Deities in African Traditional Religion and Igbo Cosmology
The beginning of the 19th century witnessed an upsurge in the study of African Traditional Religion. Scholars like J.S. Mbiti, Ikenga Metuh, Parrinder, Bolaji Idowu et al ignited the research for African identity through the study of an appraisal of its Indigenous / Traditional Religion. An important theme which manifested in these studies is the Deity. Deities occupy strategic/important position in the study of African Traditional Religion. Contrary the hitherto believed or expressed positions of the Eurocentric Scholars, that the untutored Africans cannot conceive of God, Researches of African scholar had proved that position as not only false but most misleading. Africans know and worshiped God before the inversion of Africa by the white colonialists. The Igbo of Nigeria knew God from their creation. Even with all the colonization, modernism, so called Whiteman’s civilization, these deities are still recognized and reverenced till date.
Keywords: african, cosmology, deities, igbo, religion, traditional