Meeting with Bishop

According to J.B. Danquah’s Akan Doctrine of God, the Akan tradition necessitates the “cleansing and refining of the inner nature in man through myriad lives…the return of a soul to earth is not like a condemned criminal to be hanged, but more like a little child ready to learn more and to do better…” But the majority of Christian denominations reject reincarnation. Christians refer to Hebrews 9:27, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,” to debunk the idea of a return of the dead to this world. At my grandmother’s funeral in 2007, I witnessed the accommodation of two opposing views. It is in acknowledgement of the return of the dead, and upon that return a mission to do "better," that Akans bestow their wishes upon the dead. At the same time, a figure that represents opposition to reincarnation (a man of the Chrisitian God) plays a major role in Akan funerals because demands of a new order have to be met. If the Akan Doctrine stipulates that through reincarnation can man truly “...do better”, what are the implications of the peculiar duality of embracing and rejecting reincarnation? Through accurate fiction, informed by my research in Ghana, I hope to, if not answer, provoke readers into discussion.

Let me first define the Akan, something I have so far failed to properly do. The Akans are Twi speaking peoples, comprising of the Ashantis or Asantes (found in the Ashanti Region and the largest among this group), the Fantes (found in the Central Region), the Akuapim, the Kwahu, the Akyem (all found in the Eastern Region) and the Brong (found in the Brong Ahafo Region). Ghana has a total of 10 regions. Currently, you can find several Akans in Greater Accra, the region in which the capital city of Accra can be found.

The man in the picture is Bishop Akwasi Sarpong, the former Archbishop of Kumasi, the largest city in the Ashanti Region. Kumasi is the second largest city in Ghana, with the largest being the capital, Accra. He is the author of "Ghana in Retrospect" and "Nobility Rites of the Akans," two books that have so far been very helpful to me. He's certainly aged, hence his current emeritus status. Of this man my grandfather says: "There's no greater scholar." We met on the night of October 26at his house, a beautiful home on a large compound that the church has purchased for him. The journey to his house was a bit challenging though. We had spoken on the telephone on two occasions and on both occassions Bishop had given me step by step directions to his house. But since he's "Bishop" (as everyone affectionately refers to him), I expected most people in Kumasi to know his whereabouts. For this reason, though I wrote down his step by step instructions, I did it casually, knowing that "everyone" would know where Bishop lives. I hope I'm not giving the impression that everyone in Kumasi is Catholic and that is why they all know who Bishop is. To the contrary, Kumasi is littered with all sects of Christianity - in no way is this an exaggeration, Kumasi truly is diverse on this front. Since each sect boasts large numbers of loyal parishioners, Bishop's popularity speaks volumes of the reach of his books, lectures, and in general, personality. Another reason why he's so popular in Kumasi (and in fact Ghana as a whole) is because two of the most popular Secondary Schools in Ghana, Opoku Ware Secondary School (all boys) and St. Louis Secondary School (all girls), are Catholic schools located in Kumasi. Bishop was for a very long time a staple at both institutions. He served as teacher, counselor, priest, father, grandfather, etc, to many of these students. In fact, when my aunt who currently lives in San Bernadino, CA, called me not too long ago to inquire about my research, she was very excited when I told her I would soon be meeting with Bishop. Having attended St. Louis she told me how wonderful he'd been to her and her other classmates, even giving her and other day students rides to school when he found them on the streets of Kumasi in their Louis uniforms.

Back to the trip to his house. I had allowed myself enough time for the trip, just in case. From my location at "Tech" (The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) to Bishop's home in the Opoku Ware area, I'd been told the trip would take about 30 mins. Knowing Ghana as well as I do, I knew 30 minutes could easily turn into an hour and a half, so that was the amount of time I allowed myself. When I entered the car, I informed the driver that I was on my way to Bishop Akwasi Sarpong's house. He didn't allow me to say anything further; instead, he exclaimed that he knew exactly where to take me. I was confident that the man knew exactly where to take me because after all, everyone knows where Bishop lives. It really was a roughly thirty minute trip. The driver dropped me off at at a house that had a sign board indicating that, yes, "this" was the Archbishop's home. When I entered, I stumbled upon a gardener who informed me that the Bishop was not home. I'd arrived about an hour before our meeting time so I wasn't too worried that he wasn't home. But after a 30 min wait, the garderner came up to me asking me "exactly" who I was after. I replied, "Bishop." After a quick back and forth, I elaborated: "Bishop Akwasi Sarpong." That was when he informed me that I was at the wrong place. Bishop Akwasi Sarpong, no longer the Archbishop, had moved from the Archbishop's residence. At that point, I understood why Bishop had stressed that I follow HIS directions. Thankfully, I immediately found a taxi driver who was willing to make the trip to Bishop Sarpong's house, according to his directions.

When I finally arrived at his very secluded home, I confessed to him that I had disobeyed him. I wish I had never informed him because he immediately gave me an unwanted yet warranted lecture on the importance of listening to the elderly - something I've noticed a lot of older people in Ghana love to do. I suppose they're attempting to regain the control that their old age is stripping from them. Seeking privacy, Bishop sought a secluded home when he retired. So, truth is that now, besides those who have to know, nobody knows where Bishop lives.

