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Item Theistic humanism and a critique of Wiredu’s notion of supernaturalism(Critical Research on Religion, 2017) Ani, E.I.In decrying the evils of supernaturalism, African philosopher Kwasi Wiredu (1931–) proposes humanism, by making concern for human well-being the basis for morality. However, the presentation of humanism as a simple replacement for supernaturalism is objectionable. Wiredu’s notion of supernaturalism is too narrow since it is only a variant of supernaturalism. His reference to humanism is too broad since humanism is an umbrella of very conflicting worldviews, such as that between secular and theistic humanism. Although Wiredu does not specify which variant of humanism he means, and although he acknowledges that the Akan (the author’s tribe in West Africa) believes in a Supreme Being, his general ontology shows that he is closer to the secular than the theistic variant. This article explores the ideological extensions of the two and argues that theistic humanism provides the compatibility needed for being religious and at the same time basing morality on humanistic/naturalistic concerns. In doing so, it distinguishes super naturalism per se from its ethical and cosmological variants. As a corrective to Wiredu, this article blames these two variants of supernaturalism, rather than supernaturalism per se, for the evils that Wiredu adduces. The conclusion is that in theistic humanism, humanism escapes the dangers of ethical and cosmological supernaturalism without necessarily adopting the anti-naturalist connotations currently popular with modern secular humanism.Item Ghanaian Prosperity Preaching(Springer International Publishing, 2022) Ossom-Batsa, G.; Gatti, N.Abstract The notion that suffering cannot be part of the Christian life has become pervasive in contemporary Ghanaian Christianity. Proponents of the Prosperity Gospel teach that suffering such as poverty, disease, failure, and hardships are not part of God’s plan but rather signs of lack of faith and even sin. Their preaching re-packages retributive theology, which characterizes many books of the Tanak. However, the personal and social experience of the silence of God before “unjust” suffering has generated texts—such as Psalm 73, the book of the prophet Habakkuk, and above all the book of Job—which express a challenge to this commonly held theology and to any reassuring theology. In Ghanaian Christianity, where God is identified with prosperity, miracles, success, wealth, absence of pain, disease, and death, the health, social, and economic crises provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic present a hermeneutic challenge and a biblical-theological question. Where is God in human suffering? Against this background, the article proposes an intercultural and pragmatic reading of the theological debate between Job and his friends, between experiential and retributive theology, to reconstruct a new image of God, capable of offering hope to Ghanaians in the COVID-19 pandemic.Item Material aspects of Limba, Yalunka and Kuranko ethnicity: Archaeological research in northeastern Sierra Leone(Archaeological Approaches to Cultural Identity, 1989-01) Decorse, C.R.Northeastern Sierra Leone is located within the forest-savanna ecotone; the southern part of the region is characterized by tropical forest and farm bush, whereas the north is more open and savanna grass and baobab trees are common. Physiographically the area lies on the Koinadugu Plateau, an extension of the Guinea Highlands, and is dominated by intr icately dissected plains, hills and mountains. Culturally the area consists largely ofLimba, Yalunka and Kuranko (Fig. 7.1), but smaller numbers of Fulani, Mandinka and other ethnic groups are also present. The three larger groups are swidden agr iculturalists. Chicken, goats and sheep are commonly kept, but cattle, when owned, are often tended by Fulani herdsmen. There is a high degree of cultural similarity throughout the region, but a variety of linguistic, cultural, political and historical factors characterize the individual groups.Collection Collection Collection