Eschatology in African Traditional Religion and African Christianity: Implications for Biblical and Theological Scholarship in Africa
Edward Agboada 
Issue: Vol.4 No.5 May 2023 Article 8 pp.585-595
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20234538 | Published online 12th May, 2023
© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
African traditional religion has many concepts that present alternative and a variety of contexts for Christianity, theology and biblical scholarship in Africa which can also provide appropriate answers to the many questions of African Christians. One of such concepts is eschatology. Eschatology in African traditional religions present deep insight into the philosophies of Africa’s indigenous cosmology and perspectives about life, death, and the hereafter. This article attempts to examine the concept of eschatology in Christian theology and explain the same within the African traditional and religious hermeneutical framework to decipher what implications can be derived for Christianity, theology and biblical scholarship in Africa and beyond. To achieve this the article reviewed various literature on the concept of eschatology within Christianity and African Traditional Religion (ATR). In this way, the article was able to compare the theology of escatology in Christianity and African Traditional Religion. The article looked at concepts such as time, death, end time, judgement, etc in both Christianity and ATR to discover their similarities and differences. The study revealed that the quintessential essence of African spirituality and cosmology is summed up in the concept of life as a cycle (unending); a person is born, grows to become a full member of the family, dies and gets admitted into the world of the ancestors. Even in death, life does not end, it continues actively and vibrantly in the world of the ancestors. This ideology evokes a kind of consciousness of life as a spiritual journey.
Keywords: Eschatology, Christology, Ancestor, Christianity, Theology, Religion
Amevenku, Frederick Mawusi, and Isaac Boaheng. “Introducing Eschatology in the African Context Vol. I,” 2021.
Badham, Paul. “What Is Theology?” Theology 99, no. 788 (1996): 101–6.
Barrett, David B. “AD 2000: 350 Million Christians in Africa.” International Review of Mission 59, no. 233 (1970): 39–54.
———. World Christian Encyclopedia : A Comparative Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World, AD 1900-2000. Nairobi ; Oxford University Press, 1982.
Bauckham, Richard, and Trevor Hart. Hope against Hope: Christian Eschatology at the Turn of the Millennium. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999.
Baur, John. 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, an African History. Nairobi: Pauline Press, 1994.
Bediako, Kwame. “Africa and Christianity on the Threshold of the Third Millennium: The Religious Dimension.” African Affairs 99, no. 395 (2000): 303–23.
———. Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion. Edinburgh University Press, 1997.
———. Theology and Identity: The Impact of Culture upon Christian Thought in the Second Century and in Modern Africa. OCMS, 1992.
Booth, Newell S. “Time and Change in African Traditional Thought.” Journal of Religion in Africa 7, no. 2 (1975): 81–91.
Broodryk, Johann. Ubuntu: Life Lessons from Africa. Ubuntu School of Philosophy, 2002.
Bujo, Bénézet. African Theology in Its Social Context. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2006.
Chukwuedo, Mercy Uwaezuoke. “A Comparative Study of the Resurrection of the Body in Christianity and African Tradition Religion.” Journal of Religion and Human Relations 11, no. 1 (2019): 70–82.
Dalian, A. “Ancestral Voices: Spirit Is Eternal.” UK: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.
Davies, Brian. The Thought of Thomas Aquinas. Clarendon Press, 1992.
Davies, William, and Charles Harold Dodd. The Background of the New Testament and Its Eschatology . CUP Archive, 1956. https://archive.org/details/backgroundofnewt0000davi/page/n7/mode/2up.
Ephirim-Donkor, Anthony. African Spirituality: On Becoming Ancestors. New Jersey: Africa World Press, 1997.
Fromm, Harold. “Ecocriticism at Twenty-Five.” Edited by Frederick Morgan, Paul Lindholdt, Ken Lamberton, Ellen McMahon, Ander Monson, Beth Weinstein, Andrew Ross, and Greg Garrard. The Hudson Review 66, no. 1 (2013): 196–208. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43488692.
Gifford, Paul. “Trajectories in African Christianity.” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 8, no. 4 (November 2008): 275–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742250802347935.
Gwinyai, H Muzorewa. “The Origins and Development of African Theology.” Maryknoll, NY, Orbis Books, 1985.
Gyekye, Kwame. African Cultural Values: An Introduction. Legon: Sankofa Publication, 2002.
Hastings, Adrian. The Church in Africa, 1450-1950. Clarendon Press, 1995.
Idowu, E B. African Traditional Religion: A Definition. Orbis Books, 1973. https://books.google.com.gh/books?id=FewbAAAAMAAJ.
Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of Christianity in Africa: From Antiquity to the Present. London: SPCK , 1995.
Kanu, Ikechukwu Anthony. “The Dimensions of African Cosmology.” Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions 2, no. 2 (2013): 533–55.
Kasera, Basilius M. “African Names for God and the Biblical Concept of YAHWEH.” Mission Namibia, 2012, 112.
Klaits, Frederick. “African Cosmologies Of Evil-Evil In Africa: Encounters with the Everyday.” The Journal of African History 58, no. 2 (2017): 335–37.
Knight, George A F. “Eschatology in the Old Testament.” Scottish Journal of Theology 4, no. 4 (1951): 355–62.
Knott, Jason E. “The Eschatology of the Apostle Paul.” Texas A&M University, 2001.
Koka, Kgalushi K. “Ubuntu: A Peoples’ Humanness.” Midrand: The Afrikan Study Programme/Pretoria: Ubuntu School of Philosophy, 1996.
