The Akan people of Ghana have concepts of ethnicity and social identity which are similar to those found in the Mediterranean world, which find expression in the issues addressed in the letter to the Hebrews. This similarity makes the reading of Hebrews in light of Akan ethnicity and social identity possible, giving one the expected meaning from the perspective of those concepts as within the original context of the audience. This article therefore discusses some theories on ethnicity and social identity as well as the Akan people of Ghana and their concepts of ethnicity and social identity. It further explains the social context of the letter of Hebrews against which Hebrews is then read in light of Akan ethnicity and social identity. The focus of this reading is on how the ethnic identity of the readers presented in Hebrews enhances the social identity of the readers and provides the means by which the author’s appeal to his readers for their faithfulness to God becomes meaningful and urgent.
This attempt to read Hebrews from an Akan perspective on ethnicity and social identity is informed by the fact that there is similarity between the concepts of ethnicity and social identity of the first-century Mediterranean society (which find expression in,
The term ‘ethnicity’, derived from the Greek ἔθνος (
Social identity is defined as ‘that
Almost all the important aspects of the history and culture of the Akan people of Ghana have been recorded by writers such as Rattray (
Akan is the largest ethnic group in Ghana, making up 47.3% of the population of Ghana (Ghana Statistical Service
There is hardly any consensus on the origin of the Akan people. Some of the suggestions hold that the Akans may have come from some parts the Sudan, the old Mali Empire, Burkina Faso and even from Mesopotamia where they had close connection with Israel. The inclination of majority of scholars is towards the southern part of the Saharan region, whether identified with the old Ghana or Mali Empires.
Shumway (
Adu Boahen, a professor of history (
Nkansa-Kyeremanteng (
In so far, as ethnic identity is very important for the Akan, several attempts are made to project and strengthen the desired identities of the various groups within the Akan society. One of the ways in which Akans seek to realise their ethnic identity is through the use of totems. Eshun (
Akans are very conscious, deliberate and explicit on their social identity. This finds expressions in proverbs that speak to the need for positive evaluation of one’s group, as well as the practice of negative evaluation of one’s opponent or outgroup. The Akan adage
How important social identity is in the Akan society can be appreciated from the way in which Akans speak fondly of their group when it is their source of pride. Group members make efforts to avoid anything that does not enhance the honour and pride they derive from their groups. Akans, in general, have a sense of pride as represented in the adage
The fact that members of Akan clans and
The ‘few words of exhortation’ (Heb 13:22), as the unknown writer describes in his letter to the unknown readers, are to be understood within the context of the social problem the author found urgent for his address. His mixed Jewish and non-Jewish Christian believing community (association) faced the tendency to fall back into the dominant and more powerful groups from which they had come to join the Christian group. Their membership with the Christian group meant that they stopped doing things that citizens of the city and, for that matter, the Roman Empire were doing as patriotic members of their community. Avoiding the sacrifices to the gods now meant that they did not want the gods to bless the Empire with peace and prosperity (see Buell
The believers had previously stood firm in the face of social abuse and other mistreatment, while identifying boldly with other believers who were imprisoned or mistreated (Heb 10:32–34). Now, the pressure had been sustained on them for a long time that, coupled with other factors, they were beginning to show signs of giving up on their membership of the Christian group and losing confidence in the Christian message (Heb 2:1). Some had actually stopped attending the meetings of the Christian group (Heb 10:25). Leaving the Christian group meant that one no longer had Jesus as his or her saviour.
The author of Hebrews describes the members of the Christian group with specific ethnic terms that distinguished them from others who do not belong to the group. These ethnic descriptions are intended to call to mind the social institutions and their related expectations that oblige the readers to respond to God and the Christian group with the right attitude and behaviour. On the basis of these social expectations, the believers are required to participate in the attitudes that are characteristic of the group. At the same time, these social expectations drive home how evil it is for the believers to act contrary to what the author demands from them. These social scripts further justify the severity of the punishment that must be expected in the event of breaking faith with the group. The question that should engage our attention now is how can the ethnic and social identity reasoning in Hebrews be understood within Akan understanding and experience?
