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Although Africa is today often seen, because of its large number of Christians, as the future hope of the Church, a closer examination of African Christianity, however, shows that the Christian faith has not taken deep root in Africa. Many Africans today declare themselves to be Christians but still remain followers of their traditional African religions, especially in matters concerning the inner dimensions of their lives. It is evident that, in strictly personal matters relating to such issues as passage rites and crises, most Africans turn to their African traditional religions. As an incarnational faith, part of the history of Christianity has been its encounter with other cultures and its becoming deeply rooted in some of these cultures. The central question remains: Why has the Christian faith not taken deep root in Africa? This volume is concerned with answering this question.
Throughout the ages, Jews have connected legends to particular days of the Hebrew calendar. Abraham's birth, the death of Rachel, and the creation of light are all tales that are linked to a specific day and season. The Jewish Book of Days invites readers to experience the connection between sacred story and nature's rhythms, through readings designed for each and every day of the year. These daily readings offer an opportunity to live in tune with the wisdom of the past while learning new truths about the times we live in today. Using the tree as its central metaphor, The Jewish Book of Days is divided into eight chapters of approximately forty-five days each. These sections represent the t...
The Agwu is the Igbo patron deity of health and divination, and one of the basic Igbo theological concepts employed to explain good and evil, health and sickness, wealth and poverty, and fortune and misfortune. Belief in the Agwu was widespread in thepast. Most communities had some Agwu people, who were considered victims of its malignant powers or recipients of its positive influences, such as priest-diviners and physicians. This books analyses this belief system in past and present times, and posits the view that it still exists but to a lesser degree or in a modified forms. The author conducted his research through personal interviews and observer-participant methods. Themes range from beliefs about the Agwu deity through the rites and initiation into Agwu cult, to the guild of diviners and traditional healers. The six chapters cover: supernaturalism and disease causation; the anthropocentricity of Agwu; art and symbol in the Agwu cult; the rites of Dibia initiation; significance and consequences of Dibia initiation; and Agwu therapeutic forces in a time perspective.
This comprehensive and detailed exploration of the African past, from prehistory to approximately 1870, is intended to provide a fully up-to-date complement to the Cambridge History of Africa. Reflecting several emphases in recent scholarship, it focusses on the changing modes of production, on gender relations and on ecology, laying particular stress on viewing 'history from below'. A distinctive theme is to be found in its analyses of cognitive history. The work falls into three sections. The first comprises a historiographic analysis, and covers the period from the dawn of prehistory to the end of the Early Iron Age. The second and third sections are, for the most part, organised on regio...
A scholarly attempt to blend the past cultural and traditional life of the Ntuegbe people with the present inter-cultural experience.