Kooten, George Van, Oda Wischmeyer, and Nicholas T Wright. “How Greek Was Paul’s Eschatology?” New Testament Studies 61, no. 2 (2015): 239–53.
Landes, Richard. “Eschatology .” Britannica, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/topic/eschatology.
Magesa, Laurenti. African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life. Paulines Publications Africa, 1998.
Martey, Emmanuel. African Theology: Inculturation and Liberation. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2009.
Marumo, Phemelo Olifile, and Mompati Vincent Chakale. “Understanding African Philosophy and African Spirituality: Challenges and Prospects.” Gender and Behaviour 16, no. 2 (2018): 11695–704.
Masoga, M. A., and A. Nicolaides. “Christianity and Indigenisation in Africa.” European Journal of Theology and Philosophy 1, no. 4 (August 8, 2021): 18–30. https://doi.org/10.24018/theology.2021.1.4.33.
Maxwell, David. “New Perspectives on the History of African Christianity.” Journal of Southern African Studies 23, no. 1 (1997): 141–48.
Mayemba, Bienvenu. “The Notion of Eschatology in African Ancestral Religions: A Category of Deliverance, Promise and Remembrance.” Theology Dept., Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 2009.
Mbiti, John. “The Encounter of Christian Faith and African Religion.” Christian Century 97, no. 27 (1980): 817–20.
Mbiti, John S. African Religions & Philosophy. Heinemann, 1990.
———. African Religions and Philosophy. London: Oxford University Press, 1969.
———. “Concepts of God in Africa,” 1970.
———. “New Testament Eschatology in an African Background: A Study of the Encounter between New Testament Theology and African Traditional Concepts,” 1971.
Metuh, Emefie Ikenga. Comparative Studies of African Traditional Religions. IMICO Publ., 1992.
Moltmann, Jurgen. The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology. Fortress Press, 2004.
Moltmann, Jürgen. “The Final Judgment: Sunrise of Christ’s Liberating Justice.” Anglican Theological Review 89, no. 4 (2007).
Mounce, Robert H. “Pauline Eschatology and the Apocalypse.”.” Evangelical Quarterly 46, no. 3 (1974): 164–66.
Mugambi, Jesse N K. Christianity and the African Cultural Heritage. Nairobi: Acton Publications, 2005.
Ndemanu, Michael T. “Traditional African Religions and Their Influences on the Worldviews of Bangwa People of Cameroon: Expanding the Cultural Horizons of Study Abroad Students and Professionals.” Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad 30, no. 1 (2018): 70–84.
Nginan, Ushe Michael. Fundamental Of African Religion. Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013. https://www.perlego.com/book/3317288/fundamental-of-african-religion-pdf.
Olupona, Jacob K. African Spirituality: Forms, Meanings, and Expressions. New York: Crossroads, 2000.
Onwubiko, Oliver Alozie. African Thought, Religion and Culture. Enugu: Snaap Press. Enugu: Snaap Press, 1991.
Parratt, John. Reinventing Christianity: African Theology Today. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995.
Ploeg, Johannes P M van der. “Eschatology in the Old Testament.” In The Witness of Tradition, 89–99. Brill, 1972.
Popkin, Richard. “Jewish-Christian Relations in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: The Conception of the Messiah.” Jewish History, 1992, 163–77.
Rahner, Karl. “Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity.” Religious Studies Review 5, no. 3 (1979): 190–99.
Rowland, Christopher. “Part I: Historical Eschatology – The Eschatology of the New Testament Church.” In The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Sapir, Edward. Selected Writings of Edward Sapir. Univ of California Press, 1968.
Sarbacker, Stuart. “Rudolf Otto and the Concept of the Numinous.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.88.
Schwarz, Hans. Eschatology. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000.
Shorter, Aylward. “Inculturation of African Traditional Religious Values in Christianity-How Far.” African Traditional Religion, 2015.
Shutte, Augustine. “Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu: An African Conception of Humanity.” Philosophy and Theology 5, no. 1 (1990): 39–54.
Smith, Edwin W. The Christian Mission. London: The International Missionary Council, 1926. https://gospelstudies.org.uk/missiology/pdf/e-books/smith-e-w/christian-mission-in-africa_smith.pdf.
Souza, Christiane Pantoja de, and Airle Miranda de Souza. “Funeral Rituals in The Process of Mourning: Meaning and Functions/Rituais Funebres No Processo’do Luto: Significados e Funcoes.” Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa 35 (2019): NA-NA.
Talmon, Shemaryahu. “The Concepts of Masiah and Messianism in Early Judaism.” The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity, 1992, 79–115.
Walls, Andrew Finlay. Towards Understanding Africa’s Place in Christian History, 1976.
Webster, John, Kathryn Tanner, and Iain Torrance. The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology. Oxford Handbooks, 2007.
Wood, Irving F. “Paul’s Eschatology.” The Biblical World 38, no. 2 (1911): 79–91.
Rev. Edward Agboada is an Ordained Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Until recently he was a Senior Lecturer at the Ramseyer Training Centre, (Abetifi) where he taught courses in World Religions, Islamic Studies, Christian-Muslim relations, interfaith dialogue, Cross-Cultural Missions, New Religious Movements, Homiletic (Practice of Preaching), and studies in African Traditional Religions.
Agboada, E.“Eschatology in African Traditional Religion and African Christianity: Implications for Biblical and Theological Scholarship in Africa.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 4, no.5 (2023): 585-595. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2023458
© 2023 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