By calling believers ‘many sons and daughters’ (Heb 2:10, 14), and ‘brothers and sisters’ to Christ (Heb 2:11), the author identifies the believers in familiar Akan kinship terms that convey a great sense of communion as one finds in life within the Akan family and clan.
Hebrews makes both Jesus and the believers superior to the angels who are presented as servants of believers (Heb 1:14).
The ethnic description of the audience provides one frame in which to appreciate what God does for the audience. Throughout Hebrews, everything Jesus did in his humiliation and exaltation was done for the benefit of the children of God – Jesus’ brothers and sisters. He came to destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and to deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (Heb 2:14–15). This deliverance, on the surface, should make a strong appeal to the Akan who sees deliverance from death as salvation. Those who consult deities for protection do so for protection against death (premature death usually resulting from an enemy’s action), among other things.
However, Hebrews is talking about something more than deliverance from death as in the prevention of an impending death. Hebrews speaks here of deliverance from death as in overcoming the fear of death so that one can go through death standing by what is right when need be. In their history, Akans know of the courage to face death. Great Akan chiefs who offered themselves for the sake of their communities did it having overcome the fear that should have made them decide otherwise. Properly understood, the author’s call should make the Akan believer take inspiration from the liberation that Jesus gives from the fear of death and like their great ancestors – Agya Ahor and Tweneboah Koduah – be willing to go through death on account of their faithfulness to Christ and, for that matter, the Christian community.
Just as Akans believe that death introduces them to a new phase of life with the ancestors, Hebrews, sharing in the common faith of 1st-century Christianity, believes that death is not the end of life. Indeed, Jesus, the Brother of the many sons and daughters of God, went through death only to be exalted to sit at the place of power at the right hand of God. Now, it is this Jesus who brings many sons to glory (Heb 2:10). Akan believers can identify with this glory into which Jesus brings them. In the first place, if death is about joining the members of the community who have gone ahead as ancestors, then death should mean a reunion with their honoured Brother, Jesus, who has done so much for them. Second, by becoming his brothers and sisters, Jesus’ honour has become their honour even now. The truth is that, as Hebrews spoke about Christ bringing many sons and daughters to glory, his intention was not for the audience to only imagine this glory as something stored up for them after death. His primary purpose was the positive evaluation of the social identity the believers should derive from such thought by which their loyalty to Christ and his group could be strengthened here and now. The description of Jesus’ own glory is meant to indicate the ascribed honour of the Christian group. The fact that ascribed honour is key to social identity is relevant here.
With significance for the readers’ ascribed honour is the concept of Son of God as applied to Jesus. Though not entirely new to the Akan, the concept Son of God can only be fully appreciated as it applies to Jesus when seen against the accompanying attributes that define him as God in Hebrews 1:1–4.
Hebrews indicates that Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness because he emerged victorious in the contest of mediating God’s people to God as seen in his achievement of purification of sins, his exaltation and his loving righteousness and hating evil.
Consistent with the idea that whatever Jesus did was for the benefit of his brothers and sisters, Jesus is presented as suffering when he was tempted so that he is able to help those who are being tempted (Heb 2:17). Key to Jesus’ temptation was the option to avoid death on the cross; hence, his suffering includes his endurance of death on the cross. Against this understanding, his suffering as he was tempted should remind the Akan believer not only of the death some of their past chiefs went through for the good of their communities but also the mental agony of contemplating the fact that they had to go through death together with all that they would lose in terms of their possessions and family. Hebrews says Jesus is able to help believers who are facing even worse situations than that of these chiefs, worse because added to the trauma of possible impending death and separation from family is the constant ridicule, shame and all forms of abuse endured from members of the society. It is in this terrible situation that the Son comes to their aid.
Very important for the argument of the author is his indication that his audience are enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy Spirit, and tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come (Heb 6:4–5). The Akan understanding of an enlightened person (
If the believers should endure suffering, it is because it is God’s way of training them as legitimate children (Heb 12:8). In the Akan society,
Hebrews’ line of argument based on the conviction that believers must behave in a manner characteristic of the people of God can be understood in light of the Akan belief and expectation that people behave in a manner consistent with that of the ethnic group to which they belong. The usual phrases such as
The importance of the religious language used to describe the role of Jesus is significant. Jesus is the ‘high priest of our confession’ who is able to sympathise with us.
