Sourcebook of the World's Religions: An Interfaith Guide to Religion and Spirituality
420
Sourcebook of the World's Religions: An Interfaith Guide to Religion and Spirituality
420eBook
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781577313328 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | New World Library |
| Publication date: | 02/08/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 420 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
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Sourcebook of the World's Religions
An Interfaith Guide to Religion and Spirituality
By Joel Beversluis
New World Library
Copyright © 2000 Joel BeversluisAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57731-332-8
CHAPTER 1
AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS
Introduction to African Traditional Religions
Rev. Dr. Abraham Akrong
Professor of Religion
The Term "Africa"
Since the time of Pliny the Elder, who is reputed to have first used it, the term "Africa" has been a bone of contention because it means different things to different people — for many people Africa is essentially a racial group; for some, Africa is a geopolitical entity carved up in the last century at the Berlin conference of 1884–85; for others, Africa is a linguistic-cultural entity that describes the life of the African peoples that belong to these communities: the Niger-Congo, the Nilo-Sahara, the Afro-Asiatic, and the Khoisan linguistic groups.
Generally, today, we are conditioned to view Africa as a conglomeration of different ethnic groups bound together by the colonial divisions of Africa, which still persist today in independent Africa.
The Concept of African Religion
Related to this geopolitical and cultural view of Africa is the 19th-century classification based on the so-called evolutionary theory of culture and religion. This classification of religions based on belief systems puts African religion and culture on the lowest level of the evolutionary ladder, because, it was believed, African primitive culture can only produce the most elementary and primitive belief systems. Until recently, this treatment of African religions in the Western intellectual tradition has made it impossible for African traditional religion to speak for itself except in terms of 19th-century evolutionism or the Western anthropological theories of primitive religions and cultures.
From History to Culture
Today the liberation from the classifications of the last century has given an intellectual autonomy to African religion and culture. They can now be understood as self-contained systems that are internally coherent without reference to any grand theories. This has allowed us to face up to the plurality of religions and cultures. Therefore in any discourse about African religion we must start from the perspective of the worshipers and devotees of African traditional religion.
African Religion from Within
A study of the beliefs and practices of the African peoples leads to the theological observation that African traditional religion is a religion of salvation and wholeness. A careful analysis shows an emphasis on this-worldly salvation and wholeness as the raison d'être of African traditional religion. Because Africans believe that life is a complex web of relationships that may either enhance and preserve life or diminish and destroy it, the goal of religion is to maintain those relationships that protect and preserve life. For it is the harmony and stability provided by these relationships, both spiritual and material, that create the conditions for well-being and wholeness.
The threat to life both physical and spiritual is the premise of the quest for salvation. The threat is so near and real because, for the African, life is a continuum of power points that are transformed into being and life is constantly under threat from evil forces. This logic of the relationality of being and cosmic life gives rise to the view that all reality is interrelated like a family. This same relational metaphysics is what undergirds the life of the individual in community.
Individual in Community
J. S. Mbiti captures this relational metaphysics succinctly in the dictum: "I am because we are and because we are therefore I am." The life of the individual comes into fruition through the social ritual of rites of passage. These rites are the process that can help the individual to attain the goals of his or her destiny, given at birth by God. Those who successfully go through the rites of passage become candidates for ancestorhood — the goal of the ideal life. For the African, ancestors are much more than dead parents of the living. They are the embodiment of what it means to live the full life that is contained in one's destiny.
God, Creation, and Cosmic Life
God in Africa is a relational being who is known through various levels of relationship with creation. In relation to humanity, God is the great ancestor of the human race. Therefore, all over Africa God is portrayed more in terms of parent than as sovereign. In relation to the earth, God is a husband who stands behind the creative fecundity of the earth that sustains human life. God in relation to creation is the creator from whom life flows and is sustained. In relation to the divinities, God is their father who requires them to care for the cosmic processes.
Unity and Diversity
The various elements of African religion that make what I call the transcendental structure of African religion are expressed differently by the various African peoples on the basis of their social organization and environment.
A Definition
One can describe African religion as a this-worldly religion of salvation that promises well-being and wholeness here and now. It is a religion that affirms life and celebrates life in its fullness; this accounts for the lively and celebrative mood that characterizes African worship in all its manifestations.
* * *
Prayers and Religious Expression
Dr. M. Darrol Bryant
Professor of Religion, Waterloo University, and Secretary General of the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace
The expressions of African traditional religion are manifold. They have shaped the lives of African peoples from the dawn of history down to the present time. They have lived as oral traditions in the memory and practice of countless generations. The name of God varies across traditions as do the names of the divinities and the practices of the spiritual life. The Nuer of East Africa, for example, believe that prayer is appropriate at any time because "they like to speak to God when they are happy."
