Tennent on ATR and Christ as Ancestor

African Traditional Religion Defined in 3 Tiers

1. ATR generally embraces a three-tiered religious system. At the highest tier is a Supreme Being, who oversees the entire cosmological system. For many Africans, this Supreme Being is a distant, vague, deus otiosus…
2. The focus of the religious life in Africa is normally the second tier of power, which is inhabited by a pantheon of various divinities. This pantheon often includes nonhuman divinities as well as various divinized ancestors, whose earthly ancestry and descendants are known…
3. The third level is the earthly tier, which is where various expressions of ritualized power take place to maintain harmony, balance, and order…[embracing] a wide range of religious functionaries including traditional healers, herbalists, chiefs, and priests…

Jesus as Ancestor

               

Many African lay-people and theologians began to see the image of ancestor as a bridge rather than a barrier to the expansion of the gospel in their continent. There are several nonnegotiable aspects of Christ’s work and person that Africans felt the ancestor image could uniquely help explain, including the relation of Christ’s humanity and deity, Christ’s role as the sole and final mediator between God and humanity, and the risen, exalted Lord’s role as head of the church, the redeemed community. (Tennent, pp.122-126)

Some Biblical Evidence

• The logos [word] became flesh and dwelt among us – John 1:14
• There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus – 1 Tim 2:5
• Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him – Luke 20:38
• He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation – Colossians 1:15
• For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers – Romans 8:29

Pobee on the Humanity of Jesus

On account of his humanity, Christ’s Ancestorship is linked with Adam. This fact renders Christ a member of our race and gives his Ancestorship a transcendental connotation in virtue of which it transcends all family, clanic [sic], tribal or racial limitations. (in Nyamiti, Christ as Our Ancestor, 27)