article · LUMINA
Historical perspectives on African Traditional Religion have often been divided, with some observers claiming that Africans lacked the capacity to engage in philosophical reasoning about God. Such viewpoints resulted in derogatory labels being assigned to indigenous beliefs. In response, this analysis explores the concept and philosophy of African Traditional Religion directly from an African viewpoint. It outlines the worldview, foundation, and philosophical nature of these religious traditions. The analysis details how worship is expressed through practices including sacrifices, offerings, singing, dancing, and prayer. Furthermore, it addresses key concepts such as evil, ethics, justice, and time within this philosophical framework. Ultimately, the work concludes that Africans maintained a recognised understanding of God prior to the arrival of Christian missionaries.
This work clarifies the structured philosophical basis of African Traditional Religion, countering historical misconceptions that dismissed indigenous African spiritual reasoning. By articulating how ethics, justice, and worship are organised within African worldviews, it supports a deeper and more balanced understanding of indigenous intellectual and cultural heritage.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway or any commercial potential, as it is an early-stage conceptual and philosophical analysis.
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There has been a divergent view regarding the concept and philosophy of African Traditional Religion. Some have seen Africans as not having the capacity to reason on the concept or the philosophy of God. This led them into giving all forms of derogatory names to African Traditional Religion. This paper examines the concept and philosophy of African Traditional Religion from the viewpoint of Africans. It presents the worldview, philosophical nature and foundation of African Traditional Religion. It also shows that the worship of God in African Traditional Religion is through sacrifices, offerings, singing, dancing and prayers. The paper also considers the concept of evil, ethics, justice and time in African Traditional Religion. It concludes that Africans knew God before the coming of the missionaries to Africa.
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