian contribution to Greek philosophy.26

24 In addition to such works like Tempels’, we have also studies in palaeo-anthro- pology, which uses highly developed scientific methods for dating fossils, artefacts and relics, some as old as two and half million years. Thanks to these studies, we know now that Africa was not a cultural desert before its contact with Europe. From the Maghreb in North Africa to the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and the Swartkrans in Transvaal in South Africa, archaeological excavations have revealed that humankind has had a very long history in Africa. Although, scientific statements are tentative in character, one thing is certain: before 5000 BC there were already human beings in Africa. Therefore they must have had some means of living and relating to one another, social organizations and values, some form of religion. All that constitutes what is referred to today as culture and civilization (cf. Clark 1978: 13; Howell 1982: 147-156).

25 In a three-volume history of philosophy, Hegel does not find it necessary to include Egypt as a source of philosophy but gives space and attention for the treatment of China and India as sources. Egypt is only mentioned in passing and once in volume one of his lectures. He admits that Europeans had taken their religion and civilization from a point beyond Greece, namely from the East and more especially from Syria. Hegel avoids the mention of Egypt which was the principal source of Greek and European religion and civilization as recorded by Greek historians and philosophers themselves (cf. Hegel 1983: 150).

26 Unfortunately, Hegel has been regarded as an authority in philosophical circles and he is quoted freely by Western authors when they want to denigrate Africa and Africans. One thinks of the number of people who have read Hegel’s Philosophy of History. How can these ideas about Africa be erased from their minds? (cf. Onyewuenyi 1993: 98).

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Again, as a result of the discovery from these studies on African philosophy, authors have recommended a change of attitude towards the so-called ‘primi- tives,’ long judged by ethnologists of the evolutionist school and the Enlighten- ment philosophers (like Hegel) as latecomers to the human family and unintel- ligent (cf. Tempels 1959: 109-111). Moreover, it is on the basis of this discovery of ‘life’ as the ultimate reality and meaning in African religion and philosophy that Tempels is regarded as a tutor and defender of African identity and self-consciousness, along with other pioneer authors of schools of Negritude and African Personality, whose works have helped a great deal in our awareness of the independence of the culture and religion of the African people. Londi Boka di Mpasi27 describes Tempels discovery of an African philosophical concept as an unexpected miracle. It was “like a clap in a cloudless sky” (Boka di Mpasi 1990: 48).

Conclusion and Evaluation Our investigations so far have shown that Africans have concepts of ultimate reality before the advent of Christianity and Islam in the continent. But the African concepts of ultimate reality have not often been given a positive appreciation in some early studies on them. Moreover, in some contemporary studies one still sees the traces of the past prejudices against the African culture and traditional religion. This problem still lingers on, partly because of the difficulty of interpreting the African concepts into and through the Western thought patterns and in relating them to similar categories in the Christian religion. Again, some authors have not been able to link the central idea in the African concepts of ultimate reality with that of the Christian religion and the Western thought patterns. Therefore, if we are able to show (as we have done in this study) that Africans have valid concepts of ultimate reality, it means we have established a point of contact between the Western and African scholars to engage in positive and creative dialogue between the two traditions. The central point here is: How do we relate the African ultimate reality to the Christian category on which most scholars have based their evaluation of the African culture and traditional religion? In other words, what is the relationship between the African concepts of life as the ultimate reality in ATR and that of the Christian religion? A further reflection on the relatedness of concepts of life in the two traditions, will help to take us a step further in highlighting how

27 In a separate work, Boka di Mpasi argues that just as Hegel was a victim of his time and the Enlightenment philosophy, so was Bartholomew de Las Casas (1484-1566), the celebrated defender of the Indians in the sixteenth-century Spanish America, a victim of his time. Though La Casas defended the Indians against those who were subjecting them to slavery, he ordered for the importation of Africans for the inhuman trade and thus began at an inter-continental level this sadistic and horrific trade in slaves in a way human history has never witnessed. (cf. Boka di Mpasi 2000: 852).

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Western and African scholars could learn from the other and by so doing ap- preciate the universal dimension of the African concept of ultimate reality. In this case, they will be able to foster a more humane understanding of each other and the world at large.

Therefore, in this concluding part of our investigations I wish to highlight once more the theme of ‘life’ in the two traditions as the central element for dialogue. So far we have demonstrated that the Africans have a valid concept of ultimate reality. This is built around their vision of life, its security, prolongation and preservation. It is rooted in the relationality between the beings in the invisible world and those of the human world.28 The human life takes centre stage in this interplay between the beings of the two worlds. One lives an ultimately meaningful life, a fully realized life, when he follows the ‘life-lines’ (destiny) mapped out for him in the community and when he participates in maintaining the dynamic relationship with all the realities which ultimately concern life. In this worldview one can always avail himself of the services of specialists to assure optimal realization of his life project.

Furthermore, the African worldview presents us with a notion of a universe that is marked by harmony and unity (between the spirit world and the human world), of a human person created by God; signed with a divine mark (chi for the Igbo and ntu for the Bantu), who realizes his destiny through participation in dynamic relationships and communion. This African worldview believes that the universe will always be there and fulfil its function. So, it is not a lifeless, indifferent universe but a personalized active participant in the maintenance and increase of human life. This personalization of the universe is symbolized in the spiritualization of certain objects created by God and in the veneration of ancestors and deities. Moreover, the African universe is not dualistic. There is also no indication that any part of this universe is evil—only evil men and evil spirits could pollute a section of the universe. And when this happens, it requires ritual purification to reestablish equilibrium. Morality is rooted in the way one maintains or does not maintain the complexity of relationships in the universe which favour the continuity, prolongation and full realization of life.

