Abstract
This chapter solves the hermeneutic puzzle of ancestor-related practices. Thanks to the methodological insights of Nicolas Standaert and Michel Foucault, the solution emerges from an awareness of the plurality of interests, motives, conditioning and perspectives in the interpretation of cross-cultural interactions. It delineates two types of hermeneutics, each responding to its own interests: The intellectual inquiry of foreign interpreters searches for logical connections in view of a theory on the behaviors of the locals, while that of indigenous people proceeds differently.
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Notes
- 1.
“In traditional society, the believer realizes his beliefs more than he intellectualizes them; he lives them more than he rationalizes them. Religion, for him, is for the most part the everyday life of everyday; he feels no need for ‘a faculty of theology’ or of systematic studies. He is puzzled when requested to account for the reasons for this or that ritual. ‘It is that way! It is our tradition!’ In traditional Africa, a person lives his beliefs and at the most communicates them, but does not capitalize on them. As a consequence, one finds no synthesis enabling a general overview of religion.” “(Dans la société coutumière, l’homme réalise ses croyances plus qu’il ne les intellectualise; il les vit plus qu’il ne les raisonne. La religion pour lui, est tout d’abord une vie de tous les jours; il ne sent pas le besoin « d’une faculté de théologie » ou d’études cérébrales et est donc dérouté lorsqu’on lui demande le « pourquoi » de tel choix rituel: « C’est comme ça! C’est la coutume! » L’homme, en Afrique traditionnelle, vit ses croyances et, au besoin les communique, mais ne les capitalise pas. On ne trouve donc pas de synthèse qui permettrait d’avoir une vue générale de la religion.)” G. Défour, Religion Traditionnelle Africaine, (Bukavu: CERUKI, 1982), pp. 2–3.
- 2.
The little interest ancestor religion s have in “nomenclature” makes it difficult for us to find one name for what is sought. Nonetheless, the predominant idea is that of wholeness and restoration or recovery of a lost integrity and communion between two modalities of existence. This restoration enhances an experience of a similar kind to salvation in Christianity and monotheistic religions. For this reason, we propose the concepts of “wholeness,” “integrity” and “restoration of communion” as homeomorphisms to the Christian idea of salvation. This reflects the earlier mention of salvation as a key interpretative point of ancestor religion in Chap. 2. Moreover, the idea of homeomorphisms will clarify the analogical manner in which the concept impacts on understanding. Put in simple terms, the quest for salvation in ancestor religion is articulated in terms of aspiration for wholeness, for integrity, for communion and interaction of visible, living people with the invisible realm inhabited by multiple forces and individuals—divinities, spirits and mostly ancestors.
- 3.
“People look to their different religions for an answer to the unsolved riddles of human existence. The problems that weigh heavily on people’s hearts are the same today as in past ages. What is humanity? What is the meaning and purpose of life? What is upright behavior, and what is sinful? Where does suffering originate, and what end does it serve? How can genuine happiness be found? What happens at death? What is judgment? What reward follows death? And finally, what is the ultimate mystery, beyond human explanation, which embraces our entire existence, from which we take our origin and towards which we tend?” Nostra Aetate (NA) 1.
- 4.
« Que devient l’homme désincarné une fois arrivé au séjour des morts; cet inconnu dont personne n’est jamais revenu? Le pouvoir attribue aux défunts et le but du culte des ancêtres – le séjour des morts. » les paroles d’adieu au mort: « va en avant, nous te suivons! » « Va bien et dis aux miens que je viens par derrière! » « Dis à ceux qui nous ont devancé que nous te suivons. Tu t’en vas, prépare nous la route qui va chez les bazimu. Salue tout le monde de notre part, et n’oublie pas de nous rendre visite. » See Edmond Mujynya, “Le mystère de la mort dans le monde bantu–le sort de l’homme dans l’au-delà,” Cahiers des religions africaines 3 no. 6 (Juillet, 1969), p. 202.
- 5.
Yvon Nsuka, “Une prière d’invocation kongo,” Cahiers des Religions Africaines 4 no. 8 (July 1970), pp. 259–64.
- 6.
Much of the input related to these cosmological views is taken from the African Bantu. But this is only as an illustration of a pattern that can be verified elsewhere. For instance, the impression one gets in reading the Chinese descriptions of the afterworld and the living conditions of the dead in the hereafter, or in visiting temples such as those dedicated to Cheng Huang, is of an eschatology that is not far from the one being portrayed here.
