How do Africans view the Old Testament?

Answer 1

This is not a very good question. That's sort of like asking how North American's view Dakota Sioux Indian religions. There are so many people and groups of people in so many different areas that you simply cannot get an answer to this question. Even individuals in the same church have different views on the Old Testament.

Africa is a very large and diverse continent. There are more tribes and languages in Africa than there are in all of Europe. The links to the right provide more information on this.

Various groups of people can be further separated into religious groups. For example, there are Bantus that are Christian and Bantus that are not. The Uganda Mission and Wikipedia: Christian Identity links to the right provide more information on Christianity in Africa.

There are several groups that are still hunter gatherers that are considered hostile to outsiders and have never even heard of Adam, MOses or Jesus. Some of these speak click type languages that are phonetic rather than using real words. These languages are even less similar to modern languages than even Native American languages were to European languages during the American colonization period. Here's some info on some of the older tribes: http://andamandt.nic.in/people.htm

Of course, since we are talking about he Old Testament, it would be wrong if I left out the most important - followers of the Old Testament - The Jewish African tribes such as the Lemba and their descendants.

It really does you no good to group people into such arbitrary groupings such as "Africans". The people there are so different and diverse you couldn't even to begin to understand the depth of their differernces without some serious study. And once you commit tosuch a study you will find yourself realizing just how unique, yet how similar people all over the world really are.

I think this question is very intriguing. Obviously, given the size and variety of Africa no single answer can be given.

AnswerIn some areas there are Jewish Africans. Noteably the Falasha. While they may not adhere to the Old Testament exactly, they most probably did at some time. They are a most interesting group.

Falashas, native Jewish sect of Ethiopia.The origin of the Falashas is unknown. One Falasha tradition claims to trace their ancestry to Menelik, son of King Solomon of Israel and the queen of Sheba. Some scholars place the date of their origin before the 2d century bc, largely because the Falashas are unfamiliar with either the Babylonian or Palestinian Talmud. The Falashas themselves refer to their sect as Beta Esrael ("House of Israel").

The religion of the Falashas is a modified form of Mosaic Judaism unaffected generally by postbiblicaldevelopments.

The Sabbath regulations of the Falashas are stringent.They observe biblical dietary laws, but not the postbiblical rabbinic regulations concerning distinctions between meat and dairy foods.