A typical Nuer prayer is
Our Father, it is thy universe, it is thy will,
let us be at peace,
let the soul of thy people be cool.
Thou art our Father,
remove all evil from our path.
For African traditional religion there is a daily intercourse between the living and the dead, the ancestral spirits. The interaction with these realities is facilitated through prayers, rites, incantations, and libations. Many of these practices involve elements of nature such as water, foodstuffs like cassava or nuts, or animals like chickens in sacrificial rites. Yoruba practices involve all types of foods and drinks in their offerings. A Yoruba chant cries out:
O God of heaven, O God of earth,
I pray thee uphold my hand,
My ancestors and ancestresses
Lean upon earth and succor me
That I may not quickly come to you.
This tradition celebrates the spirits present in the natural world and seeks to maintain proper relations between the living community and the living cosmos. Drums and dancing often figure prominently in its rites and practices. There is often a great concern for healing and health. Expressions of this tradition are too diverse to allow easy generalizations.
— previously printed in the "General Programme," IRFWP New Delhi Congress, 1993
* * *
Zulu Traditional Religion of Southern Africa
Lizo Doda Jafta
Lecturer at the Federal Theological Seminary of Southern Africa, Natal
One of the basic human experiences is that a human being is a dependent creature; therefore, the contingency of being human demands that one should properly relate oneself to the environment upon which one depends. Thus the human sense of dependence becomes the root religion.
One becomes aware that one did not create the universe; one found the universe already created. This awe-inspiring universe with its boundless spaces and measureless forces occasions God-consciousness. Natural events in particular are occasions of God-consciousness among the Zulu people. The changes in the clouds, the highness of the heavens, the overflowing rivers, the frightening lightning and thunderstorms side-by-side with religious ceremonies are all occasions of God-consciousness. In these events God is experienced as the One, the Other, the Divine, and the Many. The key word is experience. [...]
The Zulu notion of God-consciousness ... says that God lives in, through, and beyond everything and everyone, but that God is most clearly apprehended through those spirits who are always around, below, above, and in them.... When the Zulus see the Deity in every place and all the time, they are acknowledging the ubiquitous nature of God as well as their constant sojourn within the realm of the divine presence.
— excerpted from "The One, the Other, the Divine, the Many in Zulu Traditional Religion of Southern Africa" in Dialogue and Alliance, Summer 1992, pp. 79–89
CHAPTER 2THE BAHÁ'Í FAITH
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi
"Know thou of a certainty that Love is the secret of God's holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings. Love is heaven's kindly light, the Holy Spirit's eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul. Love is the cause of God's revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things. Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next. Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul....
"Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the diverse elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms. Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe. Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation."
'ABDU'L-BAHÁ, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 27
"Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.
Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face.
Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge.
Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech.
Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men.
Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression.
Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts.
Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility." (p. 285)
"The essential purpose of the religion of God is to establish unity among mankind. The divine Manifestations were Founders of the means of fellowship and love. They did not come to create discord, strife, and hatred in the world. The religion of God is the cause of love, but if it is made to be the source of enmity and bloodshed, surely its absence is preferable to its existence; for then it becomes satanic, detrimental, and an obstacle to the human world."
'ABDU'L-BAHÁ, Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 202
"The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds, and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded. This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resource of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples.... In such a world society, science and religion, the two most potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will cooperate, and will harmoniously develop."
SHOGHI EFFENDI, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 203–204
"The source of all learning is the knowledge of God, exalted be His glory, and this cannot be attained save through the knowledge of His Divine Manifestation. The essence of abasement is to pass out from under the shadow of the Merciful and seek the shelter of the Evil One.
"The source of error is to disbelieve in the One true God, rely upon aught else but him, and flee from His Decree. True loss is for him whose days have been spent in utter ignorance of his self.
"The essence of all that we have revealed for thee is Justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancy and imitation, discern with the eye of oneness His glorious handiwork, and look into all things with a searching eye.
"Thus have We instructed thee, manifested unto thee Words of Wisdom, that thou mayest be thankful unto the Lord, thy God, and glory therein amidst all peoples."
BAHÁ'U'LLÁH
Prayer
O my God! O my God!
Unite the hearts of thy servants,
and reveal to them Thy great purpose.
May they follow Thy commandments and abide in Thy law.
Help them, O God, in their endeavor, and grant them strength to serve Thee.
O God! Leave them not to themselves,
but guide their steps by the light of Thy knowledge,
and cheer their hearts by Thy love.
Verily, Thou art their Helper and their Lord.