- 7.
See Charles Nyamiti, “Ancestor Veneration in Africa” http://cultureafrico.blogspot.tw/2011/02/ancestor-veneration-in-africa.html
- 8.
Défour, Religion Traditionnelle Africaine, p. 6.
- 9.
Ibid., p. 116; Francis Anekwe Oborji, Towards a Theology of African Religion: Issues of Interpretation and Mission, (Kenya: AMECEA Gaba Publications, 2005), pp. 12–15.
- 10.
In confirmation of Leon Wieger’s observations, the dead in Taiwan are treated in a way that leaves no doubt that their world is in no way different from that of the living. This fact attracted the attention of several anthropologists including Arthur Wolf, James Watson, Stuart E. Thompson and David K. Jordan. Their writings can back up an eschatological cosmology similar to the one elaborated here based on African ancestor religion . An image of the underworld depicted by Leon Wieger is as follows: « les morts conservent leurs amours et leurs haines. Ils se livrent aux occupations qu’ils aiment de leur vivant, musique, danse, jeu, chasse. Les armées de jadis, se font encore la guerre. Aucune théorie n’explique ces choses. Rien de plus fantastiques que les scènes macabres du folklore chinois. Le trait le plus hideux, le plus exploite, le plus rebattu, ce sont les rapports sexuels entre morts et vivants. » Léon Wieger, Folklore Chinois Moderne, (Sienhsien: Imprimerie de la Mission Catholique, 1909), p. 10.
- 11.
Besides heaven, earth and the village of the ancestors, the African eschatological cosmology also holds that there is a location of retribution that would be comparable to the Christian notion of hell. That location is underneath the earth and is inhabited by witches, sorcerers and the deceased not welcomed into the village of the ancestors. To be thrown into this location implies an irremediable death. For more details on Bantu eschatological views, see Défour, Religion Traditionnelle Africaine, p. 11 Louis-Vincent Thomas, Cinq essais sur la mort africaine (Dakar: Université de Dakar, 1968); Vincent Mulago, La Religion Traditionnelle des Bantus et leur vision du monde, 2nd ed. (Kinshasa: Faculté de Théologie Catholique, 1980).
- 12.
Mujynya, “Le mystère de la mort dans le monde bantu–le sort de l’homme dans l’au-delà,” p. 202.
- 13.
« Et puisque la mort ne les exclut pas de la communauté, ils gardent le rang, qui leur revient au sein de celle-ci. Ils restent par rapport à leurs descendants des chefs incontestés de la famille, du clan et de la tribu. C’est pourquoi tout ce qui engage, de quelque manière que ce soit, l’avenir de leurs descendants est censé les intéresser. Qu’il s’agisse de changer de domicile, de contracter une alliance matrimoniale, de conclure un pacte de sang ou un marché important, etc. Le muntu ne le fera qu’après avoir consulté le devin pour savoir si ces démarches seront fructueuses et pour connaître l’avis de ses ancêtres au sujet de pareilles initiatives. Dans le cas ou les choses se passent comme il l’avait désiré, il n’hésitera pas, dans la suite, à offrir un sacrifice à ses ancêtres pour les remercier de leur concours. La piété filiale qui est un des traits principaux du culte voué aux ancêtres exige que le chef de famille invite aussi souvent que possible les ancêtres à partager les joies de sa famille. Il doit les mener aux multiples activités des habitants de sa maison. L’existence des défunts est ainsi semée de quelques joies que leur procurent les vivants. » See Mujynya, “Le mystère de la mort dans le monde bantu–le sort de l’homme dans l’au-delà,” p. 203.
- 14.
Ancestors are not the only ones who have this wisdom regarding preserving and maintaining life. Any other potential accomplices are treated with equal reverence . This religiosity does not reject any potential means that might help one reach the goal, nor belittle any agent that might interfere with one’s fate. Such a religiosity triggers a cautiousness consisting in seeking accomplices and protection, respecting and venerating any agent with the potential to affect the outcome.
- 15.
