 Subjects -> PHILOSOPHY (Total: 762 journals)
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- Editorial: African Perspectives on God, the Problem of Evil, and Meaning
in Life
Authors: Ada Agada, Aribiah David Attoe
Pages: 1 - 8
Abstract: No .
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.1s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- The Human Being, God, and Moral Evil
Authors: Ada Agada
Pages: 9 - 30
Abstract: The evidence of human wickedness in the world is so transparent that no rational person can dispute its reality. This paper approaches the question of the human person from an African philosophical perspective and explores the relation between the apparently free-acting human being and God conceived as the creator of the world and the ultimate cause of the human being. The paper will proffer answers to the following question: to what extent can the human being be absolved of blame for the evil they perpetrate in a world conceived in African traditional religion and thought as the creation of a high deity who could have foreseen the negative bent of human nature and should have made human nature inclined to goodness all of the time' The paper will make novel contributions to the debate about human nature in African philosophical discourse by recasting the human being as a homo melancholicus, or melancholy being, whose evil inclination in the world can best be understood in the context of a tragic vision of reality.
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.2s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- Rethinking God’s Omnibenevolence and Omnipotence in Light of the
COVID-19 Pandemic: An African Perspective
Authors: Joyline Gwara, L. Uchenna Ogbonnaya
Pages: 31 - 53
Abstract: The reality and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic question God’s omnibenevolence and omnipotence. Two questions that stare us in the face are a) is God omnibenevolent given the current reality' b) is God omnipotent' This paper addresses these questions from the African place using the African theory of duality and its underlying logic, Ezumezu. We argue that the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse effects (such as death, hardship and social isolation) do not negate God’s benevolence and powerfulness. We assert that while the current reality cannot sustain a defence of the traditional theistic qualities of omnipotence and omnibenevolence, the notions of a powerful and benevolent God are not necessarily undermined by the reality of Covid-19. In the light of the African theory of duality and Ezumezu logic, we contend that the COVID-19 pandemic brings out the argument that inherent in God’s benevolence is wickedness and inherent in God’s powerfulness is weakness.
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.3s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- Evil, Death, and Some African Conceptions of God
Authors: Hasskei M. Majeed
Pages: 53 - 70
Abstract: The age-old philosophical problem of evil, especially prominent in Western philosophy, as resulting from the intellectual irreconcilability of some appellations of God with the presence of evil – indeed, of myriads of evil – in the world, has been debated upon by many African religious scholars; particularly, philosophers. These include John Mbiti, Kwasi Wiredu, Kwame Gyekye, E. B. Idowu and E.O. Oduwole. While the debate has often been about the existence or not of the problem of evil in African theology, not much philosophical discussion has taken place regarding death and its implications for African conception(s) of God. This paper attempts to contribute to the discussion of those implications. It explores the evilness of death, as exemplified in the African notion of “evil death,” and argues that the phenomenon of death presents itself in complex but interesting ways that do not philosophically ground its characterization as evil. Therefore, the problem of evil would not arise in African thought on account of the phenomenon of death.
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.4s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- The Oromo Doctrine of God
Authors: Workineh Kelbessa
Pages: 71 - 86
Abstract: The Oromo of Ethiopia, the largest ethnic group, have their own indigenous religion known as Waaqeffanna. They believe in one Waaqa guraacha (black God) – the God who created the universe and the various forms of life. Waaqa has multiple attributes. Waaqa is He who is before everything else. Waaqa is Uumaa (a creator of everything in the world). Waaqa is hunda beekaa (omniscient). Waaqni gonkumaa kan hin Duune (God is immortal). Waaqa is hundaa tolaa (omnibenevolent). Waaqa is hunda danda’aa (omnipotent). Nothing is impossible with Waaqa. Waaqa is the source and lover of dhugaa (truth). Waaqa is Qulqulluu (pure). The Oromo people believe that in the olden days Waaqa was living on the Earth and only later that Waaqa left the Earth in anger because of personal sin and became invisible. Waaqa is one and at the same time manifests Himself in different ways. This paper teases out and highlights core Oromo views of God, his relationship with the world and the problem of evil.
