Concept of Religion in Bukôngo #2

This video offers a presentation of the concept of religion according to the understanding the Kôngo people had of this notion before their encounter with the Europeans.

Religion was understood as n'kisi nsi, the use of n'kisi as divine spirits to empower human beings in order to enable them to fight the evil effects of demonic spirits.

The kôngo concept of n'kisi means spirit and power. It alludes first to God, the Most High, and to holy ancestors as animating spirits and protecting power surrounding human beings. This implies that the concept of n'kisi is alike the Igbo concept of Chi and the Yoruba concept of Ase.

It is thus anomalous to reduce the meaning of n'kisi to the Western concept of fetish.

The ideas exposed in this video were taken in our book titled BUKÔNGO which can be found at
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NY7ZMCT