Theory A: Preliminary Perspectives on an African Model of Leadership

Living in a Three-Tier Cosmology

One might best understand and appreciate the distinctive features of Theory A by gaining a sense of the world (actually the cosmology) of African culture and history. I turn again to Jacob Olupona.

First, there is a supreme being who created the universe and every living and nonliving thing to be found within the universe. Second, spirit beings occupy the next tier in the cosmology and constitute a pantheon of deities who often assist the supreme God in performing different functions. John Mbiti divides spirit beings into two types, nature spirits and human spirits. Each has a life force but no concrete physical form. Nature spirits are associated with objects seen in nature, such as mountains, the sun or trees, or natural forces such as wind and rain. Human spirits represent people who have died, usually ancestors, in the recent or distant past. Third, the world of the ancestors occupies a large part of African cosmology. As spirits, the ancestors are more powerful than living humans, and they continue to play a role in community affairs after their deaths, acting as intermediaries between God and those still living. Finally, I would add that Africans live their faith rather than compartmentalize it into something to be practiced on certain days or in particular places. Catholic moral theologian Laurenti Magesa argues that, unlike clothes, which one can wear and take off, for Africans, religion is like skin that cannot be so easily abandoned.

Members of an African community find their place in this cosmology over time. This is the process of learning and of maturing in an African society. Everyone has an important role to play in this world, and all beings (even inanimate objects) are infused with spiritual energy and purpose. All beasts of the field and flowers of the garden are to be honored and appreciated – as are all human members of the community. Just as there is a “wood-wide-web” in the forest, so there is a “spirit-wide-web” in the human communities of Africa. Olupona puts it this way: