Oct 2013, Ministry in an Animistic Context: A Reflection on Animistic Beliefs and Practices Represented in the Biblical Text
1. INTRODUCTION
Animism is known to be a popular religion of the tribal world. Its Latin word ‘anima’ means ‘soul’ or ‘breath’, denoting to forces that give life or empower others, that the physical world is considered by animists as ‘interpenetrated by spiritual forces, both personal and impersonal, to the extent that objects carry spiritual significance and events have spiritual causes.’[1]
Because of the historical course it went through, with the Old Testament Israelites who lived among the heathen world and the New Testament believers in an animistic context, the faith of God’s people believing in the monotheism has been constantly challenged by its surrounding nations and peoples with polytheistic beliefs throughout the entire Bible, right from the time of Abraham unto the New Testament churches all over the ancient world.
Rheenen has put it well comprehensively by saying that, ‘Much of the Bible portrays the struggle of the people of God with animistic powers. In the OT the Israelites had to continually choose between the God of Israel and the gods of the nations. The Gospels describes a struggle between Jesus and the demonic world. In the Pauline epistles the Christian battle is against the principalities and powers and the elementary principles of the world.’[2] Thus in Bible, there are numerous scenes of power encounters, and there are also countless incidents where the mixture of faith surfaced.
This paper seeks to look into the animistic elements found in the biblical text, and to investigate further the responses of God’s people and the relevant biblical teaching or godly principles presented by the Biblical authors, and to do a reflection so that we could be better equipped to face an animistic world and win them with the message of Christ without being influenced by it or to dilute our Gospel message.
2. ANIMISTIC BELIEFS & PRACTICES IN BIBLICAL TEXTS
We will look selectively at both what have happened in the Old Testament and New Testament where animistic elements were involved either within the community of Israel, or in the communities where the disciples of Jesus Christ reached out to.
2.1 OLD TESTAMENT
The ancient worship of the pagan world started with a religion inviting gods to bless their land and its farming and crops through sacrifices offered to idols or ceremonies performed by the priests. It is because the ancient people believed they would either worship gods and be protected by them or they would offend gods and be threatened by them. Therefore the sacrifices offered or ceremonies conducted were ways to either call gods for help or to keep them away[3].
The community of Israel in the Old Testament was a community that governed by the Mosaic Law which encompasses the social, moral and religious aspects. The essence of the Mosaic Law is the acknowledgement of the One and Only God of the universe, Yahweh, who dwells amidst their people. Yet the Israelites ancestors were living in a world where her neighboring countries were active idols worshippers, right from the time of Patriarchs when Abram and his family were in Mesopotamia, to the time of their slavery in Egypt, and unto the times when they were freemen in the land of Canaan. From the biblical text, we could argue that Israelites were not just threatened by these worships, but somehow were influenced or even assimilated in one way or another throughout the historical centuries.
This section shall look into certain portions of the Old Testament text, and to discover further how the animistic worship of Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Canaanites had their influences on the people of Israelites.
2.1.1 Mesopotamians’ Animistic Practices & Influences
It is said that the Babylonian and the biblical myths display a striking similarity in their concepts of the origins of the sacrificial cult[4]. Originating from the city of Ur of the Chaldeans over the land of Mesopotamia, Abram and his family had indeed grown up in a land which was famous for its idolism.
Thus some argue that certain practices adopted by the patriarchs were animistic in nature, e.g. Abram built an altar for the Lord near the oak tree of Moreh (Genesis 12:6-8) and another near the great tree of Mamre (Genesis 13: 18); Jacob’s stone which was under his head was set up as a pillar with oil poured on top by him (Genesis 28:18-19), and he also buried all the foreign gods of his household and of the outsiders’ who followed him, and again set another pillar in Bethel where he met God (Genesis 35:4, 14-15) [5].
