GOD, DIVINITIES AND ANCESTORS IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

Résumé

This paper examines how Africans conceive of the Supreme Being, divinities and the ancestors. The paper discusses the place of the divinities and ancestors in African religious meta-physics, stressing that their belief in these other spiritual beings do not in any way contradict their belief in the Supreme Being as some western scholars opined. The paper used inter-disciplinary method which involves the use of interview, observations and secondary sources. Data were collected using descriptive analysis to examine the place of Supreme Being, divinities and ancestors in African traditional religious thought.Findings from the research have shown that the concept of Supreme Being is not strange to the Africans but in traditional Africa, there is no atheist. It sees the divinities as the offspring or apparitional beings who receive their authority from the Supreme Being to serve in the unitary theocratic system of government. The paper sees the ancestors as the intermediaries between the Supreme Being, divinities and the living. The paper suggests amongst others, the need for proper religious education, a theology of enculturation and understanding of African worldviews in other to sustain Africans beliefs and practices in these spiritual beings.