Charismatic gifts, though tautological, is a catch word
amongst Christian denominations, Catholics
and non-Catholics alike. Claim of charisms is an
assurance of a team of followers and adherents. The
more one is able to hypnotize the people into believing
that he has charisms, the more famous he
becomes and the greater respect he commands. He
immediately begins to answer “Man of God”.
Fortune telling confused as prophesying is the most
popular amongst these uninformed. Uttering of
unintelligible sounds, frenzy shaking and rolling or
dancing in spirit are common signs that one is
possessed by the spirit of prophecy amongst Christians
of today. This paper questions the
authenticity of the Christian prophetic gift claims
against the backdrop of African (Igbo of Nigerian)
traditional possession by the Agwu spirit. One
gets increasingly concerned with the truth value of the
claims that Christian prophetic spirit is good while
African Agwu spirit is evil since most signs seen
amongst Christian prophets and prophetesses are not
really different from the ones seen in the life of
those possessed by Agwu in African
Traditional Religion understanding. Further, people possessed
by Agwu are known for
possessing supernatural powers like healings, visions, auditions and even
more. If this is the case, why must the later be
repudiated by the former and why must Christians
regard them as unbelievers and in need of conversion?
Could it not be that the native Africans are
coerced into accepting the belief of the Westerner as
authentic to the unfortunate neglect of the even
superior African belief and experience? This and other
similar issues form the status quaestionis of
this paper
Author(s) Details
Dominic Obielosi
Department of Religion and Human Relations, Nnamdi Azikiwe
University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.
View Book :- https://bp.bookpi.org/index.php/bpi/catalog/book/241
No comments:
Post a Comment