A COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH DIETARY RULES AND TOTEMIC BELIEFS IN AFRICA: IMPLICATIONS FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Résumé
In biblical tradition and even outside of it, dietary rules guide the food habit of man. While food and plants are for the nourishment of the body, it is an incontrovertible fact that some are harmful. This paper took a critical look at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church food habit and its leaning on clean and unclean things as contained in the Book of Leviticus (Chapters 11-14) which has a major implication on spiritual growth of members. This is compared with the totemic beliefs and practices of some African societies which set aside certain animals not to be killed and or if killed, not to be eaten by the very people who have such an animal as their totem. The aim of this paper is to undertake a comparative analyses of the Seventh-day Adventist church food habit and the totemic belief in Africa, for spiritual growth. The theory adopted for this study is based on the food taboo theory of Peter Altman and Anna Angelini 2020. The study employed the comparative phenomenological approach in data collection, presentation and discussion. It observed that the Seventh-Day Adventist Church teaching on food habit is not only for physical nourishment of the body but has so much to do with human spiritual growth. This without doubt, has a striking similarity with the prohibitive rules which govern totemic beliefs and practices in many African societies. The study concluded that this food habit practice by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, should be made a family principle by all and sundry so that its observance will not be an imposition but by informed decision.