Contextualizing Eschatology in African Cultural and Religious Beliefs (Routledge Studies on Religion in Africa and the Diaspora)

__Contextualizing Eschatology in African Cultural and Religious Beliefs__ addresses the African consciousness and nuances of eschatological beliefs as part and parcel of the holistic African Indigenous worldviews within the context of the people's traditional heritage. The concept of eschatology is usually explained from the perspective of "endtimes" in relation to either the human individual or the cosmos. Within these contexts, the primary interests, particularly with regard to human eschatology, have centred on the questions of death, afterlife, immortality, destiny, judgment, reward and punishment, and the final destination or eternal "home" of humans. This book explores the characteristic nature, the modes, the process as well as the dynamics associated with the various features culminating the functional expression of the "reality" of eschatological beliefs demonstrated in varied but fundamentally the same subject matter of practices among different African ethnic groups. It also discusses the influences of other religious traditions, particularly Christianity and Islam, on contemporary African eschatological thoughts and their attendant consequences. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of African studies, eschatology, religious studies, and the philosophy of religion. Contextualizing Eschatology in African Cultural and Religious Beliefs' addresses the African consciousness and nuances of eschatological beliefs as part and parcel of the holistic African Indigenous world views within the context of the peoples traditional heritage.0The concept of eschatology is usually explained from the perspective of "end times" in relation to either the human individual or and the cosmos. Within these contexts, the primary interests, particularly with regard to human eschatology, have centred on the questions of death, afterlife, immortality, destiny, judgment, reward and punishment, and the final destination or eternal "home" of humans. This book explores the characteristic nature, the modes, the process as well as the dynamics associated with the various features culminating the functional expression of the "reality" of eschatological beliefs demonstrated in varied but fundamentally the same subject matter of practices among different African ethnic groups. It also discusses the influences of other religious traditions, particularly Christianity and Islam on contemporary African eschatological thoughts and their attendant consequences. 0This book will be of interest to students and scholars of African studies, eschatology, religious studies and the philosophy of religion Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Foreword 10 Preface and Acknowledgment 14 1 Introductory: universal concepts of eschatology : definitions, developmental explanations, and beliefs in major religious tradition s 18 2 Eschatology in African traditional cultural and religious worldviews: general overview 33 3 Cosmological and ontological prelude to African eschatology: the dynamics of creation and nature of the universe and humans 45 4 Human nature, rites of passage, death, and funeral rites: “gateways” to African eschatological beliefs and practices 56 5 The afterlife, ancestral cult, and African eschatology 74 6 Reincarnation and African eschatological paradigms 85 7 End-times: of final judgment and end of cosmos in African eschatological prism 101 8 Contemporary influences, future of African concept of eschatology, and conclusion 113 Index 130