Hebrews’ use of name and language to describe the group of his listeners favourably and outgroups unfavourably has similar use in the Akan society. It has already been observed that Akans see themselves as the most civilised and foremost among their neighbours. Even among Akan tribes, such use of name and language exists.
Recall of shared historical memory as a feature of ethnicity is done for a variety of purposes. This practice in the Akan society offers a window through which to appreciate Hebrews’ use of recall of shared historical memory. The Chief of the Akan town of Tafo in Kumasi, Nana Agyen Frimpong, recalled the participation of the people of Tafo in all the Asante wars to underscore the fact that Tafo people are not cowards. This was during recent disturbances between the Muslims of Tafo Zongo and the citizens of Tafo. The Chief did this to underscore the fact that Tafo people are not cowards and, therefore, the fact that they did not respond with violence to the Muslims was just for the sake of peace (Tafohene, Nana Agyen Frimpong, Peace FM, 6 pm news, 03 July 2016). If the chief had intended to stir courage in his subjects with this shared historical memory recalled for retaliation, the effect would have been obvious. Nana Yaa Asantewaa effectively made use of the recall of shared historical memory and got the Asante kings to go to war with the British army.
With the lens of Akan concept of ethnicity, the author is seen to be arguing in familiar kinship terms that express close family relationships as within the basic family unit headed by the father. The exception is the distinctive Christian and Jewish thought in the author’s argument that must be understood on their own terms and which usually point to the superiority of the Christian privilege. If the believers’ Brother is glorified at the right hand of God and brings many sons and daughters to glory, the Akan experience of sharing the honour of a family member as well as joining the honoured ancestors in death provides a useful lens to appreciate what Hebrews is saying. The Akan understanding of
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
This article represents a reworked version of aspects from the PhD dissertation of S.K., titled ‘Social identity in Hebrews and the Akan community of Ghana’, in the Department of New Testament Studies, University of Pretoria, with E.v.E. as supervisor.
This article represents a reworked version of aspects from the PhD dissertation of Seth Kissi, titled
Barth (
Buell (
Henri Tajfel is identified as the founder of social identity theory (Esler
As has been observed by Turner, social identity refers to self-descriptions related to formal and informal group memberships such as sex, nationality, occupation and religion (Turner
Salm and Falola (
Kofi Agyekum is a professor of Linguistics of the University of Ghana.
Dolphyne is an Akan who hails from Achinakrom in Asante and has profound knowledge of the Akan people and their culture. She is a professor in linguistics who worked and retired as Head of the Department of Linguistics of the University of Ghana.
Though he mentions six, he ends up listing five. It is only when Brong Ahafo is understood as two groups made up of Brong and Ahafo, as is traditionally done, that one can reckon six regions, but as the case is, Brong and Ahafo do not constitute two political regions in Ghana. Politically, therefore, one can speak of five regions where the Akan language is spoken.
Danquah (
As Akans kept moving southward, they settled below the Black Volta River, where Asaman, their leader, founded the Bono Kingdom, which became the first great Akan State in Ghana (Meyerowitz
While Buah has seven without listing them, Nkansa-Kyeremanteng (
The stool is the symbol of authority of Akan chiefs and kings, and it is that on which they sit in the palace and at durbars. The office of the chief is usually referred to as the stool. The inheritance and succession to Akan chiefs and kings follow the matrilineal succession and inheritance of property within the Akan families.
This is, however, not true with all Akuapem people. The people of Akropong have matrilineal inheritance. Those who have patrilineal inheritance, like the people of Adukrom, do not consider themselves Akans. Some of them who were spoken to indicated that they are Guans (Pamela Dickey Young, School of Religion, Queen’s University, pers. comm., 22 July 2016). Dolphyne (
Nkansa-Kyeremanteng (
Another adage –
It must be observed that all the ethnic groups in Ghana have some derogatory ways of referring to each other. According to R. Agbanato (pers. comm., 02 August 2016), an Ewe and security officer at the Trinity Theological Seminary, Ewes call the tribes in the north Dzogbeawo (Northerners). The term, according to him, is a negative term because it describes them in terms of where they come from.