In the case of Chinese folk religion , offerings are made to unspecified spirits (hungry ghosts ), especially during the seventh month of the lunar calendar. However, the motivations behind these ceremonies are not in contradiction with the above stipulations. They do not aim at changing the status of the beneficiaries. The ghosts are placated in order to lessen their potential interference with the living, to discourage them from bothering the living or becoming a hindrance to them receiving the blessing s from the invisible realm. That treatment, as noted by Arthur Wolf, is similar to offering alms a beggar in order to get rid of him. Unlike those to ancestors, the sacrifices and offerings to unknown ghosts are set outside the house. The ghosts are not invited inside the house, nor are petitions addressed to them. They are no more than beggars who are given alms in order to be rid of them.
- 16.
Nsuka, “Une prière d’invocation kongo,” p. 259; with regard to the acquaintance as expressed in prayer see also Pierre Diarra, “La Prière en Afrique Noire,” in Quand les hommes parlent aux dieux: L’histoire des Prière dans les civilisations, ed. Louis Meslin, (Paris: Bayard, 2003), pp. 753–827.
- 17.
« De croyances religieuses des bantus, il ressort que la mort ne signifie pas la fin ou l’anéantissement de l’homme. […] l’homme demeure, au terme de cette vie, une réalité consciente, un être spirituel jouissant de l’intelligence et de volonté, un être actif qui, une fois dans l’au-delà, continue à s’intéresser au monde des vivants. Le culte voué aux ancêtres semble indiquer que pour le Bantu, l’homme réduit à l’état de pur esprit reste capable de savoir ce qui se passe en ce monde ». Mujynya, “Le mystère de la mort dans le monde bantu–le sort de l’homme dans l’au-delà,” p. 203.
- 18.
Where the Christian notion of resurrection has to be inserted, if it is endowed with meaning for Africans. Resurrection is not the primary thing that the African is after but the chance to become an ancestor , to be venerated. This second death is caused by a double failure of faithfulness: the ancestor is unable to secure the right condition so that the progeny might remain in life, and/or the progeny that have forgotten their duty and acted as if they no longer had anybody in the invisible world.
- 19.
Chu, Chu Hsi ’s Family Rituals: A Twelfth-Century Chinese Manual for the Performance of Cappings, Weddings, Funerals, and Ancestral Rites, p. 65.
- 20.
Défour, Religion Traditionnelle Africaine, p. 115.
- 21.
Charles Nyamiti, “Ancestor Veneration in Africa” Retrieved April 30, 2010, from http://www.afrikaworld.net/afrel/nyamiti.htm
- 22.
Keeping the last breath or bringing back the last breath.
- 23.
A close comparison can be made here with Chinese offerings to ancestors. The sacrificial meals are not simply made for the dead, but are shared and taken by all the ancestors before being partaken of by the gathered family. In this manner, the offered meal helps to concretize the consumption of full communion between the two communities across the boundary of death.
- 24.
Défour, Religion Traditionnelle Africaine, p. 115.
- 25.
« La réincarnation, la métempsychose est admise par tous, quoi qu’il en soit de leur théories. […] elle se fait, ou bien dans le fœtus à terme d’une femme enceinte, lequel n’est informé, avant l’accouchement, que par une âme inférieure; ou bien dans un cadavre encore frais d’homme ou de bête. L’âme peut aussi revenir à son propre cadavre, tant que celui-ci n’est pas encore décomposé. De sorte que la résurrection d’un mort, est, pour les chinois, une chose assez naturelle, et qui ne prouve pas grand-chose. – une âme supérieure peut aussi se loger a temps dans le corps d’un homme vivant, posséder cet homme, parler pas sa bouche, agir pas ses mains, etc. Quant l’âme supérieure a quitte le corps, l’âme inférieur 魄 peut conserver celui-ci durant un temps qui varie selon le degré de sa force, se son énergie; puis elle s’éteint, et le corps tomb e en poussière. Quand l’âme inférieure, laquelle est déraisonnable, elle conserve le corps très longtemps, et s’en sert à ses fins. Ces corps informes par une âme inférieure, qu’on appelle 僵屍, sont d’affreux vampires, stupides et féroces, qui tuent et dévorent les hommes, violent les femmes, etc. pour éviter ces malheurs, tout corps qui ne se décompose pas normalement après la mort doit être incinéré. »Wieger, Folklore Chinois Moderne, p. 9.
- 26.
