Immortality of the Soul in Ecclesiastes and Akan traditional Thought: A Comparative Analysis from an African Christian Theological Perspective

Abstract

This article surveys the immortality of the soul in Ecclesiastes and Akan traditional thought from an African Christian theological perspective. Using comparative analysis, it argues that there is a remarkable similarity between the concept of immortality in Ecclesiastes and that of the Akan religio-cultural traditions. It is theologically significant to consider the immaterial nature of humankind, death and immortality that has been regarded as mystical and not experiential. This discovery of similarity with Ecclesiastes allows the Akan, and for that matter Africans, the possibility of relocating their religio-cultural and traditional worldviews within the wider context of the biblical cultures and thus Christian theology

Keywords

• immortality
• worldview
• ecclesiastes