Duling (
It is said of the members of the Asona Clan that they are beautiful to the extent that the rear of their head is as beautiful as someone else’s face. The saying
Within the extended family and the nuclear family, members enjoy some positive or negative social identity depending on the social image of the family concerned. Families which have members working or studying overseas see that as a source of pride. The same can be said of families which have members occupying significant public or social positions in such fields as politics, public and civil services. People who have made good names in any respect become a source of pride for their families, and members of these families are proud to identify with the families on account of this ascribed honour. On the contrary, those families which have rampant records of murder, thefts and other vices become a reproach and their members hardly want to identify with them.
See for instance, Cockerill (
Having group-oriented selves, and therefore very concerned to adopt the viewpoints of the groups (their in-groups) whose fate they shared (Malina
Kinship provides a basic form of identification in the Akan society to the extent that some people are identified entirely in terms of their kin relationship, or even when their names are mentioned their kin relationship is the way to clarify the identity of the persons named. In some local communities, parents are identified by the names of their children, usually by the name of the most popular child so that some parents are hardly known by their real names. It is not uncommon for parents to be called by expressions like
Even before believers’ identification as children of God, by the designation of the angels as their servants, the believers’ special place with God is already hinted. Those who serve are traditionally known as
Opoku (
Jesus not only shares the very nature of God but is also the agent of creation who successfully achieves the purification of sins as a result of which he is exalted to sit at the right hand of God (Heb 1:2–4).
In this sense of mediating God’s message, the prophets, the angels and later, Moses and the Levitical priests, and Christ, are participants in a competition in which Christ emerges victorious – the very sense that παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου [competitive comparison similar to παρʼ αὐτοὺς κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνfομα in Heb 1:4] carries in relation to the angels. On angels, Moses, and the Levitical priests being mediator figures in the Jewish tradition, see DeSilva (
In Akan, it is said
Furthermore, the believers share in Christ (Heb 3:14) and enter God’s rest because they believe in Christ (Heb 4:3). The sharing in Christ possesses no difficulty to the Akan because it brings to mind Akan concepts of sharing in one’s possessions as in inheritance as well as the privileges of ascribed honour. Entering God’s rest can only be understood by placing it in the Jewish concept of God’s promised rest now applied to the believers in Christ. The same should be said about believers being called to draw near with confidence to receive mercy and grace from the throne of grace because they have a high priest who is able to sympathise with their weakness (Heb 4:15–16). No concepts of throne of grace and receiving grace and mercy, as in this context, exist in Akan thought. The closest one can come to is receiving pardon from a chief for a misdeed and especially in the event that one supposed to be executed is allowed to ‘buy his or her head’. Hebrew’s use of receiving grace and mercy to help in times of need has in view the help needed to continue to remain faithful while enduring hostility and persecution.
The benefits the believers enjoy from their Father are expressed elaborately in a variety of expressions in Hebrews (sometimes with many such expressions referring to the same benefit) to underscore the evil of believers’ inappropriate response to God’s manifold goodness. It is noted, for instance, that sharing in the Holy Spirit and tasting the powers of the age to come are different ways of speaking about the same benefit (Heb 6:4–5). Buchanan (
With his emphasis on what God has done for his people in religious terms, the author further indicates that the consciences of the audience are purified through the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God (Heb 9:24). He enters the holy places not made with hands to appear before God on behalf of his people (Heb 9:24). He has perfected them as those who are being sanctified by a single offering (Heb 10:14). Their hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and their bodies washed with pure water (Heb 10:22). They have also been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb 10:10). The concept of a once for all sacrifice is Christian and unknown to the Akan in so far as it has to do with the purification that deals with sin and defilement. Yearly and other occasional rituals need to be performed to achieve ritual cleansing from sin and defilement in Akan thought. As noted earlier, the concept of human victim for the performance of highly potent sacrifices is not foreign to the Akan. The idea of cleansing one’s conscience from guilt and sin is also present in the
The description of Jesus as the founder and perfecter of the faith of believers makes Jesus the model in His religious life and attitudes for Akan believers in how they should pursue their faith journey in their present situation (Heb 12:2).
