CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF DELINEATED ASPECTS OF URHOBO ANDJUDEO-CHRISTIAN COSMOLOGIES

Abstract

This study attempts to compare and contrast the following aspects of
Urhobo cosmology (UC) and Judeo-Christian Cosmology (JCC): origin,
abode of the dead, apocalypse, morality, and ancestor veneration. The
adopted theoretical framework is the Culture and Identity theory as
propounded by Collier and Thomas (1988). Data for the Judeo-Christian
worldview was drawn from the Bible, while the data for the Urhobo
worldview was extracted from Urhobo tradition. Findings are: on the
subject of origin, both cultures attribute the origin of all things to a
Supreme Being, God (JCC) or Ọghẹnẹ (UC). In JCC, God relates with
man through Jesus; in UC, He does so through divinities. With reference
to the realm of the dead, JCC and UC conceive of the dead as leading a
conscious existence either of two places; assigned to a place of rest
(paradise, JCC; urhoro, UC) or consigned to a region of suffering (hell,
JCC; orho-igbẹvwẹrhẹ-literally, 'land of suffering', UC). In JCC, once the
departed is assigned to either of these two places, their fate is sealed; in
UC, where the appropriate sacrifices are made, the spirit that was
confined to the land of regret can then gain access to urhoro, the place of
rest.