African Mythology: The Folklore and History of Ancient Africa James Rooks
Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst
Nyd den ubegrænsede adgang til tusindvis af spændende e- og lydbøger - helt gratis
- Lyt og læs så meget du har lyst til
- Opdag et kæmpe bibliotek fyldt med fortællinger
- Eksklusive titler + Mofibo Originals
- Opsig når som helst
African Mythology and Folklore: The Origins and History of Legends and Myths across Africa
- Af
- Med
- Forlag
The modern history of Africa was, until very recently, written on behalf of the indigenous races by the white man, who had forcefully entered the continent during a particularly hubristic and dynamic phase of European history. When they began to arrive in sub-Saharan Africa in the early 16th century, Christian missionaries replaced established animist practices with the tenets of Christianity. This was particularly true for the Catholics who offered a faith promising eternal paradise upon the simple confession of sin. In an age of slavery, disease, and inter-tribal warfare when life was unembellished, brutal, and usually short, this was a particularly seductive message. Add to this the ritual inherent in Catholic worship, the drinking of blood and the eating of flesh, and the susceptibilities of a society defined by elaborate religious rituals, and the conversion succeeded with extraordinary ease.
It is also true that the Catholic spiritual hierarchy reflected the structure of African spiritual life. The first line of African worship is composed of the spirits of passed ancestors whose relationship with the living remains direct and active. This overlapped with the idea of a host of saints endowed with specific functions and responsibilities. At a higher level, the more remote ancestral spirits, those of more than three or four generations past who have merged into the overall spirit of the nation, formed a less definable but powerful presence in day to day life. These spirits easily translate to angels, while the almighty creator, too vast and remote to be understood, conforms to the notion of the one God. The embrace of Christianity and Islam, even today, is not necessarily to the exclusion of ancestral spirits, nor the essentials of witchcraft and sorcery. The precarious security of albino people in east and central Africa, whose body parts are sought after in traditional “medicine,” is testimony to the fact that these superstitions are alive.
© 2020 Charles River Editors (Lydbog): 9781094269986
Release date
Lydbog: 19. marts 2020
Tags
African Mythology and Folklore: The Origins and History of Legends and Myths across Africa
- Af
- Med
- Forlag
The modern history of Africa was, until very recently, written on behalf of the indigenous races by the white man, who had forcefully entered the continent during a particularly hubristic and dynamic phase of European history. When they began to arrive in sub-Saharan Africa in the early 16th century, Christian missionaries replaced established animist practices with the tenets of Christianity. This was particularly true for the Catholics who offered a faith promising eternal paradise upon the simple confession of sin. In an age of slavery, disease, and inter-tribal warfare when life was unembellished, brutal, and usually short, this was a particularly seductive message. Add to this the ritual inherent in Catholic worship, the drinking of blood and the eating of flesh, and the susceptibilities of a society defined by elaborate religious rituals, and the conversion succeeded with extraordinary ease.
It is also true that the Catholic spiritual hierarchy reflected the structure of African spiritual life. The first line of African worship is composed of the spirits of passed ancestors whose relationship with the living remains direct and active. This overlapped with the idea of a host of saints endowed with specific functions and responsibilities. At a higher level, the more remote ancestral spirits, those of more than three or four generations past who have merged into the overall spirit of the nation, formed a less definable but powerful presence in day to day life. These spirits easily translate to angels, while the almighty creator, too vast and remote to be understood, conforms to the notion of the one God. The embrace of Christianity and Islam, even today, is not necessarily to the exclusion of ancestral spirits, nor the essentials of witchcraft and sorcery. The precarious security of albino people in east and central Africa, whose body parts are sought after in traditional “medicine,” is testimony to the fact that these superstitions are alive.
© 2020 Charles River Editors (Lydbog): 9781094269986
Release date
Lydbog: 19. marts 2020
Tags
Andre kan også lide...
- African Mythology: Folklore, Creatures, and Myths from Africa James Rooks
- African Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Sagas, Rituals and Beliefs of African Myths Bernard Hayes
- Africa’s Origin Stories: The History and Legacy of the Ancient African Stories that Sought to Explain Life Charles River Editors
- African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa Michael Gomez
- Dreams and Death in African Mythology: The History of Legends and Folk Stories about Dreams and Death across Africa Charles River Editors
- Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography Robert Irwin
- History of West Africa: A Captivating Guide to West African History, Starting from Ancient Civilizations through the Medieval Period to the Present Captivating History
- African History: A Very Short Introduction John Parker
- The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World Catherine Nixey
Brugbare links
Sprog og region
Dansk
Danmark
