7.1.4. God
For Africans, God is absolutely transcendent, far beyond
everything. He is so great that even the Ancestors and the spirits do not "see"
Him. Our Ancestors who have died are closer to God than we are and they can
obtain blessings from God for us. Our parents are "God-for-us" in the hic
et nunc since they are the ones through whom the life-giving power of God
has been transmitted to us. We worship God as creator. A portion of sacrificial
meal is always reserved to God. As Mbi says, "For Africans, God is in
Himself male and female.~I This is an expression of their
awareness of the wholeness of God. God is complete, whole and needs nothing
outside Him as man needs woman and woman needs man. This way of reasoning opens
the way for an easy understanding of mystery.
7.1.5. Man
For Africans, man stands at the centre of the world and of
being. In the created realm, man is the most important being; whatever exists
exists for man and man exists for God. Man therefore is the reference point for
any meaning in life. According to Father Jude Thaddeus Mbi, there are four
types of human being: "the normal man, the
I Jude Thaddeus Mbi, Op. Cit., p. 8I.
witch or wizard, the `rational animal' (a person able to
transform herself into an animal), and the living dead, the
Ancestors."'
In our societies, people want but the 'normal man'. If signs
of 'abnormality' are revealed, certain rites are carried on the baby or child
in order to make him 'normal' again. This is one of the areas were faith in
Africa is often tried. People are aware of the rites, or 'country fashion'
which must be performed for their baby to be fine. Western Christianity has
qualified these rites as pagan. Only the strong survive this kind of sore
testing often at a great price. The majority would be in church in the morning
and in the evening "take to witchcraft".~ This area needs careful
study so that a clear distinction may be made between legitimate tradition and
witchcraft.
For Africans, human life is the highest good in the created
order. Man's being is ordered to God because God created man for Himself. Man
is God's property, God's food. You cannot question Him any more than you would
question a man who takes a chicken from his poultry. This is how death is
understood. The ancestors too belong to the human community, they are the
living dead. Since they are mediators between God and us, we relate to them
regularly through prayer, libation and sacrifice. It is for this reason that
the veneration of Ancestors is considered to be the backbone of African
traditional religion. Again, this is another area of sore testing for Christian
faith. Once more, only the strong survive, often at a great price. The majority
would be at the Eucharist in the morning and would be immolating a goat back in
the compound later on in the day.
1 Jude Thaddeus Mbi, Op. Cit., p. 86.
2 Ibid., p. 88.
7.1.6. Time
Africans are well noted for not being time-conscious. Before
blaming them further, we must understand what time is for them. They do not
think of time in-itself: time is time for me. I do not count time, rather I
experience it and I live it. Time is evaluated by what I do with it, what I
achieve, what it offers me. The western conception of time is different:
The westerner, we could say, "counts" time. He pays
attention to time units such as seconds, minutes, hours, etc. and programmes
himself to follow these time units. He has invented the clock for this purpose.
This again, follows from his "objective vision" of time-as-it-is. He has
objectified time to the point that he can even buy and sell it as a commodity.
"Time is money", he would say. This measured time is what the Greek calls
chronos. By paying attention to time in this way the westerner has developed a
linear conception of time. Time for him passes. What is past shall never be
again. There is a linear progression and no unit of time past is
repeatable.I
When western man counts units of time, Africans pay attention
to man and to events, trying to determine how time gets involved in order to
enhance the being of man. Time is experienced time, not conjectured time. The
Ancestors, for example, though dead are still living, they are still present;
they have never left.
Africans' conception of time shows itself in the way they do
things ordinarily. They are often blamed for being always late comers, not time
conscious. Time is made for man and not man for time. Man is lord of time. So
long as I achieve what I set myself to do, I am satisfied and the reckoning of
time is not important. That is how Africans relate to time.
IJude Thaddeus Mbi, Op. Cit., pp. 9I-92.
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