I personally see these as signs of remembrance of God’s people to remind them of the good works God has done for them, though I do agree that there does exist an element of syncretism which needs to be dealt with properly. Since they had come out from a mystical world, they were definitely accustomed to have some physical places or objects to symbolize for them and to remind them of God’s presence in their lives. It is clear from the biblical text that the patriarchs did have personal relationship and encounters with God, and they demonstrated their piety through building altars and pillars for God. In fact, they kept their previous religious forms without embracing their contents.
The place of Mamre tree was full of statutes of the ‘earth god’, and the act of building an altar there symbolized God’s authority over the land which He had promised to give to Abram and his descendants[6]. The setting up of the pillars was purely a way to remember God, as Jacob was fully aware that God would not be constraint by the locality and would travel to where he would go(Genesis 28:20-21).
Yet the act of Rachel by stealing her father’s household gods in Genesis 31:25-37 was definitely a display of an animistic belief. Those were foreign gods that worshipped by her father Laban, and she should have abandoned them when she married to Jacob who had embraced the faith of Yahweh, the One and Only living God of Israel.
The influence of Mesopotamia worship was still active when the people of God entered the Canaan. Prophet Isaiah denounced in the book of Isaiah 44: 9-20 the worship of idols by pointing to the fact that idols were indeed nothing and powerless but were merely some man-made statutes. It is said that Mesopotamian cult statutes were normally made of wood and overlaid with thin sheets of gold and silver[7].
2.1.2 Egyptians’ Animistic Practices & Influences
The Egyptian influences were accelerated when Israelites settled themselves in the land of Egypt since the times of Jacob and Joseph for a subsequent 430 years. It was told that Joseph played divination with a silver cup when he was in Egypt (Genesis 44:5 & 15). We could not be certain if Joseph’s involvement in divination was to adapt to the requirements of his pagan Pharaoh and the heathen world or he did actually believe in the power exercised through the approach of divination.
The first spectacle Egyptian animistic practice recorded in the Bible was spearheaded by Pharaoh and his wise men, sorcerers and magicians found in Exodus 7:8-11:10. That was truly a grandeur demonstration of God’s power subduing the magical and sorcery worlds. The victory of the power encounter spoke of God’s sovereignty over all dark spiritual forces dominated by the Egyptians.
In Exodus 12:12, God declared that He would bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, and the gods were associated with the ten plagues brought by Yahweh on the land of Egypt, each plague was said to address and counterattack each Egyptian god, e.g. Hapi, the fertility god of Nile; Hek/qet, the harvest god; and Kheper, the god of sun or rebirth etc[8].
Yet the demonstration of the power of God did not exempt Israelites completely from the Egyptian influences. The golden calf made by Aaron and the Israelites in the wilderness revealed of their Egyptians oedipus complex, that their mind and heart were still largely dominated by the Egyptians’ practices and beliefs. They proclaimed that the golden calf was the image of the god who had led them out of Egypt. And they held a festive celebration offering sacrifices before it, and drunk and ate and indulged in revelry (Exodus 32: 1-6).
The disciplinary act carried out by God was considered dreadful as three thousands were killed by Levites having participated in the making of golden calf and festive celebration. The event reminded us that God is intolerant of idol worshipping and He is unrelenting in dealing with His people who are involved in spiritual adultery, for He is a jealous God who condones no rivals.
The same sin of Aaron and the Israelites in the wilderness was repeated by Jeroboam. Out of political agenda to build his own kingdom and territory, he made two golden calves and placed them in Bethel and Dan respectively. He told the people of God that those two calves were the gods who brought them out of Egypt, and he built altars to offer sacrifices to these golden calves (1 Kings 12:25-33). The sin of Jeroboam as told by 1 Kings 13:34, that he ‘had led his house to downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth’. Consistent and unrepentant heart towards idol worship always invites destruction of a city or a nation.
2.1.3 Canaanites’ Practices & Influences
The gods worshipped by the Canaanites, e.g. Baal, Astaroth, Asherim, high places and green trees etc were closely related to the agricultural activities and economic welfares of the people of the land[9], and Israelites who disobeyed God by not wiping out the Canaanites, lived among them and exposed themselves to the danger of syncretism.
The involvement of idol worshipping was not an individual practice but often was publicly done in a national scale. It was because most of the idol worships were initiated and promoted by the kings of Israelites or Judah. There were many kings of Israel and Judah who were condemned by God and His prophets for idol worshipping and leading the people of God astray. Here I would only excerpt some examples of the animistic worship which occurred in the Israelites’ kingdom times.
King Solomon showed the signs of deviation from monotheism to polytheism when he married some foreign women, e.g. Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites and Egyptians etc, and his loyalty towards Yahweh was diverted to other foreign gods, e.g. Ashtoreth the goddess of Sidonians and Molech the detestable god of Ammonites, and he even built high places for burning incense and offering sacrifices to these foreign gods (1 Kings 11:1-8). The result of his rebellion was a broken relationship with God, and his kingdom was torn away to be given to Jeroboam, his subordinate (1 Kings 11:9-13).
King Ahab of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and King Ahaz of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, are kings severely condemned by God as idol worshippers. Peter R. Ackroyd recognizes a general and conventional condemnation was issued to King Ahaz, followed by three elements in 2 Kings 16:3-4, firstly as his conformation to the practices of kings of Israel, secondly as his practice of passing his son through the fire, and thirdly as his worship on the high places and hills and under every green tree[10].
In 1 Kings 16:29-33, it is said that Ahab did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him by marrying a daughter of Sidonian King, and served and worshipped Baal by building a temple of Baal in Samaria and setting up a altar for Baal and a pole for Asherah, and his acts provoked the great anger of God.
Prophet Jeremiah and Isaiah condemned strictly about the sins God’s people indulging themselves in idolatry. In Ezekiel’s vision, it was revealed that right in the temple of God, there were idols’ statutes defiling the holiness of the temple (Ezekiel 8:3).
With all these narrative passages, we would see that either syncretism or animistic worship was actively practiced among God’s people who professed their faith in Yahweh. Yet we have to be reminded that the impurity of Israel’s spiritual life had caused them a fatal destination with the invasion of Babylon, that they were dispersed from their homeland which God had given to them as their permanent residence. It was when they were in their exiles that they agonized over their loss and learnt to return to their faith obediently. Their fate serves as a sound warning for us as believers of God, to not deviate from His path, but to cling on and to be faithful to Him in all circumstances.
2.2 NEW TESTAMENT
The New Testament world is a world under the great influences of Greek and Roman, and the early Christianity grew under this multi-religious background. Romans were basically tolerant to all religions of their vassals and they could accept various gods as long as the religions did not intimidate the stability of their kingdom. It is said that the Greek and Roman gods were worshiped mainly as defenders of empire, nation or city[11].
The animistic elements were vividly displayed in the Gospels, the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles. Certain passages from Gospels and Epistles were chosen and presented for the purpose of this writing.
2.2.1 Animistic Practices & Influences in Gospels
The Magi from the east who came to pay their homage to the new born king of Jews were astrologers. The synoptic gospels have three more extensive records about the exorcise Jesus did in the Galilee of the Gentiles, where it was populated with religious and ethnic mixtures. In Gerasene, a man possessed by the demons was delivered (Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-13 and Luke 8:26-33) ; a boy who has seizures was restored to his normal function (Matthew 17:14-19; Mark 9:14-30 and Luke 9:37-45); and a man who challenged the authority of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum was set free in Sabbath (Mark 1:21-17; Luke 4:31-37). These Gospel narratives have disclosed to us that Jesus Christ is above all powers and spiritual forces.
