The Real Nuer in Sudan!

My essay is just a review for selected paragraphs from a Sudanese book. It is written by Reverend Gabriel Gai Riam Weituor and discusses mainly the relationship between church and state in Sudan. It shows just six pages about the concept of peace in South Sudan with a good example “Covenant Theology of the Nuer”. The writer comes from the Nuer people, and it is from the perspective of the Nuer tradition he wrote this part of chapter nine.
In this chapter he also discusses the concepts of the Prophet Ngundeng. It is another amazing story that we will cover tomorrow.
It is very clear that there are many similarities between Monotheist religions and Nuer religion. The concept of the religious man is not like the African magician, traditional Sudanese Kojour. He is not just an extra-ordinary man who can make miracles, he is not rain maker, but he is a person who can lead his community and neighboring communities to peace and welfare.
We miss here (as usual) the role of African media. The meaning of cultural diversity exists only in dancing and singing. But big naught about our rich culture.
Christian - Muslim Relations In Sudan
A study of the relationship between church and state (1898-2005)
Author: Gabriel Gai Riam Weituor

Chapter Nine

( ….. The Nuer language has two words for “people”. Cuk, (singular cok) means people in the inclusive, universal sense of all the ethnic groups of humankind; it is used in this inclusive sense in contrast to the word naath that denotes people in particular sense of the Nuer themselves.)

(The Nuer phrase, kondial labne gaat cukni “we are all little ants in the sight of God” explains that the Nuer see ants as helpless, and is the same way the Nuer believe God sees the whole humanity in their diversity without distinction. Another Nuer states that human beings are “foolish in the sight of God” (door wang kuoth)……)

( Nuer religion expresses the relationship between God and the people through the concept of “covenant” (Nguot/Ngut), that denotes an inviolable bond both between the Creator and all creation, and between all people.)

(…….It is particular in the sense that they believe that God sends prophets to all peoples; it is universal because the Nuer accept that all these prophets are genuine messengers from God)

( The role of the prophets is to make clear to the people what Nguot, or covenant, requers ofthem in terms of their moral lives. As well as covenant, Nguot means rules and regulations (laws) that the Nuer apply across all aspects of their lives, as communities and individuals. For example the Nuer customary laws are referred to as Nguot Fangak (a district where the Nuer revise their traditional systems)……..)

(…. This is evident in the importance of the late 19th century Prophet Ngundeng who stands in the Nuer tradition as the great prophet of peace and reconciliation. Before Prophet Ngundeng the Nuer prophets and priests were mainly concerned with the welfare of the Nuer community in particular. Some of the prophets carried out raids on other people that had caused instability with their neighbors. However, when Ngundeng came he instituted principles of compensation that were intended to reduce conflicts and create harmony among the people. For example he forbade young men to carry spears to dances, and urged the Nuer to stop raiding their neighbors, thus reducing instability.
Secondly, he involved representatives of the Nuer and their neighboring tribes in the building of pyramid-shaped mound as a symbol of peace building. The shrines of the spirits and divinities of all tribes were brought to the Mound, as a sign of curtailing the escalation of the conflicts among the Nuer and their Neighboring people)

(…. The Dinka, Annuak and other peoples came to the Mound, and by adhering to Ngundeng’s teaching, they combined faithfulness to their own particular traditions with acceptance of the universal order)