African Religions & Philosophy

Front Cover
Heinemann, 1990 - 288 pages

"African Religions and Philosophy" is a systematic study of the attitudes of mind and belief that have evolved in the many societies of Africa. In this second edition, Dr Mbiti has updated his material to include the involvement of women in religion, and the potential unity to be found in what was once thought to be a mass of quite separate religions.

Mbiti adds a new dimension to the understanding of the history, thinking, and life throughout the African continent. Religion is approached from an African point of view but is as accessible to readers who belong to non-African societies as it is to those who have grown up in African nations.

Since its first publication, this book has become acknowledged as the standard work in the field of study, and it is essential reading for anyone concerned with African religion, history, philosophy, anthropology or general African studies.

 

Contents

THE STUDY OF AFRICAN RELIGIONS
2
THE CONCEPT OF TIME AS A KEY TO
10
e The concept of human life in relation to time
24
THE NATURE OF
35
GOD AND NATURE
48
THE WORSHIP OF
58
SPIRITUAL BEINGS SPIRITS AND THE LIVINGDEAD
74
THE CREATION AND ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN
90
DEATH AND THE HEREAFTER
145
MEDICINEMEN RAINMAKERS KINGS
162
MYSTICAL POWER MAGIC WITCHCRAFT
189
THE CONCEPTS OF EVIL ETHICS AND JUSTICE
199
CHANGING MAN AND HIS PROBLEMS
211
CHRISTIANITY ISLAM AND OTHER RELIGIONS
223
THE SEARCH FOR NEW VALUES IDENTITY
256
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
272

ETHNIC GROUPS KINSHIP AND THE INDIVIDUAL
98
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
107
INITIATION AND PUBERTY RITES
118
MARRIAGE AND PROCREATION
130

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About the author (1990)

John Mbiti was born in Kitui, Kenya, and received his education in Africa and abroad. Trained as an Anglican priest, he went on to be both professor and parish minister in Switzerland, where he later settled. As a philosopher and Christian theologian, Mbiti became one of the early African authorities on African religions. Using his philosophical skills, he focuses on deriving a representation of a coherent philosophical worldview from the indigenous traditions. One of his projects, for example, has been to articulate a view of temporality in indigenous African thought different from that of the modern West. Mbiti's goal, however, has not been simply to develop ethnophilosophical analyses. Concerned with the future of Africa, he has argued that certain traditional African values should be preserved, but also---for the sake of modernization and reform---that other values (based often in Christianity) should be assimilated into the culture. This latter orientation has made him the subject of some controversy among other African philosophers.

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