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.5s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- Cosmic Purpose: An African Perspective
Authors: Aribiah David Attoe
Pages: 87 - 102
Abstract: In much of the literature concerning African theories of meaning, there are certain clues regarding what constitutes meaningfulness from an African traditional perspective. These are theories of meaning in life such as the African God’s purpose theory, which locates meaning in the obedience of divine law and/or the pursuit of one’s destiny; the vital force theory, which locates meaning in the continuous augmentation of one’s vital force through the expression and receipt of goodwill, rituals and the worship of God; and what I will call the transcendent communal normative theories, where meaning is located in the positive contributions one makes to his/her society, whether as a human being or as an ancestor. I contend that all these theories have one thing in common that unifies them – and that is the legitimization of God’s existence through the continued sustenance of the universe. This, I will show, constitutes the meaning of life (in cosmic terms) from an African traditional religious perspective. To argue for this thesis, I will first tease out the basic tenets of the previously described theories of meaning. I will then analyse the metaphysical underpinning of the African relational ontology and how it reflects on the subject of being. Finally, I will end by showing the role of the universe in legitimizing the existence of God as a thing in the world, and how that constitutes the meaning of life.
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.6s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- The Concept of God in Igbo Traditional Religious Thought
Authors: Anthony Chimankpam Ojimba, Victor Iwuoha Chidubem
Pages: 103 - 120
Abstract: This paper examines the concept of God in traditional Igbo-African religious thought, prior to the advent of Western religion, with a view to showing that the idea of a God/Deity who is supreme in every area of life and sphere of influence and who “creates out of nothing,” like the God of the Christian or Western missionaries, is unrecognized in the Igbo-African traditional religious thought. Even though the Igbo conceive of strong and powerful deities that can only reign supreme within their respective sphere of influence where they are in charge, none of these deities is identical to the supreme God promoted by the Christian missionaries. The Igbo traditional religious worldview maintains a polytheistic religious view, unlike the monotheistic outlook of the Christian religion. To achieve its goal, the paper adopts the method of historical hermeneutics and textual analysis.
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.7s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- Exploring Recent Themes in African Spiritual Philosophy
Authors: Diana-Abasi Ibanga
Pages: 121 - 140
Abstract: There are theoretical and thematic shifts in African spiritual philosophy literature on the meaning of spirituality. On the one hand, traditional conceptions of spirituality are based on the dimensions of transcendence and supernaturalism. Common themes include ritualism, totemism, incantation, ancestorism, reincarnation, destiny, metempsychosis, witchcraft, death, soul, deities, etc. On the other hand, the evolving trend appeals to naturality and immanence. Common themes include sacrality, piety, respectability, relatability, existential gratitude, sacred feminine, etc. This work explores these recent and developing themes. It aims to show that the understanding of spirituality in African modernity is increasingly linked to psychological traits expressed in attitude and behaviour as against traditional understanding that focused on cultural/ religious practices such as ritualism, ancestorism, and deities. The analysis reveals that recent studies link the experience of spirituality with wholeness and interdependence, and a recognition of one’s place in the connective web of other existents in nature
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.8s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- The Ontological Status of Yahweh and the Existence of the Thing we call
God
Authors: Lerato Likopo Mokoena
Pages: 141 - 150
Abstract: The essence of deities has captured our imaginations for as long as we can remember. Does a God exist, or is the divine entity just a figment of our dreams, a projection' Is God what Aribiah Attoe calls a “regressively eternal and material entity” or what Gericke calls “a character of fiction with no counterpart outside the worlds of text and imagination”' This paper aims to wrestle with those questions from a theological perspective and to look at the ontological status of Yahweh and how that worldview lends itself to African Traditional Religions in conversation with Attoe's method of inquiry from the perspective of African Metaphysics. This paper aims to be a part of the larger project undertaken by the author, showing that philosophy can and should be an auxiliary discipline in Old Testament Studies as it has been seen, both fields have ways of similar arguing and coming to the same conclusions. This paper is intended to be an interlocutory exercise or experiment and does not seek to validate any hypothesis about either view.
