the Zulu. Likewise, although people pray directly
to the Supreme Being, most religious rituals are
dedicated to spirits and ancestors, so much so that
shrines dedicated to the Supreme Being are rare
because it is understood that God’s temple is the
entire universe.
To preserve the sanctity and majesty of God and
to avoid anthropomorphic reductionism, African
spiritual sages understood the necessity of interme-
diaries between God and humans. Thus, although
God in Africa is thought of as the creator of the
world and all that is, God is not, however, to be
involved directly in the governance of the world.
This task is left to spiritual intermediaries, who
assist the living in their daily tribulations, and
appeal to God on their behalf when necessary.
The notion of intermediaries occupies a central
role in the African definition of God as well as in
rituals of worship. To better understand this
notion, we have to turn to the African understand-
ing of the nature of God and the notion of wor-
ship. African religion is essentially cosmotheandric
because Africans understand the notion of divinity
as including three levels: the supreme Great spirit
or ultimate reality, various spirits including those
of nature, and finally the ancestors.
In the Luba religious tradition, for example,
three important figures—Leza (Supreme God),
Mikishi or Bavidye (various Spirits), and
Bankambo (ancestors)—are the main actors of the
spiritual world. In the world of the living,
the main figures are Kitobo or Nsengha (priest),
the Nganga (healer), and the mfwintshi (the
embodiment of evil and the antithesis of the will
of the ancestors). This cosmological framework
reflects the fundamental theological structure of
many other African religious traditions.
These traditions recognize the sacredness of
nature, God, and humans. Hence, African belief
systems include the belief in the existence of a
Universal Creator (Shakapanga), the afterlife, the
communion between the living and the Dead, and
the observance of ethical conduct (Mwikadilo
Muyampe) as a sine qua non condition for being
welcomed in the village of the ancestors after
death. As for worship, it includes prayers
(kulomba, kutota), praise songs and formulas
(kutoba), dances, sacrifices, offerings, libations,
various rituals (mainly rituals of cleansing or
purification), and rites of passage.
Because God is absolutely pure, it can be
approached better through the ancestors and
other spirits, as well as the nganga that undergoes
rigorous purification rituals. At the same time, the
notion of intermediaries preserves the fundamen-
tal African vision of the universe as a family. In
this family, there is constant interaction between
the dead and the living, as well as a complex web
of interdependence. The notion of intermediaries
or “lesser gods” does not mean that Africans
ignore the supreme God or do not pray to the
supreme God directly as derogatory colonial
scholarship of “Deus otiosus” and “Animism”
claimed. The Luba proverb cited earlier clarifies
the notion of intermediaries and highlights a
sophisticated response to an ancestral theology
that strived to preserve the majesty and holiness of
the Supreme Being while maintaining its closeness
to human beings.Mutombo Nkulu-N’SenghaSeealsoNehandaFurther Readings
Ièdrij, M. C., & Shaw, R. (1992).Dreaming,Religion and
Society in Africa. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill.
Mbiti, J. (1990).African Religions and Philosophy.
London: Heinemann.
Opoku, K. A. (1978).West African Traditional Religion.
Accra, Ghana: FEP International Private Ltd.
Parrinder, G. (1969).Religion in Africa. London: Pall Mall.INVOCATIONS
Invocations are one of the most ancient forms of
worship in the world, appearing in the literature
during the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt.
Invocation is the physical act of appealing to a
higher power for assistance. There are a number
of forms utilized for invocation, including prayer,
praise, and conjuration as a style of incantation.
African traditional religion accepts the notion
that humans can appeal to authorities higher than
humans, and this type of invoking of the divinities
or the ancestors is at the heart of invocation in
Africa. The great priest Osofo Nana Kwadwo ofInvocations 345