Thomas, Cinq essais sur la mort africaine, p. 268.
- 27.
It is interesting to note the many ways in which the adaptations of Buddhism in China took this point into consideration. Chinese Buddhism shunned the Indian concept and proposed solutions that recognized the type of reincarnation acceptable to ancestor religion and not a general form of retribution in which the ancestor might also regenerate in a lower form of existence as a vegetable or as an animal. For instance, the adaptation singled out Bodhisattvas who assist the dead, leading them to follow the right path: Guanyin 觀音 and Dizang pusa 地藏菩薩. The same tradition developed ceremonies whose effect is expected to lower the impact of a generalized metempsychosis. The 水陸法會 and the 盂蘭盆會 (Ullambana ceremony) are of those kinds. All these are mitigations that the Chinese ancestor religion imposed on the Indian-based concept of reincarnation.
- 28.
John S. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion, (London: Heimann Education, 1975), p. 68; John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophies, (New York: Anchor Books, 1969), p. 107.
- 29.
It is unfortunate that earlier Christian discussions have not recognized the closeness of the practices and beliefs between ancestorship and sainthood, which, at least within the Catholic tradition, might be the proper perspective from which to initiate a dialogue.
- 30.
See Bokenkamp; Wieger, Folklore Chinois Moderne, pp. 8–11. [les idées les plus incohérentes et les plus fantastiques du folklore chinois recèlent de cette envie de vivre… de sauvegarder l’intégrité de la vie.]
- 31.
A.A. Akrong, “Christianity in Africa from an African Perspective,” (paper presented at World Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1994).
- 32.
Kwame Bediako, Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of an Non-Western Religion, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995).
- 33.
Benezet Bujo, African Theology in its Social Context, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1992).
- 34.
F. Kabasélé, R. Luneau and J. Doré, eds., Chemins de la christologie africaine, (Paris: Desclée, 2001).
- 35.
Charles Nyamiti, Jesus Christ, the Ancestor of Humankind: An Essay on African Christology, (Nairobi: CUEA Publications, 2006).
- 36.
Diane B. Stinton, Jesus of Africa: Voices of Contemporary African Christology, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2004).
- 37.
Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, Theology Brewed in an African Pot, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2008), pp. 75–77.
- 38.
“There are already several surveys of African Christologies. African theologians who have contributed to doing Christology from within an African context include Abraham Akrong, Kofi Appiah-Kubi, Kwame Bediako, Bénézet Bujo, Emilio J.M. de Carvalho, Jean-Marc Ela, Teresa Hinga, François Kabasélé, Kä Mana, R. Buana Kibougi, Cécé Kolié, Laurenti Magesa, S. Maimela, Ukachukwu Chris Manus, John Mbiti, Takatso Mofokeng, J.N.K. Mugambi, Gwinyai Muzorewa, Anne Nasimiyu-Wasike, A.O. Nkwoka, Albert Nolan, Charles Nyamiti, Mercy Amba Oduyoye, Pashington Obeng, Efoé Julien Pénoukou, John Pobee, A.T Sanon, Harry Sawyerr, Enyi Ben Udoh, P. N. Wachege, John M. Waliggo, and Douglas W. Waruta, to name only some of them. These theologians have developed many images and names for Jesus within an African context. They include among others those of ancestor , elder brother, elder, healer, liberator, chief, king, guest, and master of initiation …” See Donald J. Goergen, “The Quest for Christ of Africa,” retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.sedos.org/english/goergen.htm.
- 39.
See Donald J. Goergen, “The Quest for Christ of Africa,” retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.sedos.org/english/goergen.htm.
- 40.
François Kabasélé, “L’apport des adeptes africains des religions des Ancêtres aux chrétiens d’aujourd’hui,” Mission de l’Eglise: Supplément du 132: Les Religions des Ancêtres 2 (July 2001), p. 64.
- 41.
“Christ comme ‘l’aîné et proto-ancêtre, libérateur et guérisseur, le léopard à forêt propre, la fourmi en tête de file, l’arbre qui rassemble les chasseurs, la termitière qui grouille de vie »… des nouveaux registres sotériologiques ajoutes au visage du christ.” See Kabasélé, “L’apport des adeptes africains des religions des Ancêtres aux chrétiens d’aujourd’hui,” p. 64.
- 42.