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.9s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- African Approaches to God, Death and the Problem of Evil: Some
Anthropological lessons towards an Intercultural Philosophy of Religion
Authors: Pius Mosima
Pages: 151 - 168
Abstract: In this paper, I make a case for an intercultural philosophy of religion from an African perspective. I focus on the philosophical underpinnings of the various meaningful religious practices and beliefs that give rise to the concepts of God, death and the problem of evil. A philosophical study of African traditional religions, based on anthropological findings across African cultural orientations, gives us a good starting point in understanding African worldviews and religious experiences. It also reveals that the various world religions may all be seen as offering different perspectives on the same reality. Specifically, I argue that traditional African conceptions of God, death and the problem of evil could make significant contributions to global discourses in the philosophy of religion. First, I articulate points of convergence and divergence between African traditional religions with Saint Aquinas’ proofs for God’s existence; Second, I question the phenomenon of death and one’s life’s meaning. And third, I approach the problem of evil and attempt an African solution to the Epicurean dilemma
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.10s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- Approches Africaines Sur Les Questions De Dieu, De La Mort Et Du Mal:
Quelques Leçons Anthropologiques Vers Une Philosophie Interculturelle De
La Religion
Authors: Pius Mosima
Pages: 169 - 188
Abstract: Dans cet article, je plaide en faveur d'une philosophie interculturelle de la religion dans une perspective africaine. Je me concentre sur les fondements philosophiques des diverses pratiques et croyances religieuses significatives qui donnent lieu aux concepts de Dieu, de la mort et du problème du mal. Une étude philosophique des religions traditionnelles africaines, basée sur des découvertes anthropologiques à travers les orientations culturelles africaines, nous donne un bon point de départ pour comprendre les visions du monde et les expériences religieuses africaines. Elle révèle également que les diverses religions du monde peuvent toutes être considérées comme offrant des perspectives différentes sur la même réalité. Plus précisément, je soutiens que les conceptions africaines traditionnelles de Dieu, de la mort et du problème du mal pourraient apporter des contributions significatives aux discours mondiaux sur la philosophie de la religion. Premièrement, j'articule les points de convergence et de divergence entre les religions traditionnelles africaines et les preuves de l'existence de Dieu apportées par Saint Aquin; deuxièmement, je m'interroge sur le phénomène de la mort et le sens de la vie. Et troisièmement, j'aborde le problème du mal et tente de trouver une solution africaine au dilemme épicurien.
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.11s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- Onyenachiya: A New Perspective on Religion in African Philosophy of
Religion
Authors: Christiana Idika, Maduka Enyimba
Pages: 189 - 208
Abstract: How does one understand the relationship between a person and their objects of belief in the philosophy of Religion' How does the object of belief impact individuals’ lives, choices, decisions, and what they become in the future' The character of religion is binding, and the object of belief in a being – transcendent or immanent as the sole determinant of the fate and destiny of individuals leaves room for many questions that border on freedom and responsibility. By introducing Onyenachiya to the discussion of the phenomenon of religion from an African philosophical approach to religion, the authors argue that there is a certain threshold of self-evaluation and relationship between a person and their object of belief which is significantly cooperative and collaborative. Although onyenachiya, a concept that stems from an African epistemic context (Igbo), has no corresponding English translation, it is a contraction of two independent words, onye (person, giver, who) and chi (personal god, doppelgänger). The two are joined together by conjunction, ‘na’ with the suffix ‘ya’ at the end, emphasizing the chi’s personal and unique nature. The authors argue that if chi is connected to a person's destiny, onyenachiya demonstrates an agent-centered destiny, which gives room for agency, accountability, and responsibility and gives a new account of religious tolerance.
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.12s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
- Review of [Development and Modernity in Africa: An Intercultural
Perspective], by Joseph C A Agbakoba
Authors: J. Chidozie Chukwuokolo
Pages: 209 - 215
Abstract: No .
PubDate: 2023-01-30
DOI: 10.4314/ft.v11i4.13s
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 4 (2023)
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