Worship or Veneration: An Analysis of Whether the African Veneration of Ancestors Equals the Biblical Understanding of Worship

Abstract

Before the coming of Christianity, Africans believed in the existence of a supreme Being and worshipped him. They also have a long-held, almost-ubiquitous belief in and veneration of ancestors. However, after Christianity was introduced in African societies, there have been conflicts between African traditional understanding of veneration of ancestors and biblical teaching of worship to God. Some have argued that respect, reverence, and honour accorded to ancestors amounts to worshipping them. However, some African authors have refuted these assertions and have asserted that ancestors are intermediaries between the living and God. This paper sets out to determine whether the African traditional practice of remembering, respecting, and honouring ancestors is veneration or worship. This is critical because some African Christians continue to venerate their ancestors and have fallen under sharp criticism of ancestral worship, which constitutes idolatry. The study utilised existing literature and biblical texts. It evaluates the concept of worship as understood and carried out in the biblical and African traditional contexts. The Bible and traditional African perspectives have similarities; for example, they uphold the existence of life after death. However, the meaning of life after death in the biblical perspective differs in these two worldviews. Also, in African cosmology, worship to the supreme Being was offered through intermediaries like ancestors and divinities, but in Christianity, worship is offered directly to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, Christians should not fall into the temptation of ancestral worship in the name of honouring the dead.