Donald J. Goergen, “The Quest for Christ of Africa,” retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.sedos.org/english/goergen.htm.
- 43.
“Une théologie du salut, ou la médiation du Christ n’a pas annulé toutes les médiations humaines. Ce n’est pas parce que le Christ est le Seul Médiateur qu’on ne peut plus recourir à la prière de nos frères, par exemple pour leur demander d’intercéder pour nous.” See Kabasélé, “L’apport des adeptes africains des religions des Ancêtres aux chrétiens d’aujourd’hui,” p. 65.
- 44.
This aspect has been stressed equally with regard to Chinese and African ancestor -related practices. With regard to China, the most recent iteration of the thesis is in the book by Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Ancestors and Anxiety: Daoism and the Birth of Rebirth in China, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), p. 18.
- 45.
Sorcerers, witches, bandits and the like in African tradition, and hungry ghosts 冤鬼,妖怪,僵屍,魅 and the 妖人 magicians, who are capable of manipulating one’s superior soul in their own guise.
- 46.
Défour, Religion Traditionnelle Africaine, p. 115.
- 47.
According to Oborji, attaining the status of ancestor with all its rights and benefits constitutes the most favorable expectation of an African at death. The final end and aspiration of all and every human being is to reach the spirit-land of one’s ancestors, to be venerated by one’s descendants as an ancestor and eventually to reincarnate. See Oborji, Towards a Theology of African Religion: Issues of Interpretation and Mission, p. 22.
- 48.
The silence on the Supreme Being, or the secondary or implicit position attributed to Him, can only affect the low rating of the religiosity displayed in ancestor religion if monotheism alone is set as the main criterion for rating any religion . In that case, any religious system not directly alluding to a Supreme Being, such as Buddhism or Confucianism, should be downgraded.
- 49.
In Christian terms this can be rendered by a permanent tension of the soul towards the Divine, towards the source that can quench its inner longing.
- 50.
« Le pouvoir des ancêtres ne s’exerce qu’en relation avec la famille. Si la famille s’éteint, ils mourront avec elle. De là l’obligation de la progéniture et le défi qu’on leur lance: « si vous nous faites périr, qui donc vous entretiendra? ce qui revient à dire: vous périrez vous-mêmes en nous laissant périr. » Mujynya, “Le mystère de la mort dans le monde bantu–le sort de l’homme dans l’au-delà,” p. 203.
- 51.
Power (vital force) is a central element—the ideal of African culture is coexistence and the strengthening of vital force in the human community and the world at large. This ideal is one of the basic motivations of ancestral cults. That is why in many African societies ancestral status is closely linked with procreative fecundity. Unlike in the West, there is no capacity to influence or orient the choices of individuals and the community. Power is understood primarily as vitality , or the capacity to transmit life.
- 52.
The African Christology presenting Jesus Christ as an ancestor has been developed in this awareness. This theological thinking intends to make a space for Jesus, who otherwise might be counted as one among powerful but unrelated forces. The effort, however, is not without difficulties. In presenting Jesus as the ancestor of every African, one needs to explain the abstraction made of the blood ties so important to the African. How does a Jew become a member (a founding member) of an African family? Moreover, the necessity of such an injection needs to be explained in terms of what makes the mediation of Jesus more important than that of other ancestors.
- 53.
Mujynya, “Le mystère de la mort dans le monde bantu–le sort de l’homme dans l’au-delà,” p. 203.
- 54.
With regard to the working of rituals , the same intrusive reading enables us to see nuances not with regard to the meaning of rituals, but in the way they are materialized. For Africans, rituals derive their efficiency from the symbols used. In comparison with the Chinese, Africans are more spontaneous, perhaps a mark that could be attributed to the impact of oral tradition. What matters for an African practitioner is the fact of having accomplished the rituals. The detailed indications of Chinese rituals might seem too sophisticated, bookish or even inclined to rubricism from an African perspective. Nonetheless, in times of adversity African believers look to an expert in rituals, that is, when they cannot communicate directly with the invisible realm nor decipher the messages they believe to have emanated from the invisible world.
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Batairwa Kubuya, P. (2018). Existential Practical Hermeneutics of Ancestor Religion. In: Meaning and Controversy within Chinese Ancestor Religion. Asian Christianity in the Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70524-8_5
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