The concept of God as Creator of the universe and all humanity, and the final authority in all matters is firmly entrenched in the religious beliefs of the Akan people of Ghana and is fundamental to their religious system (Opoku 1978:14). The Akan name given to the Supreme Being is ‘Onyame’ or ‘Onyankopong’, which is singular (Sarpong 1974:10). The Christian God, the Creator of the universe, is called “Elohim” in Hebrew, which is plural in form, but singular in being, because God the Creator is one, singular. Van der Merwe (1981) indicates that according to the African life and worldview, the Supreme Being in the African tradition is experienced in terms of the basic cosmological notion that the totality of reality consists of the interaction of forces and powers. Wethmar (2006) says that although the Supreme Being is of vital importance to humanity in the African context, the Supreme Being is not in the forefront of their awareness. It is like the ‘idle god’ as some put it, the dues otiosus. According to Nürnberger (1975), the Supreme Being of the African Traditional Religion is not fundamentally absent, but is continually present and operative, although the Supreme Being is not always perceived to be so.
Christians are primarily influenced by their belief in the Doctrine of the Triune God, three distinct persons in one God. All five theologians in this study are Christians with different historical, cultural, traditional and spiritual backgrounds. They are influenced by their historical, cultural, traditional and spiritual backgrounds in a very profound and significant way. Their influences include the Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecostal and Presbyterian theological teaching of their peers. By this influence they have received the mystery of the Holy Trinity, which is the central mystery of the Christian faith and life and the mystery of God Himself.
The question here is: “How could Anderson and Gifford have accepted the African Indigenous religion without comparing it to their own understanding of the Triune God?” Both the African and Western scholars have adopted the apostolic faith concerning the Spirit, which was confessed by the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople. By this
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confession, every Christian and the Church recognises the Creator God as Father and as the source and origin of the whole divinity.
The Akan people in Ghana believe in the Supreme Being (Onyame) as their creator and sustainer, father of all lesser deities and spirits and not part of the lesser deities. Lesser deities inevitably cannot be compared to the Triune God; Father, Son and Holy Ghost, three in one as the Christians believe. The Indigenous Akan religion do not believe in God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, but in the Supreme Being and lesser deities or gods who act as intermediaries between God and humankind. I could therefore make the assumption that the five theologians in this study with their understanding of the true God as the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, see the Akan Onyame as an idol or false God, and that those who believe in it need deliverance.
Anderson is very sympathetic towards the traditional religious culture of the Ghanaians, yet he has no choice in accepting that there is a difference between the Supreme Being of the indigenous people of Ghana and the Triune God, the Father of all creation. Although Anderson believes in the Triune God, he is very empathetic to the traditional indigenous religion, not diminishing their worldviews regarding the Supreme Being.
Gifford (2008) is also very considerate of African culture and religion and claims that Western missionaries have deprived Africans from their African soul and plundered the African continent with colonialism, imperialism, materialism and capitalism. Gifford agrees with Mugambi (2004) that these Western influences have distorted the right understanding of moral demands in the areas of cultural and religious life as conceived by African traditional societies. Therefore, Gifford alludes that God was at work in the history of all people and that their history is sacred; thus, culture is a sacred space for Africans. He also concedes that God’s presence was in the traditions and cultures of all people.
Asamoah-Gyadu, Onyinah and Kalu are most probably influenced by their African indigenous worldview, but have adopted it into the Christian faith by the revelation of the Triune God, three in one. Asamoah-Gyadu’s (2004:48) notion is that when an individual or a Ghanaian converts to Christianity, he or she must apply the biblical text in Joshua 24:14b, where Joshua spoke to the Israelites: “.... throw away the gods their forefathers worshipped that they may serve the Lord in faithfulness.”
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Yehovah-Rapha, the healer God of the Old Testament (Exodus 15:26), made a holistic promise; He would restore and sustain His people to and in health. According to Onyinah (2006:11), the same power was and is associated with the servants of the Lord; they could bring the power of God to heal and restore brokenness, possessed and oppressed individuals to wholeness by means of deliverance. Onyinah, who believes in the God of the Bible, indicates that the Babylonian, Assyrian and ancient Greco-Roman pantheons was gods or deities who were praised for their healing and protective deeds. On the other hand, the covenantal obedience, with its emphasis on loyalty to the God of the Bible alone, keeping God’s ordinance, and walking in godly fear and humility will result in divine blessings. Onyame, the Supreme Being of the Akan people of Ghana, in definition cannot be equated to the God of the Bible, as a result of His triune attributes. Therefore, Onyinah proclaims that Jesus is the Lord, the healer, deliverer and Saviour of all humankind and anyone who denies Jesus as Emmanuel, “God with His people”, cannot believe in the same Creator God as him.
Kalu (2003:33) postulates that the useless debate on dues otiosus9 and the High God left many people confused. He alludes (2003) that comparing the idle god with the true God can be useful, but could also detract from an appreciation of spiritual powers pulsating in the rituals. Kalu approaches the concept of the Supreme Being in a West-African context cautiously as a result of his knowledge and the research he has done on the Igbo traditional religion in Nigeria. The Christian affirmation, in his view (2003:33), is that the Supreme Being (God) possesses life and love and is given love in return. On the other hand, he says that the Igbo do not resort to easy covenanting with the Creator God and believes that humanity is at the centre. While the Creator Being gave life; life is lived by humanity’s effort, self- assertion and achievement. Kalu (2003) asserts that when Christianity is introduced where indigenous religious beliefs exist, for example amongst the Igbo people of Igboland, Nigeria, it produce conflicts, because the new ideology of Christians that claim that the Lord God is one God, a jealous God and that no other god or spirits should compete; the new God creates tension in the effort to indigenise the new relationship. Thus, in order to experience this new philosophy or ideology of a new relationship with a new Supreme Being for
9 Deusotiosus or “idle god” is a theological concept used to describe a creator god who largely retires from the world and is no longer involved in its daily operation. It is a central tenet of Deism.
www.definitions.net/definition/deus%20otiosus. Accessed: 13 October 2014
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indigenous people, deliverance is needed to accept it. Kalu (2010) asserts that this new covenant idea works in two directions; by affirming the Christian God’s immanence, interest in, and lordship over the oikumene (earth) and human affairs, it encourages the human creative response to society.