A Comparative Study of the Israelites Kingship System and the Ashanti Tradition

ISSUE: Vol.4  No.1 September 2018 Article 10  pp.124-131
AUTHORS: Boadu Kankam & Frimpong Wiafe

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ABSTRACT

Kingship implies centralized leadership, standing armies and unified authority. This essay focuses on comparative study of the kinship systems of the Israelites and the Ashanti of the Akan tradition in Ghana. It studies the stages of development through which the two traditions passed as kingship emerged, and focuses upon the stage of chiefdom when kings offered leadership on the stead of theocracy. Existing literature were reviewed for this comparison. Through this historical review, it becomes clear that both traditions are religiously (theocratically) inclined in their kingship transactions and that both give much reverence to their kings. They view kingship as symbol of authority. Notwithstanding, whiles the Ashanti pour libation as a way of invoking the spirit, the Israelites mostly use the Bible as a medium. It is recommended that since the two states adhere to common cultural practices, they can jointly organize cultural festivals to showcase their culture.

 

Boadu Kankam is a Professor of Social Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies, University of Cape Coast, where he serves as the Dean of Graduate Studies. Frimpong Wiafe is a lecturer in Old Testament Studies and Biblical Hebrew at the Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.

Kankam, Boadu., and Wiafe, Frimpong. “A Comparative Study of the Israelites Kingship System and the Ashanti Tradition.” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 4, no.1 (2018): 124-131.

© 2020 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/).

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