BAHÁ'U'LLÁH, Bahá'í Prayers, p. 204
A Portrait
Dr. Robert H. Stockman
Director of Research, Bahá'í National Center, Wilmette, Illinois
The Bahá'í Faith is an independent world religion now in the 150th year of its existence. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Yearbook it is the second most widely spread religion in the world, with five million members residing in 232 countries and dependent territories, and national spiritual assemblies (national Bahá'í governing bodies) in 172.
The Bahá'í Faith began in Iran. Its history is intimately connected with the lives of its leading figures:
'Alí-Muhammad, Titled the Báb.
Born in southern Iran in 1819, in 1844 he announced that he was the promised one or Mahdi expected by Muslims. He wrote scriptures in which he promulgated a new calendar, new religious laws, and new social norms. Opposed by Iran's Muslim clergy and ultimately by its government, thousands of the Báb's followers were killed; in 1850 the Báb himself was put to death.
Mirzá Husayn-'Alí, Titled Bahá'u'lláh.
Born in northern Iran in 1817, Bahá'u'lláh became a follower of the Báb in 1844 and was imprisoned for his beliefs. In 1853 he had a vision that he was the divine teacher the Báb had promised; he publicly declared himself as a messenger of God in 1863. He spent the rest of his life in exile and prison, where he wrote over 100 volumes of scripture.
'Abbas Effendi, Titled 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
Son of Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was born in 1844 and accompanied his father on his exile to Palestine. Bahá'u'lláh appointed 'Abdu'l-Bahá his successor, the exemplar of his teachings, and the interpreter of his revelation. Under 'Abdu'l-Bahá the Bahá'í Faith spread beyond the Middle East, India, and Burma to Europe, the Americas, southern Africa, and Australasia. He died in 1921.
Shoghi Effendi Rabbani.
Grandson of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and his successor, Shoghi Effendi was born in Palestine in 1897 and received an Oxford education. As head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957, Shoghi Effendi translated the most important of Bahá'u'lláh's scriptures into elegant English, wrote extensive interpretations and explanations of the Bahá'í teachings, built the Bahá'í organizational system, and oversaw the spread of the Bahá'í Faith worldwide.
The Bahá'í scriptures constitute the books, essays, and letters composed by Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. Together they comprised nearly 60,000 letters, a significant portion of which are available in English; the content of this scriptural corpus is encyclopedic in nature. The Bahá'í teachings are those principles and values promulgated in the Bahá'í scriptures, and touch on nearly every aspect of human life.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Sourcebook of the World's Religions by Joel Beversluis. Copyright © 2000 Joel Beversluis. Excerpted by permission of New World Library.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction, Joel Beversluis,PART ONE: Who Are We? Major Religions, Spiritual Traditions, and Philosophies of the World,
Introduction, Joel Beversluis,
Chapter 1: African Traditional Religions,
Chapter 2: The Bahá'í Faith,
Chapter 3: Buddhism,
Chapter 4: Christianity,
Chapter 5: Confucianism,
Chapter 6: First Peoples and Native Traditions,
Chapter 7: Hinduism,
Chapter 8: Humanism,
Chapter 9: Islam,
Chapter 10: Jainism,
Chapter 11: Judaism,
Chapter 12: Shinto,
Chapter 13: Sikhism,
Chapter 14: Spiritual, Esoteric, and Evolutionary Philosophies,
Chapter 15: Taoism,
Chapter 16: The Unification Church,
Chapter 17: The Unitarian Universalist Church,
Chapter 18: Wicca and Nature Spirituality,
Chapter 19: Zoroastrianism,
PART TWO: Becoming a Community of Religions,
Introduction, Joel Beversluis,
Chapter 20: Interfaith Dialogue: How and Why Do We Speak Together?,
Chapter 21: The Interfaith Movement: Who Are the Interfaith Organizations and What Do They Do?,
Chapter 22: The Parliaments and the Quest for a Global Ethic,
Chapter 23: Facing Religious Intolerance, Violence, and Other Evils,
Chapter 24: Spirituality and Community,
PART THREE: Choosing Our Future,
Introduction: Making the Connections, Joel Beversluis,
Chapter 25: Creating a Culture of Peace,
Chapter 26: Religions, Ecology, and Spirituality,
Chapter 27: Human Rights and Responsibilities,
Chapter 28: What Shall We Do Next?,
PART FOUR: Selected Resources for the Community of Religions,
Chapter 29: Use the Internet!,
Chapter 30: A Directory of Faith and Interfaith Voices for Peace and Justice, Gloria Weber and Bruce Schuman,
Index of Organizations in the Directory by Area of Focus,
Index,
Acknowledgments,