Layers of Belief

Since I’ve arrived in Tanzania I have heard that Christianity is oftentimes more of a surface thing than a deep-rooted life changing experience for many people. I have seen evidence of nominal Christianity but then again, that is not so different from nominal Christians back in Canada. They go to church on Sunday and then live however they want the rest of the week.

However, what I didn’t realize that I was not just dealing with nominal Christians but rather with was a completely different and separate worldview which Christianity has not penetrated. I had heard about this but didn’t fully understand the extent to which this works itself out in the lives of these people until I had some good discussions with my translators.

This week in our key terms workshop we have been researching their cultures, trying to find words that will help us translate key terms. At one point one of my very dedicated Christian translators told me a story about when he was a boy. He was responsible for watching the animals (probably goats or sheep) but one day some went missing. That night at home his grandmother showed him a special ceremony for asking the hyena to return the animals. According to their traditions, the hyena is a close friend and member of the community. During a ceremony involving certain stones and some ashes, this translator asked the hyena to return the animals. A few days later the animals came back in the middle of the night. As a thank you, they picked one of the best animals, killed it and left it out for the hyena.

As the translator talked about this story he didn’t relate it to God in anyway. It was just a part of life as he knows it, which is that the hyena has its own power to protect their clan. He was arguing that this power wasn’t from God or demons but was just its own power. The problem is not that something like this happened but that the realm in which it is understood is completely separate from God and a Christian worldview. When it comes to that part of life, Christianity is irrelevant.

Christianity is seen as a separate, more western thing and as such it has no power to change or impact the deep, underlying way these people see the world. I am making generalizations here because there are Tanzanians who relate Christianity to their traditions but for most people, they still see the world through the eyes of their traditions, not through the Bible.

More than ever, this realization has impressed on me the importance of having the Bible in these different languages. When Christianity is spoken about in Swahili or English only, it’s easier to keep it separate from traditions in the village. But when Christianity uses the language of traditions, it can began to penetrate that worldview which has so far been keep separate.