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 world- view 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 re- ality 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 under- standing 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 his- tory 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. 129 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 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 per- spective of the Christian mission. Right from the beginning of the renewed ef- fort in the study and appreciation of African cultural and religious values, theo- logians 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 mean- ing (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, be- ings (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 mean- ings? 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. 130 ATR BETWEEN PLURALISM AND ULTIMATE REALITY 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 ultim- ate reality and meaning in African traditional religion and culture. In this re- gard 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 meaning- ful 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 on- tology 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 realiz- ation 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 cosmo- logy and religion. Magesa argues that African Traditional Religion is about moral tradi- tions 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. 131 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 14 (2004) 2 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 philo- sophy, was among the early scholars to begin an inquiry into the African con- cept of ultimate reality and meaning (ontology) (cf. Bujo 1992: 58; Nkafu 1995: 26). Tempels began his inquiry with the question: Does an African ulti- mate reality exist? And if does, what is it? The result of his research was an or- iginal 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 bas- ic 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 inan- imate elements, hierarchically perceived but directly related and always inter- acting 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).