A Tentative Philological Typology of Some African High Deities

Abstract

A definition of the terms High Deity and High God must first be given. They stand for a phenomenon which is widely met in many parts of Africa: besides the spirits and deities there is an isolated deity, quite independent from and not related to other deities, solitary and of unknown origin, without dependents, neither wife nor family. Certain general characteristics always recur. This High God is usually known as creator, but not necessarily in the sense of a creatio ex nihilo. He has set certain rules of human conduct. The phenomenon of death is often traced back to him, and it is he who calls away those whose time on earth is over. In the beginning he used to live near the places of men, but later-sometimes in consequence of some human awkwardness-he has withdrawn. He is very rarely the object of regular cult. At the most a brief ritual prayer is addressed to him at a fixed time of the day. His remoteness can be so great that he exists quite passively, having retired into himself. In this case we speak of a Deus otiosus, a God who exists in complete idleness. His ethical qualities vary. One cannot say that the High God is always malevolent; it would be more to the point to state that he has positive characteristics as well as negative ones. There are also thoroughly benevolent High Gods. When looking for a parallel in the history of religions, one might think of the deistic conception of God, a conception which-in the form of an undercurrent in official Christianity-is still widely spread in Europe. A High God of this kind is called 'Supreme Being' by some students of Comparative Religion. I for one do not use this term, as it is also used to define the highest deity of a Pantheon. 1) Nevertheless, occasional overlappings do occur: at times the High God is integrated into a Pantheon. In such a case, the High God apparently is only one member of the family of Gods.