A careful study of the biblical text reveals to us that the disciples of Jesus who were brought up under the proper Judaic teachings did believe in an animistic world. When Jesus was walking on the water at night, the disciples were so fearful for they thought they had seen a ghost (phantasma, means an appearance) (Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52). The concept of ‘dybbuk’ (male ghost dislocated from a dead body) is found in the Jewish mythology[12].
2.2.2 Animistic Practices & Influences in Acts
The book of Acts records the apostolic movement in Gentile world where practices of pagan beliefs and animism were common daily happenings. Power encounters are frequent experiences for Paul and his missionary team when they traveled to different Asia Minor cities.
One of the examples was Simon the sorcerer in Samaria encountered by Philip, the evangelist in Acts 8: 9-25. Justin the apologist represents Simon as empowered by demons to perform magical acts and was honored in Rome as a god[13]. He dominated the Samaritans through divine great power, but was converted by Philip and further delivered by Peter as he coveted after the gift of the Spirit.
The story of Simon the sorcerer reveals a fact to us that believers in animism seek to master or control over situations and people with the divine powers they possess. Simon intended to purchase the ‘supernatural power’ in order to be a ‘special endower of the gift of Spirit’. But Peter reprimanded him and directed him to repent so that he could be saved from evil desires of trying to be “god’ himself.
Another example is found in Acts 13: 6-12 with Bar-Jesus and Elymas identified as the same sorcerer who opposed Barnabas and Saul in evangelizing to pronconsul Sergius Paulus. Paul identified Elymas to be a child of devil and an enemy of righteousness, and his faith was full of deceit and trickery. Elymas was made blinded as a punishment for opposing the truth and the work of the Lord.
It is suggested that the double name of the sorcerer was a description of his religious syncretism, and he embraced both Judaism and heathenism. In Aramaic, Bar-Jesus means Son of Joshua[14]. Elymas could represent anyone who invites all kinds of divine powers to rest upon him so that he could possess mystical power to perform magic and wonders. Both the passages relating to Simon and Elymas demonstrate for us the supreme power of God over all sorcery and dark powers practiced by animists.
Acts 14: 11-18 presents to us yet another animistic practice of the people in Lystra. When they witnessed how Paul healed the crippled, they immediately welcomed him and Barnabas as Hermes and Zeus, and to bring sacrifices offered before them trying to appease them. Zeus and Hermes were father-son gods in Greek mythology, with Zeus the father as the god of sky and the king for all Olympian gods[15], and Hermes the son as the herald of the Olympian gods[16].
Barnabas and Paul utilized the opportunity to make clear the content of the gospel, telling them to depart from their mystical practices which were futile and worthless in nature, and instructing them to follow God who is the Creator of heaven and earth and all things, and Giver of rains and prosperity and joy. The people were awakened and gave up their intention to worship them as gods.
The reaction of the crowd in Lystra was a common phenomenon expressed in an animistic world as people tend to ‘personified’ or ‘idolized’ individuals who claimed to have ‘divine power’ within them. The end-time occurrences where we heard about the ‘christs’ coming in the form of men (e.g. the founder of Unification church) are the very common versions of animistic practices we could access to.
In Acts 17: 22-33 Paul illustrates the truth of God with an altar inscribed with ‘to an unknown God’ on it in Athens. Athens was described here as a city that was full of idols and men of Athens were religious (or superstitious) people who feared both gods and ghosts, yet their piety was an unreal, uninformed piety shown to a deity who remained unknown[17].
It is common in animistic world that people worship stones, trees, grasses and animals etc and recognize these as the places or objects where gods with spiritual and divine endowment dwelt within them. Paul told them that God is the Maker of all and He does not live in temples built by men, which counteracted the very core religious activities of Athenian, the temple worship.
Another incident is found in Acts 19:23-41 where the mission work of Paul aroused the city of Ephesus and caused a great disturbance among the locals. The people there worshipped the great goddess Artemis but Paul’s proclamation nullified the gods made by human hands. Though the riot was initiated by a silversmith Demetrius who had his own business and profit agenda in mind, we could see that the emotion of the people were stirred greatly when they sensed that the sacredness of their goddess was violated and blasphemed.
2.2.3 Animistic Practices & Influences in Epistles
a) Romans
The apostle Paul rebukes the sin of the man refusing to submit to the authority of the Creator, by substituting the immortal God with the images of moral man, birds, animals and reptiles (Romans 1: 21-23). For Paul, God has make Himself known through natural revelation, for His power and divine nature demonstrated in the creations, yet it is man’s deliberate choice to rebel and sin against God by worshipping the idols.
Douglas J. Moo reminiscent OT texts in Psalm 106:20, ‘and they exchanged their glory for the likeness of a bull that eats grass’ and Jeremiah 2:11, ‘has a nation exchanged its gods?...yet my people has exchanged its glory’[18], that the people of God has make the Creator their creation, and rendered themselves detestable idolaters in the eyes of God.
The evil consequences of idol worshipping described by Paul in 1:24-32 are evidently seen in today’s context. In the Old Testament we often see the connection between idolatry and adultery, and the spiritual idolatry is considered by God to be adulterous since it violates Israelites’ covenanted relationship with Yahweh who is supposed to be husband for her. The world is turning worst in its adulterous way and sexual sin is one of the killers in breaking down the structure and order of the society.
b) Colossians
In the book of Colossians, we see Paul exerts his efforts in explaining the superiority and sovereignty of Christ over all the powers and authorities above and under the heavens and making clear Christ as the source of all creation (Col 1:15-18; 2:9-10, 15). Thus he further exhorts them refraining them from being involved in any religious activities which are related to their surrounding pagan worships, e.g. a New Moon celebration or worship of angels etc (Col 2:16—19).
Colossae is an ancient city of Phrygia, where the most famous legendary kings during the heroic age of Greek mythology were found[19]. It is also believed that the Jews living there were exposed to the mystical and folk traditions of Judaism and Rome and they were trying to practice syncretism both in their worship and culture in order to contextualize the gospel locally. The regional ‘Lydian-Phrygian’ spirit was actively permeating pagan cults, and magic was a common practice, and the Church in the Diaspora was greatly influenced under this spiritual indulgence[20]. The pure teachings in the Colossian Church are thus threatened as the teachers are expounding the text more of religious tradition than to Christ.
As observed by R.C. Lucas, with the arguments presented by Paul in the epistle, it is possibly that the believers in Colossae are offered and recommended with a spiritual ‘fullness’, a spiritual ‘freedom, a special ‘protection’ a spiritual ‘asceticism’ and a ‘deeper knowledge of God’ etc, in order to complete and perfect their simple and elementary faith[21], of which the believers have already received in Christ as asserted by Paul in Colossians 2.
What happened among the Colossian believers can happen to us this day as we live in a globalized world context where we are exposed to different emerging philosophical ideas and beliefs. People everywhere are trying to make Gospel of Christ more attractive and relevant to the contemporary world, and unknowingly we might tend to contextualize Gospel in such a way that the essence of the Cross is lost together with the flavor of Christianity. The most prevalent example is an inception of New Age practices being found among Christians and churches, by which the belief of New Age is "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational psychology, holistic health, parapsychology, consciousness research and quantum physics"[22].
3. CONCLUSION
A report in 70s estimated that about 40% of the world population in a way or another is under the influence of the animistic beliefs and practices. With the emerging and growing trend and popularity of the New Age, the impact might be greater than what we could think of. As we look at the Bible, we would be surprise to see that even the Israelites who were called by God to be set apart as a holy nation could have badly affected by the beliefs and practices of the animistic world.
We are like the modern day Israelites. We do live in a world that is open to all kinds of spiritual phenomena which claim to have their different sources. And we came from different religious backgrounds. So we have to differentiate what are the cores of our beliefs and what are the cultural elements which do not contradict with our faith, so that we could contextualize it in a way that build ourselves as well as the generations to come.
In order for us to keep our faith intact and to hold on to our belief in purity, we have to be serious with the Word of God, and to live under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, so that we will be sensitive to those enemies who are disguised, and to be able to reject those packages of religion that do not offer the true teachings of Christ. Either the prophets or the apostles or Jesus stood firm upon the Word of God, and to dismantle the false teachings and falsehood with the truth and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our responsibility is still to keep ourselves away from the pollution and contamination of this world, inclusive the animistic beliefs and practices that were prevalent nowadays. For the same ‘shema’ of the ancient day sounds vivid to us this day too, ‘Hear, Israelites, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.’, and we are called to love Him with all our mind, with all our soul, with all our heart and with all our strength.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ackroyd, Peter R. Studies In The Religious Tradition of The Old Testament. London: SCM
Press Ltd, 1987.
Adam, Dr. James McKee. Biblical Backgrounds. Translator: Xiao Wei-yuan.
Barrett, C.K. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Acts of the Apostles I. London:
T&T Clark International, 1994.
Barrett, C.K. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Acts of the Apostles II. London:
T&T Clark International, 1994.
Hallo, William W. Ancient Israelite Religion. Edited by Miller, Patrick D., Paul D. Hanson &
S. Dean McBride. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009.
Halverson, Dean C., Animism: The Religion of the Tribal World. International Journal of
Frontier Missions Vol 15:2, Apr-June, 1998.
Hamilton, Victor P. Handbooks on Pentatech, Translator: Hu Jia-en. Taiwan: China
Evangelical Seminary Press, 2003.
Jeffers, James S. The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era.
Lucas, R.C. The Message of Colossians & Philemon. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,
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Miller, Joyce G. The Message of Genesis 12-50: From Abraham to Joseph, Translator: Yang
Man Ru. Taiwan: Campus Evangelical Fellowship, 2007.
Moo, Dougles J. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
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Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew.
Nevill, Drury. The New Age, Searching for the Spiritual Self. London: Thames and Hudson,
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宋泉盛.以色列民族的埃及情结（Israelites & Their Oedipus Complex for Egypt）. 台北：希望文化，2011.
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[1] Dean C. Halverson, Animism: The Religion of the Tribal World. International Journal of Frontier Missions Vol 15:2, Apr-June, 1998, 59.
[2] Gailyn Van Rheenen, Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1991), 99.
[3] James S. Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era, 91.
[4] William W. Hallo, Ancient Israelite Religion, edited by Patrick D. Miller, Paul D. Hanson & S. Dean McBride, Ed., Ancient Israelite Religion (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009), 11
[6] Joyce G. Baldwin, The Message of Genesis 12-50: From Abraham to Joseph, Translator: Yang Man Ru (Taiwan: Campus Evangelical Fellowship, 2007), 39.
[7] Hallo, Ancient Israelite Religion, 15.
[8] Victor P.Hamilton, Handbooks on Pentatech, Translator: Hu Jia-en (Taiwan: China Evangelical Seminary Press, 2003), 155-156.
[9] Dr. James McKee Adam, Biblical Backgrounds. Translator: Xiao Wei-yuan, 60.
[10] Peter R. Ackroyd, Studies In The Religious Tradition of The Old Testament (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1987), 186.
[11] Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era, 91.
[13] C.K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Acts of the Apostles (London: T&T Clark International, 1994), 405.
[14] Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Acts of the Apostles, 613.
[17] Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Acts of the Apostles II, 836.
[18] Dougles J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 108.
[20]Ed., Bruce J. Nicholls & Brain Wintle, Colossians & Philemon: Asia Bible Commentary Series (Singapore: Asia Theological Association, 2005), 59 & 126.
[21] R.C. Lucas, The Message of Colossians & Philemon (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 22-24.
[22] Drury Nevill, The New Age, Searching for the Spiritual Self (London: Thames and Hudson, 2004) & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age
