Through establishing new beliefs and rules while undermining the old to establish power, man has abused and taken advantage of authority. When the District Commissioner arrested the six men, he explained to them the ‘advantages’ of the new system and why it needed to be followed; “We have brought a peaceful administration to you and your people so they may be happy. If any man ill-treats you we shall come to your rescue. But we will not allow you to ill-treat others. We have a court of law where we judge cases and administer justice just as it is done in my own country under a great queen…I have decided that you will pay a fine of 200 cowries…” The article by Boddy-Evans on ‘The Role of Islam in African Slavery Pt. 1’ backs up my point any new authority established decides rules and punishments to give them control. He explains that the “The Qur'an prescribes that free men could not be enslaved, and those faithful to foreign religions could live as protected persons, dhimmis, under Muslim rule (as long as they maintained payment of taxes called Kharaj and Jizya). However, the spread of the Islamic Empire resulted in a much harsher interpretation of the law. For example, if a dhimmis was unable to pay the taxes they could be enslaved, and people from outside the borders of the Islamic Empire were considered an acceptable source of slaves.” In conclusion, the way the word ‘tribe’ is used to perpetuate ignorance of Africa, its countries, cultures and customs within, so too do many examples, articles and books on the destruction of African clans, lineages and cultures perpetuate hate against a set of beliefs. Not only does it continue separation of the human race, but makes it easier to have prejudices against people with these beliefs by putting the Christian religion in the center of the deterioration. The emphasis of blame should be placed on man alone because all men that have had a hand in the slow but consistent breakdown of Africa, its resources and people have come from different religions (or none at all) and walks of life, including Africans themselves. The desire and greed of prosperity and power is what blinded them to the atrocious actions and crimes they were and still are committing.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
This book is thorough, insightful and filled with examples on how many of the African Religious traditions were fused with Christianity to created what we know as the black church of today. The two strengths include the sidebar on the historical documents and the excellent reflection upon the spirituals.…
- 416 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe intends to inform readers about the values and ethics of being an African during a period of Eurocentrism. Many European and Western nations were focused on “discovering” new land to seize, many using “gold, god, and glory” to further excuse the dehumanization of people and cultural genocide. Specifically, religion plays a powerful role by shedding light on a single ideology which creates a division amongst groups of people, thereby destroying the customs of the oppressed society and the individual. In Umuofia, conflict arises when the polytheistic faith of the Igbo people is challenged by the Christian beliefs of the aggressive missionaries. Paying respects to their gods provided the Igbo with ties to their rich ancestral history and was connected to many of their sacred traditions, some involving farming and governing techniques. Therefore, because such religious behaviours were embedded in their culture so deeply, for some, it created a sense of pride that would not be easily diminished nor deflected. Achebe presents an ironic depiction of colonialism when the prideful missionaries were determined to persuade some of the people…
- 1215 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
In this book, the author proves his point of view by presenting the slave's narratives and the missionary reports and journals that depicted the typical day to day life of the religious slaves. Through the use of secondary sources, the author analyzes the transformation of the African traditions into Christianity and the behaviors that resisted change.…
- 1190 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
200 years ago, when European nations first started to colonize African countries, their belief was that they were civilizing the natives by repressing their culture and promoting their own Christian way of life. Back then, it was considered historically accurate to believe that because their values did not correlate with Christian ones, all natives of Africa lived backwards lives and had “uncivilized” and “savage-like” culture.…
- 776 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
As mentioned prior, part one of the book highlights both the drastic prominence of religion in Ibo culture and its natural state before the occurrence of change. This portion of the book shows that the practices and morals of the Igbo people’s religion have a direct impact on the tribe's choices in rituals, ceremonies, and even punishments. One of the items used by the Ibo people, known as the "Oracle of the Hills and the Caves," is a prime example of religion's impact on the tribe. The article both guides them and determines whether or not their tribe is permitted to perform certain actions, such as declare war against another clan, "And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia to wage a war." Such an object helps to exude the themes of respect and sin, which are quite important in understanding the meaning of Things Fall Apart. If the tribe continues to follow the guidelines of their religion and take the Oracle’s advice, then it will be able to maintain respect; however, if it does not, then both its reputation and respect will be lost, as the tribe has become lost in sin.…
- 621 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Shortly after the Industrial Revolution in Europe, influential countries came together to discuss the colonization of Africa at the Berlin Conference. The European nations divided Africa amongst themselves to gain new resources to further support their empires. This led to Christian missionaries infiltrating Africa to convert the natives. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, he depicts the collapse of the Ibo society during this period. The progression of the colonial encounters contributes to the disintegration of the Ibo culture and cause the village of Umuofia to slowly lose grasp of the things that shape their society. Achebe demonstrates the dynamics of colonization of Umuofia…
- 897 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity By Thomas C. Oden Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press, 2008, 204 pp, $ 19.00 hardcover. Thomas Oden, an accomplished scholar in systematic and historical theology, and retired professor at Drew University, has offered a compelling and positively provocative work in How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind. A work of scholarly repentance, he ably repudiates the posture of western theologians and historians (i.e. Harnack, Bauer, Schleiermacher) toward Africa’s theological legacy (pp. 57-59). His present work is the fruit of thirty years of reading the early African fathers, and in the last fourteen, he has served as the general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. From this rich background, Oden develops the book’s resounding thesis: African theology (facilitated by Clement, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, Athanasius, among others) is the “seedbed”—an appropriate Tertullianism—of western Christianity and thought. Unlike his mentors at Yale (p. 130), Oden takes a servant’s posture in telling the African story. Receiving encouragement from African theologians like Tite Tiénou (p. 36), and circulating the manuscript to three dozen African scholars prior to publication (pp. 85-86), it is appropriate that the dust jacket endorsements come from African scholars Tiénou and Lamin Sanneh. A concise, well-written, and accessible work, Oden’s introduction highlights the unprecedented growth of modern African Christianity, while arguing that its Patristic tradition is largely unknown to Africans and has been ignored by Europeans. In chapter one, “A Forgotten Story,” he further raises the issues of Africa’s forgotten status and makes the case for writing the book. In chapter two, “Seven Ways Africa Shaped the Christian Mind,” he winsomely argues for Africa’s primal influence on western Christian thought. Chapters three, four, and five— “Defining Africa,” “One…
