Learning from amaXhosa – Traditions and Religions

I’m not a missiologist. But I have often wondered about the right balance between introduction of Christianity and the retention of native traditions. My stay in Bulungula (see my last post) has added some color to these musings.

My village guides told me quite a bit about traditions, including religion. What I learned is that syncretism is alive and well in the Eastern Cape. Actually I’d argue that it is alive and well in just about every culture – in America we have a curious mix of Christianity, nationalism, and European immigrant cultures.

In Bulungula, Christianity has been widely adopted. But as is so often the case, it seems most usually to be added on to traditional religion – not adapted to it, as the missionaries would have wished, but just tacked onto the outside. I wonder how often this is the reality?

Traditional Xhosa religion is arguably monotheistic – there is a supreme God, uQamata or umDali, the unapproachable creator and sustainer of the cosmos. This supreme God can also be referred to as uThixo, which is the name given to Yahweh in the Xhosa translation of the Bible. The creator, as the first ancestor, is accessible through ancestral spirits.

The role of the spirits of the ancestors remains very significant among rural Xhosa people. A home will typically have the grave of the oldest ancestor, whose spirit will be consulted at times of need, for guidance, and for protection. The spirit world is quite complex, and rather outside the scope of this blog. But a few things are worth mentioning. Ancestral spirits can be approached through a prayer, or through a traditional healer skilled in communicating with them.  Ancestors may also communicate directly, typically through dreams. (One reason the Xhosa generally still prefer to sleep in round huts or rondavels is that evil spirits hide in corners, and so ancestral spirits won’t communicate with the inhabitants of rectangular huts. One of my guides told me that her sister had to move to her rondavel in order to get dream-based guidance for a tough decision).

One of the implications of ancestral roles is the care with which burial of a head of household is carried out. A (for me) nice part of this is the open invitation for anyone around to join in the memorial drinking and socializing – essentially a multi-day wake though rather more dignified than some in the West!

The introduction of Christianity was superficially quite straightforward. The supreme being is revealed as Yahweh, the God of Israel, and instead of the ancestral spirits as intercessors, we can approach God through Jesus, the Son of God. However, there are some significant differences in terms of understanding of the approachability of God, His involvement in His creation (Xhosa religion tends toward deism where God winds up the cosmic clock and then leaves it to run down on its own). The concept of eternal punishment is alien to the Xhosa, and the need for a Savior is quite new.

Some Xhosa have moved away from traditional religion altogether and become followers of Jesus. But others have simply changed their understanding of the Creator, and continue to rely on ancestral intervention. This isn’t helped by the huge number of pastors, often largely untaught, who abuse their position for sake of power or money. My guide told me that she likes to go to church, but doesn’t like the Christian Bible. When I asked why, she said that too many pastors just use it as a way to tell people what they must and mustn’t do. (I suggested that she consider the Bible on its own merits rather than through pastoral interpretations, but don’t know if her level of literacy allowed her to do so).

So what can we learn from the Xhosa about religion? Firstly, that there is value in tradition, but it cannot be the primary driver of belief. What Christianity offers is an absolute guide to God and His dealings with His people – that is, the Bible. Also, that the spiritual world is real and active, and not to be ignored in the name of visibly demonstrable “science”. The West has become so materialistic in its “enlightenment” and its Platonic philosophy that the beauty and the danger of the spiritual has been largely lost.

An interesting question remains. Who is better off – the traditionalist who believes and acts on their belief in their traditions, or the modernist who adds Christianity’s teachings to traditional beliefs and follows whichever is most convenient at the time? Ultimately religion in the best sense isn’t about what practices are followed (whether traditional or more modern, native or Christian) but the character that is formed by the Spirit of Christ resting in them. (As a Christian I can’t see it any other way). So in a way the answer to my question is that it doesn’t matter – both fall short. But I think I’d take the honest traditionalist any day.