Our conversation was long and it covered several topics. What impressed me most about him was that he provided me with a wealth of information without referring to a single book. Bishop is a man who has been able to combine aspects of traditional Akan religion with Catholicism. He argues that there are more similarities between the two than differences. For example, the major role symbolism plays in both religions - Catholics' deference to stuatues of the Virgin Mary can be compared to the stock many practitioners of traditional African religion place in their religious symbols. Because of Bishop, Catholic churches in Ghana are known to be more in tune with indigenous religious practices than any other churches. Being a Catholic priest, and rising to the rank of Archbishop, Bishop in no way subscribes to the teachings of traditional Akan religion exclusively. What he has done is to find parallels between the two as to not completely encourage a disregard of tradition, because in all honesty, the traditional religion is the root of Akan culture.

On the question of reincarnation Bishop was very blunt: "There are no parallels." And as a Catholic Priest, he let me know that that was the one topic he could not and would not try to find a happy medium. In no way does Catholicism consider any possibility of the return of the dead to earth. The Akan religion on the other hand considers a myriad of possibilities. We went over these possibilities together. There are some, according to the religion, who are reincarnated and those who are not reincarnated. The place the dead goes to (for Christians/Catholics the options are Heaven and Hell), is known as Asamando. Those who can't go to Asamando are as follows: young people, those not married, the immature ( yet to fully taste life), bad people (murderers, rapists), and those who die bad deaths (like women who die during childbirth, those who die of leprosy, epilepsy, or a car accident). They are known as Samankywenkywen which literally translates as "Ghost, wait, wait." There are two categories of young people though who don't fit in this category: a young man who's between 12 to 14 may be accepted into Asamando because he could become a leader or chief among the dead and heroic young men may be accepted, especially if they die in the defense of the people. If unaccepted, he Samankywenkywen must come back to earth. They must come back specifically to right a wrong: for the young people the wrong is the inability to fully taste life, for the bad people the wrong is their evil act, and for those who die bad deaths the wrong is the unfairness of their death.

According to the Akan doctrine, there are also those who decide to come back and those who must come back. Akans believe that the soul, okra (which is also the Twi word for cat), is in existence long before it comes to this world in human form. And before birth, each soul has two destinies: nkrabea (what God tells the soul to do or what the soul tells God it wants to do) and hyebre (what the sould decides to do on his or her own without any participation from God, we can call this free will). If it's one's destiny to be reincarnated, that is if he or she must or decides to return to earth, he or she can and probably will return.

So is this coflict between Christian doctrine and Akan doctrine resolvable? According to Bishop, it's not. By his assessment, the Akans who subscribe to Christicanity/Catholicism (and there are many many many of them), either don't know this conflict (because it's never been brought up) or reject the Akan teachings on reincarnation if they know. After all, and this is one thing he said that really surprised me, there's nothing to come back for. I truly hope that is not the case. If reincarnation can be looked at through the lense of immigration (where death may be defined as the relinquishing of a Ghanaian identity and reincarnation may be defined as the embrace of a foreign identity), then is it true that Ghanaians who leave for more promising lives abroad believe that there's nothing to come back for? During the Kufuor government (which went out of power January 2009), there was a big push to encourage Ghanaian expats to return home. The government believed that during the expats' time abroad they had been exposed to greatness and that this exposure would make them crucial contributors in the country's journey to greatness. They wanted them to return home from "death" and do better. As a proud Ghanaian American I would like to think that there's something to come back for.

The scholars that I have read so far have made it very clear: traditional African religion is traditional African culture. You cannot separate the two, they inform each other. In his book, West African Traditional Religion, Kofi Asare Opoku writes:

"Africans are engaged in religion in whatever they do-whether it be farming, fishing or hunting; or simply eating, drinking or travelling. Religion gives meaning and significance to their lives, both in this world and the next. It is hence not an abstraction but a part of reality and everyday life. In other words, as Professor Idowu has so aptly put it, Africans are 'a people who in all things are religious.'"

It can be argued that because of the reach of Chrisitianity in Ghana and other African countries the so-called "religion" in which Africans engage in in whatever they do is Christianity. From my observations, I will not dispute this fact - Christianity is everywhere. But African tradition/religion - the words tradition and religion can be used interchangeably because African traditonal religion is not an abstraction but a way of life - is also everywhere. My research considers a place that this tradition is most alive: the Akan funeral. The Akan funeral (not including the event held one week after someone's death and the major celebration that takes place on the one year anniversary) is a three day affair - it begins on Friday and ends on Sunday. I have already discussed the major role played by pastors on the Saturday of the funeral. But on Friday evening, the body is sent to the family home of the deceased. There, in-laws present gifts that should be buried along with the deceased, the highlight of the evening's activities. Just before that evening's activities come to a close, some members of the deceased's family - a first born child, sisters, family members chosen as mmama (they prepare the deceased's body for laying in state) - gather around the body (stripped naked and lying on the floor) in a room closed to everyone else. There, tradition takes hold: libation is poured on the body, a few words are said over the body (some wishes, some grievances), and the body is bathed and prepared the for viewing. This is the practice of all Akans, Christian or non-Christian. So when Bishop suggests an ignorance and disregard on the part of the Akan Christian/Catholic when it comes to the topic of reincarnation, I find it difficult to just leave it at that. Because as has been so far cofirmed by some of my professors and family members, wishes are sent with the dead because Akans believe that the dead will see to its granting. Is the Akan then picking and choosing what he or she wants to believe? Or is he or she choosing to follow some traditional religious doctrine with a grain of salt because of the contest it poses?

This research is still in its early stages. One aspect of the research that I have come to appreciate so far is the interchangeability of the words religion and tradition when it comes to the African. At first, I was too focused on the abstraction of religion, complicating the study. Though it may seem like something small, it is comforting to know that my lense can be expanded.