When Dr. Chike Akua steps into a room — or cracks open a page — he brings with him thousands of years of ancestral wisdom. In his groundbreaking book, The African Origins of Our Faith: Pan-African Principles of Spiritual Unity, he doesn’t just invite us to rethink our spiritual history — he challenges us to remember it.
This isn’t some abstract intellectual exercise. It’s a cultural reclamation. It’s about tracing the fingerprints of ancient African wisdom — wisdom that predates the Bible, the Quran, and the Torah by centuries — on today’s sacred texts and spiritual systems. And it’s personal.
From the Nile to the pulpit
Dr. Akua, a former minister turned Pan-African scholar, was first struck by the parallels between Christian teachings and the spiritual traditions of ancient Kemet (Egypt). Words like Wahimi Misu — an African concept of rebirth — echo eerily through New Testament phrases like “born again.” That’s not a coincidence. It’s origin.
The wisdom literature of the Nile Valley told us centuries ago what Proverbs would later echo: Who you roll with shapes your fate, and your words can kill or heal. In the Book of Ani, we’re warned: “A person can be ruined by his or her tongue.” The Bible follows with: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
These aren’t spiritual cousins. These are ancestral hand-me-downs. And Dr. Akua is pulling them out the closet with pride.
Reclaiming without rebuking
Let’s be clear: this book is not an attack on Christianity, Islam, or any faith system. “This is not to negate your faith,” Dr. Akua emphasizes. “It’s about knowing the full story.” His analogy? Asking Black folks to disconnect from Africa while practicing Christianity is like asking a baker to remove the flour from a cake. You can’t. It’s baked in.
That fear some have around studying African spirituality? Dr. Akua meets it head-on: “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind” — a quote from 2 Timothy 1:7 in the Bible. If truth is meant to set us free, then knowing where our traditions come from is not just empowering — it’s necessary.
Worship that moves the spirit — and the body
Ever wonder why the Black church hits different? That soul-stirring shout? That back-and-forth with the preacher? That is Africa — live and unfiltered. Dr. Akua draws the line from catching the spirit in today’s sanctuary straight back to the “dancing ka” of ancient Kemet. He even points out the glyphs etched into temple walls showing people with arms raised — what we now call praise and worship.
And our reverence for ancestors? That’s not some spooky sidebar — it’s scriptural. From Abraham and Isaac to the “great cloud of witnesses,” the Bible itself affirms what African tradition has always taught: Our people don’t disappear when they pass — they transform.
10 commandments of pan-African unity
In a world obsessed with differences, Dr. Akua offers ten principles to unify us spiritually. Among them: live what you believe, respect the faith of others, know your religion’s history, and recognize when your faith has been used as a tool of oppression.
He doesn’t pull punches. Europeans, he says, studied African spirituality and used it — through missionaries, merchants, and mercenaries — to subdue and colonize. If we don’t know that history, we risk continuing that cycle under a different name.
‘Many paths, one summit’
Dr. Akua’s deepest realization is both humble and powerful: “There are many paths to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, but only one summit.” Your faith path is valid — but that doesn’t make someone else’s invalid. In a world that weaponizes religion, this is the kind of truth that heals.
A blueprint for spiritual liberation
Beyond the theology, The African Origins of Our Faith is a manual. A practical guide. A mirror. Dr. Akua offers daily practices — quiet time, meditation, intuitive listening, nature walks — to reawaken our spiritual power. He calls for seminaries to embrace this scholarship and for families to use the book as a conversation starter across generations.
At its core, this is more than a read. It’s a return. A return to a sacred code of ethics grounded in Ma’at — truth, justice, righteousness. A return to operational unity, where we value people not by their denomination, but by their deeds.
Because faith, as Dr. Akua reminds us, was always meant to liberate us — not chain us.
🔗 Related links on rolling out:
Get your copy at ReadingRevolution.org – click “Books by Dr. Akua” and scroll to The African Origins of Our Faith.
