ipl-logo

Similarities Between African And Native American God

424 Words2 Pages

Belief in a Supreme High God, who created the world and then withdrew from active participation in it, is common in polytheistic religions around the world. Beyond all minor gods, goddesses, spirits and ancestors, there exists one High God, who created and in some sense still governs the universe. Most believe that this God is too distant and has limited contact with daily operation of human life. Native Americans and Africans have similar concepts of the high god. African and Native American religions recognize the presence of one supreme deity as well as the existence of God in multiple aspects. Both Africans and Native Americans believe that the high god is responsible for bringing the universe or the world into existence and after creating …show more content…

For example, the Yoruba tribe of West Africa is that Olorun (High God) assigned creation to his eldest son, Obatala, who failed to complete the task so he passed it on to his younger son, Odudua, but he failed too. Olorun oversaw creation himself by assigning smaller tasks to various orisha, lesser deities. Olorun then retired to the heavens and has little contact with people, though he may be appealed to at time of great crisis. Some Native American’s have a different view of the Great Spirit. For example, the Dakota tribes consider the high god Wakan Tanka, a Sioux name. They offer reverence to this spirit, which is displayed when the people honor the four directions, the Sun, Mother Earth, and their fellow man because these are Wakan Tanka's creation (Wakan, n.d.). They also do not attempt to describe this Great Power that created all because they say that no one can describe such a vast mystery (Wakan, n.d.). According to Dakota tribe, Wakan Tanka felt lonely so he created this world. Thus, it can be concluded that the African and Native American idea of the high god is quite similar with few differences in different tribes. But the main concept of both is similar because both were immensely influenced by Christianity. Christianity, being a monotheist religion, when influenced both these religions it brought in the concept of the high

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Genesis And The Memphite Myth Of Genesis

    1265 Words  | 6 Pages

    Each culture establishes their own story of creation, as well as their own portrayal of who is “the supreme creator”.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Love Medicine By Louise Erdrich

    1165 Words  | 5 Pages

    There's two types of Gods that can coexist. Erdrich offers a rare and thoughtful view inside the motivations of Native America’s most accomplished writer. She explores the interactions between her culture, tracing themes of separation and loss. This aspect is important as a whole because the special insight she offered into the lives of the Native Americans make the readers better grasp the oral tradition and the customs of their culture as the author is determined to break with

    Read More

  • Mayans Vs Inuits

    604 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many different cultures around the world and each culture has their own idea of how Earth and man came about. Most cultures believe in some form of “higher being”, however, they all have different ideas of who that higher being is. The three cultures that are being focused on right now are the Colonial Americans, the Mayans, and the Inuits. Each culture has generally the same idea; that there is one or two people that created everything, but they each also have a lot of differences in how they think everything was created. Each creation myth has different ideas about the creator or “higher being”.

    Read More

  • Wicca A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner Sparknotes

    898 Words  | 4 Pages

    These are referred to as deities. These deities are thought of as a personified view of the “supreme divine power, unknowable, ultimate from which the universe sprang”(9). Almost every aspect of the world is divided to be representative of the God or the Goddess. Be that as it may, “in Wiccan thought, the deities didn’t exist before our ancestors acknowledgement of them. However, the energies behind them did; they created us.

    Read More

  • How Did Life Before California

    602 Words  | 3 Pages

    Life before the arrival of the Spanish in California for us Native Americans was free because we lived within nature, our traditions, and beliefs. But, most importantly we lived life how we inspired. And we enjoyed of many things we can no longer enjoy ever again, since the arrival of the Spanish. Our life in California now does not resemble or compare to how we lived before. Before nature and wilderness was full of life like we were once.

    Read More

  • Comparing Gods In Genesis And Popol Vuh

    1114 Words  | 5 Pages

    Being able to create the world means God has a lot of power. God also just said what he wanted to happened and it happened. “And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light ” ( Genesis, pg. 65 ) In Popol Vuh they also had an all powerful gods archetype.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Phaeacia In Homer's The Odyssey

    657 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout our history the belief in a higher being has been a common practice. There have been many versions of these beliefs and it is understandable why. When a person believes in a superior force it helps them be motivated. In Homer’s The Odyssey you see humans blaming their problems and crediting their success to the gods.

    Read More

  • Inuit Gods In Mayan Culture

    621 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like the Mayans, the Raven had the power to create the entire, but one of him equated to two Mayan gods. The Puritans worshipped God. God is seen as all powerful, he blesses his “children” (“yet by the goodness of God”- Edward Winslow). He is described as the most powerful being, just like the Mayan and Inuit gods.

    Read More

  • Comparing Aztecs And Romans Religion

    717 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Aztecs and Romans religion was alike in many ways. They had many different beliefs and ways of worshiping their gods. Most of the things were the same about the religion. They also had some differences to. They both had many gods and worshiped in similar ways.

    Read More

  • Creation Myths Vs Religion

    783 Words  | 4 Pages

    And another idea would be that the sky is so high up, that of course the Gods would be higher than us, because they are divine beings. It may have showed that the Gods had extreme power over us. Greeks, Hebrews and Christians, Babylonians, Hindus, Incans, Mayans, Yorubas and Cheyenne all had their Gods placed in the sky/ another dimension. The natives to these religions are maybe self conscious and thought that there had to be someone else who will be forever more powerful than anyone. There is also a possibility that of the people just having really terrible lives and making up that when they die they’ll go somewhere beautiful and happy and be with the Gods up in the

    Read More

  • Cosmological Dualism Essay

    556 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thousands of years ago, our ancestors would look up at the stars glowing in the night sky wondering what lies beyond our small, self-contained little world and to this day “Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust of the material universe swims” (Wells n.p.). Many people did not understand the world during that time period so they tried to make an understanding of the world through religion. During this time period, religion shows resemblance to early cosmology as “Both dialectical dualism and eschatological dualism have a basically cosmological function - explanation of the structure of the universe” (Dualism n.p.). Many civilizations all across the world worshiped gods that came from the sky or stars. What if these gods were actually

    Read More

  • Explain What Was Religion Like For The Zuni

    419 Words  | 2 Pages

    What was religion like for the Zuni? In religion for the Zuni tribe, they found that everything in it was very sacred. They were very religious and they prayed numerously. They believed in multiple gods like The Sun Father, and the Moon Mother.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Mesopotamia And China

    700 Words  | 3 Pages

    Polytheism is when people religiously believe in more than one god. The two civilizations believed that they had gods for everything, such as gods of sunlight, gods of food, and gods of rain. China believed that their gods were their ancestors, and Mesopotamia believed that their gods were central forces. Adding to their religious beliefs, the two civilizations also believed in an afterlife. China and Mesopotamia both believed that how they lived their current life would affect their future afterlife.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Epic Of Gilgamesh And Genesis

    768 Words  | 4 Pages

    After all, the only God affects every part in Genesis, but lots of the gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh perform separate

    Read More

  • Ancient Near East Divine Creation

    1443 Words  | 6 Pages

    Amongst the countries of the ancient Near East divine creation was not a notion or belief originating with the Hebrew people. Within the sociopolitical context of the Ancient Near East there existed differing creation cosmologies all of which intended to explain and define existence by having and understanding function within an ordered and created system. This holds true for the Genesis creation narrative as well. When the first chapters of Genesis are read, we begin to understand how God wanted Israel to relate to himself, their neighboring cultures as well as understand who and what they were created to be.

    Read More

More about Similarities Between African And Native American God

Open Document