THE RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN THE THEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF SEMINARIANS TODAY
Speaking on the revision of ecclesiastical studies, Vatican II recommended among other theological courses that seminarians “should also be introduced to a knowledge of other religions which are more widely spread through individual areas” (Optatam Totius 16). She reasoned that this will help them better understand the elements of goodness and truth such religions possess and learn how to disprove the errors in them in the process of sharing the full light of the truth with those who lack it. Both Mbiti and Gyekye have noted that religion influences in a comprehensive way thoughts and actions of African life, fully determining practically every aspect of life including moral behaviour. The African lives in a religious universe in which all actions and thought have religious meaning and are inspired or influenced by a religious point of view. With African Traditional Religion (ATR), Christianity and Islam as Nigeria’s three main religions, Nigeria is a typical religious plural society. Each of these religions has their values. These values have served as a guide and control of human behaviour, dictating right from wrong and this is the most important aspect of religion, that is, its capacity to shape honorable human personality and values being in accord with human society. Some of the human and religious values in traditional society include honesty, education, morality, brotherhood tie, respect for elders and fellow citizens, good name, community living and family loyalty. One of the most significant values that traditional Nigerians hold to be of great importance is the wisdom of its elders which manifests in proverbs-speaking. This paper examines the relevance of the study of African Traditional Religion in contemporary Catholic theological formation houses. The method adopted is multi-dimensional - analytical, historical, phenomenological and theological. Our findings highlight the main reasons or benefits of the study, the traditional values to be integrated in theological formation; that our contextualization of the Christian faith has to be based on a good knowledge of pre-Christian traditional heritage or the knowledge of earlier religious tradition in our local environment; and that African Christian theology must be diverse based on different cultural background, social-economic and political diversity and the diverse strands of Christian missionaries that evangelized Africa. Our conclusion is that the African Christian theologian must engage in a serious dialogue with African traditional religion. He / She can longer lay claim to exclusive truth and condemn the non-Christian religion as a mere worship of idols as some Pentecostals would do.
Keywords: