Some Conclusions concerning the Bantu Conception of the Soul

Extract

Bantu ancestor-worship varies from one tribal area to another in much the same way as Bantu language, though to a lesser extent. It is not an organized or systematic religion: it has no sacred books, no pontificial standards of belief or practice, nor even past-masters of cult whose deliverances carry the general consent of the faithful. So far as I know, no Bantu ancestor-worshipper has ever written a reasoned exposition of the faith that is in him. We have, therefore, to rely upon first-hand reports from aliens scattered over a field of very wide scope, who peer into the gloom from their own little coigns of vantage and tell us what they partly see and partly infer; and there is unfortunately no known method of accurately assessing the allowance that ought to be made for each observer's astigmatism or slowness in noting phenomena. The best that can be done, perhaps, is to notice an observer's attitude towards religion, especially the non-Christian expressions of it, compare his findings on well-known points with those that seem to lie nearest the truth, and then make a rough guess at his personal equation. All writers on this subject, whether field-workers or synthetists, are therefore purveyors of opinion, not of unclad truth—enlightened opinion, perhaps, but still opinion; and their opinions are unwittingly coloured by their prepossessions.