Anthony Ephirim-Donkor's Books

African Spirituality

On Becoming Ancestors

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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African Spirituality

On Becoming Ancestors

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

Using the Akan in Ghana as a paradigmatic African representative group, African Spirituality: On Becoming Ancestors, Third Edition offers a unique African developmental praxis to eternal life immortality. Indeed, this way of life is predicated on the awareness and application of certain intrinsic values, which, if followed, lead to eternal life. As a way of living, African spirituality begins when an individual becomes morally and ethically responsible for one’s own actions while engaged on an ethical path (Ɔbra Bↄ) in pursuance of one’s unique career endeavor (Nkrabea). Though an individual quest, society is, however, the arbiter of one’s ethical and moral life, when society confers on the person adjudged a success the stage title of Nana. At old age, Ɔbra Bↄ ends as an active endeavor. However, as repositories of wisdom, senior elders continue to inculcate in succeeding generations the principles, art, and mastery of ideal life (Ɔbra pa). Then upon death, senior elders are transformed into deities, bequeathing to living descendants names worthy of evocation and worship. Indeed, this book is the first study of its kind to draw on the experiences of an entire people, their psychological dispositions and effects on the Akan during adulthood. Thus, this book brings a unique perspective to the study of spirituality, religion, developmental psychological theory, what it means to achieve perfection as an elder on earth, and upon death join the esteemed company of the Nananom Nsamanfo (Ancestors).

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319

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0761872612

ISBN 13

9780761872610

African Personality and Spirituality

The Role of Abosom and Human Essence

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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African Personality and Spirituality

The Role of Abosom and Human Essence

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

There is a divine pronouncement among the Akan that all human beings are children of God (Nana Nyame), none a child of the earth (mother); meaning that human beings are spiritual in origin, descending directly from God via the Abosom (gods and goddesses). Every person then has a deity as father (Ᾱgya-bosom), recognition of which existentially enables a person to fulfil one’s career or professional blueprint (Nkrabea). Intrinsically, therefore, human beings embody the very essence of the Abosom, which manifests itself behaviorally and psychologically in a manner identical to those of the gods and goddesses. African Personality and Spirituality: The Role of Abosom and Human Essence therefore addresses ultimate existential concerns of the Akan, revealing the essence of the primeval gods and goddesses and how they transform themselves into human beings, as well as the psychology of personality characteristic attributes, the phenomenon of spirit alightment, and other manifestations of the gods and goddesses, and the imperative of ethical existence and generativity (Ↄbra bᴐ) as basis of eternal life.

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211

Publisher

Lexington Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1498521231

ISBN 13

9781498521239

African Religion Defined

A Systematic Study of Ancestor Worship Among the Akan

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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African Religion Defined

A Systematic Study of Ancestor Worship Among the Akan

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

This edition updates the scholarship on ancestor worship—with the addition of three new chapters. Beginning with Akan theology and ending with sacrifices, the study examines Akan conception of God, the abosom (gods and goddesses) relative to creation, centrality of the ancestors’ stool as the ultimate religious symbol housing the soul of the Akan, and organized annual propitiatory festivities carried out among the Akan in honor of the ancestors (Nananom Nsamanfo) and abosom. The book, therefore, serves as an invaluable resource for those interested in the phenomenon of African religion, because it provides real insight into ancestor worship in ways that are meaningful, practical, systematic, and as a way of life by an Akan Traditional ruler (Ↄdikro) and a professor of Africana studies.

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267

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0761868453

ISBN 13

9780761868453

The Making of an African King

Patrilineal and Matrilineal Struggle among the Awutu (Effutu) of Ghana

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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The Making of an African King

Patrilineal and Matrilineal Struggle among the Awutu (Effutu) of Ghana

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

In this edition of The Making of an African King: Patrilineal and Matrilineal Struggle Among the Ᾱwutu (Effutu) of Ghana, Revised & Updated, every chapter is updated, taking into account the 2015 Ghana Supreme Court ruling on the internecine kingship struggle among the Ᾱwutu (Effutu) of Simpa (Winneba). The patrilineal Otuano Royal Family sued the Acquah faction and proponents of matrilineal succession in 1976, seeking confirmation of their inalienable right as the sole kingmakers of Simpa, and also for the court to place perpetual injunction on the Acquahs never to interfere in the royal affairs of Simpa. During the intervening decades from 1976-2015, Simpa witnessed a spate of intermittent political violence, especially the months leading to their annual Nyantɔr (aboakyir) Festival, all aimed at preventing the king from propitiating the ancestors and deities of Simpa led by Pɛnkyae Otu. With the Supreme Court ruling, people now have the opportunity to read the judgment in its entirety and make up their own minds. What is actually fascinating about the whole internecine royal struggle is, that we have a situation whereby a matrilineal political system practiced by the Akan is displacing a long-established patrilineal system of descent traditionally practiced by the Guan speaking people of Simpa. Such an idea would be unheard of in the West, but this is what is happening among the Ᾱwutu (Effutu) of Simpa (Winneba) socio-culturally and politically. Indeed, it shows how unique and transformative the Akan ābusua (a mother and her children) system is all about.

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341

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0761870717

ISBN 13

9780761870715

African Spirituality

On Becoming Ancestors

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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African Spirituality

On Becoming Ancestors

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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319

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Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0761872612

ISBN 13

9780761872610

African Personality and Spirituality

The Role of Abosom and Human Essence

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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African Personality and Spirituality

The Role of Abosom and Human Essence

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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Page Count

211

Publisher

Lexington Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1498521231

ISBN 13

9781498521239

African Religion Defined

A Systematic Study of Ancestor Worship among the Akan

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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African Religion Defined

A Systematic Study of Ancestor Worship among the Akan

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

African religion is ancestor worship; that is, funeral preparations, burial of the dead with ceremony and pomp, belief in eternal existence of souls of the dead as ancestors, periodic remembrance of ancestors, and belief that they influence the affairs of their living descendants. Whether called Akw?sidai, Homowo, Voodoo, Nyant?r (Aboakyir), CandomblZ, or Santeria in Africa or the African Diaspora, ancestor worship centers on the ancestors and deities. This makes it a tenably viable religion, because living descendants are genetically linked to their ancestors. The author, a traditional king and professor, studies the Akan in Ghana to demonstrate that ancestor worship is as pragmatic, systematic, theological, teleological, soteriological — with a highly trained clerical body and elders as mediators — and symbolic as any other religion in the world. Ancestor worship follows prescribed rites and rituals, formulas, precepts for ritual efficacy, and festivities of honor with music and dances to provoke ancestors and deities into joining in the celebration.

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160

Publisher

University Press of America

Published Date

ISBN 10

0761853294

ISBN 13

9780761853299

The Making of an African King

Patrilineal and Matrilineal Struggle among the Awutu (Effutu) of Ghana

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

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The Making of an African King

Patrilineal and Matrilineal Struggle among the Awutu (Effutu) of Ghana

By: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

Average ratings

N/A

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

341

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0761870717

ISBN 13

9780761870715

Book's by Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

African Spirituality

African Spirituality

African Personality and Spirituality

African Personality and Spirituality

African Religion Defined

African Religion Defined

The Making of an African King

The Making of an African King

African Spirituality

African Spirituality

African Personality and Spirituality

African Personality and Spirituality

African Religion Defined

African Religion Defined

The Making of an African King

The Making of an African King

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