Therefore, in relating the African view of ultimate reality to Christian and Western thought patterns, it is necessary to link the African ideas of life, the people’s search for life, with the Johannine Gospel in which Jesus said that he had come to bring life and to bring it in abundance (John 10:10) (cf. Tempels

28 It has often been said that where Descartes said, “I think, therefore, I am” (cogito ergo sum), the African would rather say, “I am related, therefore, I am” (cognatus ergo sum). (cf. Oborji 2002d: 25).

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1962: 38). If Jesus is truly the Way, the Truth and the Life, then he is the final answer to the aspirations of the whole human race and not only of Africans. All human cultures manifest the human longing for fullness of life.

There is also another way we can see the link between the African worldview and that of the Christian in its Western thought pattern. In Western Chris- tianity, the God of life is conceived as the God of love. The life that God com- municates is love and it is communicated out of love to the human person. God is life and God is love. Only God can communicate life and love. Human persons are beneficiaries of God’s gift of life. It is a gift gratuitously given out of love of God to the human person. The human person is only an administrator of this gift of life. Again, the Christian God is revealed as a trinitarian God and thus defined as God of love. Both in his immanent and economic identity, God is recognized in the Christian theology as God of love. This is the Christian understanding of God. The African worldview, for its part, conceptualizes God as the God of life. The Africans celebrate life and God as its originator. Thus, in African Christianity we see life and love meet in God. The God who has spoken to humankind through his Son, Jesus Christ, is the God of life. The life he gives is out of his love for the human person. And that life is God himself, the trinitarian life, which is life of love.

Therefore, the African worldview must be complemented with the revelation of God as love in the New Testament teaching. In this case, ATR could be described as the ‘Old Testament’ for the African who has become a Christian. The link made between African and Christian concepts of life, however, does not mean that the two realities are identical. For instance, in ATR the life which flows from God to humans is sustained and maintained through ancestral mediation and harmonious relationships between the living and the dead (the living dead). In Christianity Christ is at the centre of the source of life, its mediation and maintenance. It is a participation in the trinitarian life which has been revealed in Christ. Thus, the African concept of life as ultimate reality, in its relation to the Christian faith, must be seen from the background of the theology of a reconciliation or unification of all things in God through Christ, who is the manifestation of God’s love and who has come that humans may have life and have it in abundance. In traditional Christian theology it means that African ultimate reality has found its fulfilment in Christianity. In this case life as ultimate reality is made concrete in the people of God. The people of God is the community that shares in the fullness of the life of God—that is, the love of God for Christians themselves and for all others. This love of God is the force that unites the diverse peoples. It is also that which unites the people with the heavenly realities. This is so, because God is the Creator of all things. And all the created things (visible or invisible) are meant to participate in enhancing the human’s full realization of life which has God as its source and originator. This is the principle behind the African vision of ultimate reality as relationality in maintaining the life union and force.

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Here lies the link between the African concepts of ultimate reality and the Christian and Western thought patterns. It could serve as a point of departure in promoting meaningful dialogue between the two traditions and in appreciating the universal value of African concept of ultimate reality and meaning.

In addition, the African worldview is necessary for the understanding of modern African society and for any meaningful dialogue with other cultural or religious traditions. In fact, despite the influence of Christianity and Western edu- cation on the continent, the African worldview (though in the garb of a foreign view of the universe), has continued to underline the participatory role of Afri- cans in modern society. This is manifest in the mode of prayers and hymns that are found in most churches and communities of Africa today; the preference in some communities for traditional ideas and laws of marriage over any state or Christian laws. Again, this is manifest in the persistence of the practice of hos- pitality, the importance attached to family solidarity, extended family, village groups, and even the whole ethnic group.29 These are social benefits and some emergent manifestations accruing from the traditional African understanding of life as participation. Moreover, one should not forget that a good number of African communities are still steeped in ancestral religious practice. This un- derscores the virility of traditional African worldview: the proliferation of ‘healing churches’ of all kinds on the continent. In addition, most people still attach great importance to traditional medicine, which is still very popular despite the technological advances in modern medicine. Some still prefer traditional psychiatry as more effective in reestablishing equilibrium in a mod- ernized world marked by disunity and separation. All this is backed by the cultural revival that is leading to a reevaluation and dissemination of traditional values which has marked the modern period (cf. Uzukwu 1983: 22).

All this confirms that the traditional African worldview is still very much alive and that it has not been stifled by the forces of modernization. It is a worldview that favours progress and success in an equilibrated universe. It is for this reason that its role has to be recognized as fundamental for the dialogue with the Christian and Western thought patterns as well as for the creation of a new cultural identity in modern African society. This consideration dominated the discussion during the Synod of Bishops, Special Assembly for Africa.30 It is there-

29 The image of the church-as-family was accepted as an African ecclesiology at the African Synod. This is because of the communitarian accentuation of the family in its African concept and colouring (cf. John Paul II 1995: Ecclesia in Africa 63).

30 In their post-Synodal Message, the African Bishops prayed for a creation of a new cultural identity. They Bishops identified cultural crisis as at the root of the present problem of the continent (cf. Synod of Bishops for Africa 1994: Message 15).

156 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY fore to be hoped that the positive evaluation of African concepts of ultimate reality would lead to a genuine dialogue between the Western and African scholars and by so doing enable them to learn from the other for a more humane understanding of ourselves and the world at large.

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