Question

Explain the role of priests and prophets in nuer religion

Answer 1

The religious pioneers of the Nuer are priests and prophets. Prophets are accepted to be agents of the spirits. The earth priests additionally alluded to as the panther skin boss, have the capacity to cooperate with spirits and sort out penances to help cure disease, fill in as a wellspring of intercession between family disputes.

Amid times of diseases, prophets are searched out to distinguish the irritated spirits and decide the correct plan of action. Oftentimes an offering is exhibited or a creature is relinquished keeping in mind the end goal to conciliate or head out the evil soul.

Answer 2

The priests in Nuer religion played a key role only when a sacrifice was to be made to atone for a sin committed. The leopard skin priests were the most important. For instance, if an incest was committed by close relatives, this priest was summoned to free the concerned people from the sin by sacrificing an ox. They look up to the sky to invoke the divine Almighty.

A prophet was considered to be more powerful than a leopard skin priest and was believed to be possessed by an air spirit. Unlike in the case of the priests, the heavenly beings themselves descended themselves on to the prophet. This gave the him various spiritual powers. He also had cultic features that a priest did not. The prophet healed people by rubbing spittle or sprinkling butter, milk or water on the affected areas.