African Christian influence on politics and political thought is itself influenced by syncretic theology, the act and art of incorporating certain cultural and religious rituals into Christian worship, combined with the idolization of material possessions as the hallmark of a successful ministry or church.
The major attraction for many Yoruba Christians is anchored on ascribing Yoruba rendering of Praising God within a cultural matrix, often found in various formulations of Yoruba “traditional, religious praise worship” , as in, for example, “A b’owó gbo gbo ro tí ńyomo tiè l’ófìn: He who has long hands to rescue his children from ditch ; Alágbádá iná; A tún Orí eni tí ò sunwòn se, One who correct unfavorable destiny” all of which stemmed from traditional religious or spiritual practices, and this, despite the simplicity of praising God found in the Scripture.
These traditional, religious renderings were part of a continuum, a history, anchored on ascribing divinity to the kings, as the embodiment of the “spirit”. Ancient Sumeria could be considered the “world”, at the time, occupied by the various peoples and nations and ruled by various Kings, who ascribed their kingship to the heavens. The “Sumerian Kings List” is a compilation of these various kings and their length of reign and begins with the assumption that the king’s rule descended from the heavens—hence what the Yoruba refer to as the “alase ekeji orisa”.
Within this ancient Sumeria was Ur of the Chaldeans from where Abraham was called out by God and through whom God showed Himself, thereby “distancing” Himself from the Sumerian assumptions and where Abraham’s obedience was not only a direct repudiation of the Sumerian assumptions, but also a recognition of a Higher power over the existing kings, and which was accounted to him for righteousness.
The children of Israel later returned to the Sumerian experience by their demand for a king (just as they wanted to return to Egypt)— “Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8:19-20).
African Christian cultural resistance can be understood only within the anti-colonial context, where the oft-expressed Western incursion into Africa was predicated upon “the three Cs”: Christianity, Commerce and Civilization, as the pretext for colonial plunder. These “three Cs” found a fertile ground in Africa, with the existing African monarchical system anchored on the African version of the “divine right of kings”.
Early European Christianity endorsed this “divine right” which was sustained all the way until the Reformation where European Christians also played a key role in its neutralization, influencing political thoughts of such persons like Thomas Paine and John Milton and the famous Jeffersonian line in the American Declaration of Independence, to wit: “all men are created equal”.
This resistance to the “divine right of kings”, which eventually established the foundations for Western Democracy had limited expression in African Christianity, where its influence was carved around “winning souls’ while leaving the political and economic system surrounding the trans-Atlantic Slave trade and colonial plunder intact.
The emphasis on material accomplishment that has now come to define Christianity has led to a situation where many Church office holders held and are holding political offices without a dent on the questions around the political-economic direction on the African continent. In contradistinction to their Western counterparts, whose involvement in their societies led to their being part of the major breakthroughs that has come to define modernity, and this, despite the utilization of Christianity also as a means of enslaving Africans.
“Cultural theology” became the form of opposition, wound around “Africanization” of the Church and eventually embracing syncretism while at the same time idolizing acquisition of material wealth but leaving out the essence of the Scripture, found in Luke 4:18.
Ezekiel 14:6-11 says: “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by Myself. I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. “And if the prophet is induced to speak anything, I the Lord have induced that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. And they shall bear their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be the same as the punishment of the one who inquired, that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me, nor be profaned anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people and I may be their God,” says the Lord God.’”
The violation of which may arguably be the major reason for the inability of Yoruba/Nigerian/African Christianity to have the same or similar earth-shaking impact as that of Europe, despite “worldly achievements” which Nigerian Christianity is known for. Christian political intervention and opposition to the “divine right of kings” later came to influence the formation of the modern Nation State in Europe, through which many of the countries in Europe emerged in their languages. African Christianity, on the other hand, wholly embraced the “divine right of kings” within the African context, thereby rendering them unable to proceed with the emergence of their own Nation States through the recognition of the multiplicity of Languages, which must inform on the type of State Structure for governance.
Instead, what occurred was a complete acceptance of the European paradigm, corralling multi-lingual and multi-cultural Peoples into a single Nation State while ascribing “divine authority” to the rulers of these States in a similar manner as ascribed to the “divine right of kings”. Romans 13: 1-4 is often used as the theological premise for this stance. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will [a]bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.” Genesis 1: 31 says: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” Acts 10:38 says: “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him”
The “common denominator” in these Scriptures is the “good”. God saw everything and it was GOOD. Because we know that Abraham was called out of Sumerian rule, especially when her kings ascribed divinity to their rule, their authority cannot be good. The foundations upon which the divine right of kings cannot be good. The political context under which the economy is based cannot be good. Therefore, the issue before contemporary Christians is whether they want to be like the Gibeonites, voluntarily tying themselves to the apron strings of their oppressors, which is not good. “Modern” European Christians did not, so African Christians should not. And that will be good. (To be Continued).
© Wale Odeku, November 6, 2021
Website: https://solomonoluwabiyi.com
Email: viewpoint@solomonoluwabiyi.com
