Foundational Assumptions in Traditional Religion

Academic Paper from the year 2021 in the subject Theology - Comparative Religion Studies, grade: 88, Nations University, course: African Traditional Religion, language: English, abstract: This paper discusses the idea of the fundamental assumptions of traditional African religion. The author has attempted to locate the assumptions underlying the beliefs and practices of traditional religion. Although the assumptions put forward are not necessarily proven to be true; they are assumed to be true but simply form hypotheses. It has been claimed that the belief that the dead and ancestral spirits have authority over the living drives many practices into African traditional practices. These include the veneration of family ancestors, offering sacrifices to the deceased, divination aimed at seeking insights from ancestral spirits, and other rituals aimed at appeasing or thanking the ancestors. While God is the source of all life within African religions, an individual has life only when he participates in the life transmitted by God through the relationship of beings. The established hierarchy belongs to both the invisible world and the visible world so that Life is a participation in God, but it is always mediated by someone who stands above the recipient in the hierarchy of being. This ontological hierarchy places God first, spirits second as extra-human beings, and humans third. As a result, Human participation in God is participation in the ontological hierarchy, in which God transmits life through ancestors.

Dr. Sixbert Sangwa is a Rwandan Christian minister, Academic, Kingdom Entrepreneur and Non-profit Practitioner. Sixbert has extensive experience in managing economic empowerment projects in the humanitarian and development arena, through national and international NGOs. He leveraged his strategic and business development skills to become a caring SME consultant and is known as the founder of various entrepreneurial initiatives. Today, Sixbert has remained instrumental to higher education in the fields of business, entrepreneurship and theology. He believes that the future of employment belongs to social entrepreneurship. However, he is concerned about the disconnect between faith and business, hence his continental mission to integrate faith and work. Sixbert's education is twofold. His first secular degree is in Rural Development and Agribusiness. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Master of Arts in Online and Distance Education as well as a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) and a PhD in Entrepreneurship and Branding. His religious track yielded him a Bachelor of Divinity, a Master of Ministry, a Master of Theological Studies, a Doctor of Chritsian Business Administration and a PhD in Religious Studies. As his research interests rest on general business management, open education and Christian affairs on the one hand, he is also open to offering advisory support in the same areas.