JESUS THE ANCESTOR: READING THE STORY OF JESUS FROM AN AFRICAN CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

• Charles A Wanamaker University of Cape Town

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7833/62-0-622

Abstract

1. Introduction . For more than two-hundred years South Africa has been the meeting place for two fundamentally different types of religious traditions: African traditional religions and Western European Christian religions. Each of these two traditions possesses its own world view, its own beliefs, practices, and behaviour codes and is embedded in its own distinctive culture. One, European Christianity, is historically an interloping missionary religion with numerous quite distinct and often competing manifestations. As an interloping religion in South Africa it has sought to convert people to its beliefs, practices, and behaviour patterns, as well as to European culture which is its carrier. African traditional religions, by way of contrast, are not missionary religions at all. Instead they are the religions of small scale, non-literate societies and are based on lineal descent from a common ancestor or membership in a particular clan or tribal group.