Other religions and movementsDraft · awaiting advisor review
What about our ancestors, and honouring them, in African tradition?
In short
The Bible honours ancestors: it commands respect for parents, keeps genealogies and remembers forebears in faith. What it forbids is consulting the dead or offering to them, because worship belongs to God alone and Christ is the one mediator. Many African Christians therefore remember and honour their ancestors gratefully while praying to God alone.
The Objection
Across much of Africa the ancestors are not gods but elders who have gone ahead, the “living dead”, still part of the family and guardians of its moral life. Pouring a libation or naming them at a meal is respect, not idolatry. Missionaries who called this devil worship misunderstood it and asked converts to dishonour their own families. Why should following Jesus mean cutting ties with those who gave us life?
Put as its strongest advocates would put it.
The Christian Case
- Historical evidence
Practices vary widely among Africa’s peoples, but many hold that departed elders remain part of the community, watching over descendants and upholding custom. Most traditions distinguish them from the Supreme Being, known by names such as Nyame (Akan) or Olodumare (Yoruba). John Mbiti called them the “living dead”. Libations, offerings and naming children after them are common ways of honouring them.
- Scripture
The Bible takes ancestors seriously. It commands honouring parents, records long genealogies, including Jesus’ own, and calls believers who have died a “cloud of witnesses”. Jesus spoke of God as “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, adding that he is the God of the living, not of the dead.
- Scripture
Scripture also draws a line. Israel was forbidden to consult the dead, and Isaiah asks why the living should seek the dead rather than their God. Saul’s visit to a medium is recorded as part of his downfall. Prayer and sacrifice belong to God alone, and the New Testament names Christ as the one mediator between God and humanity.
- Philosophical argument
A useful test is the difference between remembrance and reliance. Thanking God for forebears, telling their stories and tending graves express love. Asking them for protection, or fearing their anger if offerings lapse, treats them as powers to be managed. Christians argue that Christ, who disarmed the spiritual powers, frees people from that fear, since the dead are in God’s hands.
- Christians differ
African Christians disagree on how far to go. Theologians such as Kwame Bediako and Charles Nyamiti present Christ as the greatest Ancestor, fulfilling what the tradition longed for, and some churches keep memorial rites without praying to the dead. Many Pentecostal and evangelical churches reject libations and similar rituals entirely. Catholics and Orthodox, who ask the saints to pray for them, often see more room than Protestants.
- Christians differ
Many ask whether ancestors who never heard of Jesus are lost. Some Christians hold that salvation requires conscious faith in Christ; others think God may save those who responded to the light they had. Both appeal to Scripture, and both trust that the Judge of all the earth will do right.
Where the Evidence Is Weaker
The Bible does not address African ancestor rites directly, so applying texts written against ancient Near Eastern necromancy needs care, and where remembering ends and “consulting” begins is genuinely disputed. Traditions differ so much that no single verdict fits every practice. Christian claims about where the dead are, and whether they can know or affect the living, rest on Scripture rather than on evidence an outsider could test.
Arguments to Avoid
- Calling all ancestor veneration demon worship, which misreads many practices and wounds families.
- Claiming Africans worship their ancestors as gods, when most traditions distinguish them from the Supreme Being.
- Speaking of “African tradition” as one uniform system, when beliefs differ greatly between peoples.
- Presenting Christianity as a European import, when it was rooted in Egypt, Ethiopia and North Africa from the early centuries.
Read for Yourself
Hebrews 11:1–12:2
1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 8By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. 17By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. 20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. 21By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. 22By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. 23By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. 24By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 27By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 31By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. 32And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Deuteronomy 18:9–14
9When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. 13Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 14For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
Matthew 22:23–33
23The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, 24Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 25Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: 26Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. 27And last of all the woman died also. 28Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. 29Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. 30For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. 31But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. 33And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.
Colossians 2:8–15
8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Further Reading
- African Religions and Philosophy · John S. Mbiti (1969)A classic, sympathetic account of African traditional beliefs, including the “living dead”.
- Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion · Kwame Bediako (1995)
- Christ as Our Ancestor · Charles Nyamiti (1984)A Catholic theologian’s case for understanding Christ in ancestral terms.
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s apologetics advisors. Labels show the kind of support each point has: Scripture is what the Bible says; historical evidence and philosophical arguments can be checked by anyone; “Christians differ” marks questions on which faithful Christians disagree.
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