ANCESTORS, THE SACRED AND GOD + WESTERN CHRISTIAN MISREPRESENTATIONS OF AFRICAN RELIGIOSITY - REFLECTIONS ON THE MEANING OF THE SACRED IN ZIMBABWEAN DEATH-RITUALS

This paper holds that the sacred refers to the central and most fundamental reality for believers which, although wholly other, is manifested through worldly objects or events (hierophanies). In this view, the concept of God also becomes a hierophany of the sacred through symbols and is neither higher nor lower than the hierophanies of the sacred which do not refer to a Supreme Being. An examination of three contemporary field descriptions of traditional death rituals in Zimbabwe shows that although references to the Supreme Being (Mwari) are entirely lacking, the sacred reality is overwhelmingly present through ancestral spirits mediated largely through religious specialists. In contrast to this view, African Christian theologians have stressed the central role of God in African Religions in part as a reaction to misrepresentations by Westerners of African rehgiosity. The emphasis by scientists and historians of religion on Mwari in Zimbabwe, however, is not as easily explained and may represent different agendas which should be acknowledged so that the rituals themselves can shed light on the meaning of the sacred for believers. © 1995 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.