Who Is Behind the Trouble?
A child falls ill and no one can say why. The family asks what people have asked for thousands of years: who has been offended, and how do we put it right? In villages across Africa, on the islands of the Pacific, and among the first peoples of the Americas, that has often been the first question. Anyone who has sat beside a sick child knows the fear behind it.
The Pew Research Center's 2012 study counted more than 400 million followers of folk or traditional religions, about 6 percent of the world, a figure that includes Chinese folk religion (see Taoism and Chinese Folk Religion). Many more keep these beliefs alongside another faith. In Hawaiʻi it is the story of the islands and their first people. This study sets out their common shape, gives careful attention to the old Hawaiian religion, answers from Scripture, and helps you share the Gospel.
Scripture takes the unseen world seriously. Paul did not tell the believers at Colossae that the powers were imaginary. He told them what Christ had done to them.
“And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”COLOSSIANS 2:15 · KJV
These are thousands of traditions, each tied to a people and a place, not one religion, and most followers would never call themselves animists. What follows are broad lines. Ask your friend what his family actually believes.
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For Deeper Study
- Understanding Folk Religion: A Christian Response to Popular Beliefs and PracticesAmazon Paul G. Hiebert, R. Daniel Shaw, and Tite TiénouThree evangelical scholars explain why spirits, ancestors, and curses still matter to so many, and how Christians can answer. More demanding.
- African Religions and PhilosophyAmazon John S. MbitiA standard account by a Kenyan theologian (1969). Read African religion as an African scholar explains it. Not evangelical.
- Hawaiian Antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii)Amazon David Malo, trans. Nathaniel B. EmersonThe primary source quoted in this study, by a Hawaiian raised in the old order who became a Christian minister. University of Hawaiʻi Press published a newer bilingual edition in 2020.
- Nānā I Ke Kumu (Look to the Source)Amazon Mary Kawena Pukui, E. W. Haertig, and Catherine A. LeeA respected Hawaiian scholar and her colleagues explain old beliefs and family customs for Hawaiian families. Not written from a Christian view.
- Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's QueenAmazon LiliuokalaniThe queen's own account of her life and the overthrow (1898). Read it to hear what happened in her words.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Engaging Other Religions
Sincerity is not the same as truth: every religion makes exclusive claims, and Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father.
Open Doctrine