- 1239 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
As the white men moved into the Igbo's land, their culture, values and their beliefs changed. These changes were extremely evident, but in the end the Igbo were unable to doing anything to stop the changes that had already start taking place in their society. As soon as the whites arrived, they introduced a new religion that was completely different than the natives were accustomed to. The white man told the Igbos that, “they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone,” (145) also, he mentioned that there was only one God, the creator of everything. Okonkwo was convinced that the man was entirely wrong, but his first son, Nwoye, had been captivated by all of these new ideas, and after a discussion with his father, “Nwoye decided to go to Umuofia where missionaries had a school to teach, to read and write the new Christians. (152)” “He was happy to leave his father to follow the missionaries. (152)” Indeed, Nwoye was not the only one convinced by the new form of religion, but also other natives, and some of them turned away from everything they were, just to be part of it. Before colonialism, the unit of the family was very important in the Igbo culture, but with the arrival of missionaries and their religion the division among families began. Sons, wives, and daughters separated voluntarily from their family to follow the new form of religion, even clans could no longer act as…
- 833 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The Igbo people were a highly religious and close knitted community, at least when it came to their own particular clans and tribes. They relied heavily on their farming and looked upon the strongest farmers as those blessed by the gods and carrying a good chi (Achebe, 17). By the late 1800’s however, the Igbo people came into contact with British colonialism and soon their culture and beliefs began to spread thinly among the few who remained true to their gods and superstitions. The reason for the great fragmentation of the Igbo people came about because they were always a fragmented group spread out into dozens of different Igbo clans (Miers, 437), their strong belief that the gods would intervene in the blasphemous was of the missionaries, and the missionaries use of medicine to keep the “destructive power” of the Ibgo gods at bay, making those very gods they relied on so heavily seem powerless against “the albinos.”…
- 1171 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
-After Nwoye is lured into the Christian religion and abandons his culture and family, Okonkwo is ashamed and states, "you have all see the great abomination of your brother. Now he is no longer my son or your brother. I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people" (172). Nwoye's father disowns him only because he chooses a path untraditional to his culture. The serious, frustrated, and unhappy mood that is created in Okonkwo's statement gives the reader an idea of how much the Ibo culture values tradition, choice, and family.…
- 1595 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The African communities, over different time and space, were not able to cope up with the Europeanised socio-political norms and laws, after gaining their independence from their ‘white’ rulers. The European colonisers had successfully converted the African ‘barbaric tribes’ into so-called ‘civilised communities’ by enforcing their ‘superior’ culture, religion, language and aesthetics with the help of the gunpowder; yet they could not erase from the minds of the several million slaves the idea of their own roots which they had left behind in the ‘black continent’ ever since the beginning of the policy of colonisation and the establishment of socio-political and economic hierarchy and supremacy by the Europeans. The African communities after gaining freedom from their ‘white’ rulers were however unable to manage the state of beings, leading to widespread misery, desperation, melancholy and desolation in their own community. They, as a matter of fact, had inherited not only a so-called ‘civilised’ religion, language, dress code or food habits from their European masters but also imitated the Europeans in their exercise of ‘political power’, ‘corruption’ and ‘oppression’, after gaining liberation from the ‘whites’.…
- 3376 Words
- 14 Pages
Best Essays -
Until the arrival of the European missionaries, nobody, including Okonkwo, has ever learned about or considered another religion. It is Igbo tradition to always trust in and never question the culture, because thinking otherwise would be disrespecting their gods. The arrival of the white man and his new faith is a rude awakening to many, questioning everything the villagers have ever believed in. Though many members of the clan are completely unmoved by the teachings of Christianity, some people, including Okonkwo’s firstborn son, find it intriguing. In Chinua Achebe’s great African novel, Things Fall Apart, the importance of upholding tradition is challenged by a modern religion, which ultimately leads to the conversion of Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye.…
- 659 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Many beliefs follow the religion that the people of Umuofia practice. The people rely on the spirit world to provide punishments when sacred laws of their religion are broken. Okonkwo is forced to make sacrifices to the earth goddess when he violates the…
- 572 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Chinua Achebe wrote a novel, Things Fall Apart, where he depicted the perspective of a group of people’s change from Igbo traditions to Christian conversions. Okonkwo was a great wrestler in his tribe, a very respected clansman, and a great farmer. He was was a stern and a lot of times a brutal father and husband, he also stuck to the igbo religion very tightly and was not a man of change. He had strived to be a great leader in the clan but that was ruined when his gun exploded at a funeral accidentally killing a sixteen year old clan member. That lead to him and his family being exiled to his motherland as punishment. While they were in his motherland, missionaries went to umuofia to spread christianity and their government. Okonkwo disapproves of the new religion and the…
- 909 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In the 19th Century two "world" religions--Islam and Christianity--were both making significant advances in Africa. Often they were in serious competition; and this indeed was the case in Buganda. But this should not disguise…
- 11554 Words
- 47 Pages
Powerful Essays