The sympathising high priest hardly has any similar Akan concept and is to be appreciated both from the perspective of Jewish cultic practices, as well as Christian description of Jesus’ ministry in which he is both the high priest as well as the victim of the sacrifice. Akan priests perform rituals for the benefit of adherents including rituals for cleansing. These rituals are done for a fee. There are no known qualifications for traditional priests that prescribe the ability to sympathise with one’s brothers and sisters. A sense of responsibility can surely be expected of Akan traditional priests, while absence of their sympathy for adherents cannot be claimed even if such sympathy may not be granted to all. The identification of Jesus as the high priest takes ethnic relevance not only in his designation as their own Brother but also in the fact that religion is imbedded in Akan ethnic groups such as the household, family or even an entire Akan tribe such as the Adanse tribe and the Bonsam Shrine. The identification of Jesus as a Brother and a high priest creates the impression that Jesus plays the role of the high priest for his own kin people, holding the wellbeing of his family at heart just as Akan family deities have family members who know how to solicit assistance from those deities.
Peculiar to Christian belief is the idea that Jesus performed his priestly ritual for cleansing in a heavenly place not made with hands (Heb 9:11). For the Akan, the sphere of the spiritual is not the place for the performance of ritual. Rituals are performed by the living members of the community to spirit beings who respond with their benevolence. Hebrews’ identification of the heavenly sphere as the place of the sacrifice of Christ is meant to underscore the superiority of His sacrifice to all that are performed in the world of human existence. The Akan believer can hardly miss this import. By its superiority to all sacrifices made in the sphere of human existence, the greatness of God’s beneficence towards his people is underscored. Within Akan thought, the religious descriptions of what God has done for his people should communicate God’s benevolence and the transcendent nature of God’s action for his people – the very point the author seeks to make.
For the Akan, the idea of eternal life could be understood in terms of the cycle of life which continues even in death with the ancestors. Such a life involves the wellbeing of the family in this present life shared by both the living and the living dead. However, Hebrews’ use of the term expresses a quality of life with God which liberates one from all forces to enable one to live in all conditions, assured of better life with God after death. Hebrews’ concept of eternal life does not necessarily imply a life without suffering and hostility as the Akan concept holds. Jesus being the source of eternal life, for the Akan, may readily find expression in the Akan thought in which the ultimate goal of all consultation with a deity is the peace and prosperity of the family in this present life. Eternal life should be understood by the Akan in terms of the unbroken life which continues with the ancestors even in death. This is where the difference lies: for the Akan, eternal life must imply a good life which should be free of all ills in this present life, but for Hebrews, the good life (eternal life) can be experienced in the here and now even in the midst of adversity. For both the worldview of the Akan and Hebrews, life continues even after death. The difference lies in where one spends the life, whereas it is with the ancestors for the Akan and for the Hebrews, it is with God.
It is often said that Kwahu people are tight-fisted (
The result was that God swore they would not enter His rest (Heb 3:16–19). In contrast to the unbelieving Jews, the believers, of whom the author feels better things that belong to salvation (Heb 6:7–9) can draw near to the throne of grace (Heb 4:16). The believers are enlightened people of God (Heb 6:4-5) as opposed to those outside the group considered to be in the dark (cf. Heb 10:32). Moreover, they have demonstrated good works for which God will reward them (Heb 6:10–11). Unlike the wilderness generation, they will receive what has been promised by doing God’s will in their endurance (Heb 10:35) because they are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and preserve their souls (Heb 10:39). They have a common source with Christ in God as well as in Christ (Heb 2:11; 5:9; cf. 4:6; 3:18–19).
When Yaa Asantewaa called the chiefs of the Asante Kingdom to arise as men of Osei Tutu and Opoku Tenten, she recalled the memory of the military exploits of Nana Osei Tutu and Opoku Tenten and succeeded in getting the chiefs go to war against the British even though they had initially shown cowardice. By recalling their shared historical memory, the chiefs were not only reminded of the community of brave people to which they belong but also had their courage restored and stirred for the desired response.