In this article, we interrogate the concept of tuput (“to die and come out”) and the subsequent equation of it with reincarnation by the Ngas people of Plateau State in Nigeria, wherein it is claimed that persons who have undergone the ritual processes of tuput-enablement reincarnate within 2 days of their death, not by way of rebirth through conception and delivery but by just mysteriously reappearing in their full former selves and then resuming their normal life as though they never died. This claim raises a stir in us. In exploring the tuput phenomenon, we interviewed some indigenes of the Ngas community concerning the phenomenon. Thereafter, we situated the claims about tuput within the framework of existing theories of reincarnation and juxtaposed them with resurrection—another related theory of afterlife. Our findings reveal among other things that (a) although tuput is a theory of afterlife, it is not reincarnation. Tuput comes closer to the theory of resurrection as a theory of afterlife; (b) belief in tuput is unreflective and its associated claims are laden with internal contradictions; and (c) although tuput suffers the defects listed in (b), it nevertheless has some underlying values and promises that could be harnessed to enrich human knowledge and expand the scope of existing literature, if investigated further.

在这篇文章中，我们通过尼日利亚高原州的 Ngas 人询问了tuput（“死亡和出来”）的概念及其随后与轮回的等式，其中声称经历过以下仪式过程的人tuput -enablement 在他们死后的两天内转世，不是通过受孕和分娩的方式重生，而是通过神秘地重新出现在他们以前的完整自我中，然后恢复正常生活，就好像他们从未死去一样。这种说法引起了我们的轰动。在探索tuput现象的过程中，我们采访了一些 Ngas 社区的土著人。此后，我们定位了关于tuput 的声明在现有轮回理论的框架内，并将它们与复活并列 - 另一个相关的来世理论。我们的发现除其他外揭示了 (a) 尽管tuput是一种来世理论，但它不是轮回。Tuput更接近于作为来世理论的复活理论；(b) 对tuput 的信念是不反省的，其相关的主张充满了内部矛盾；(c) 尽管tuput存在 (b) 中列出的缺陷，但它仍然具有一些潜在的价值和承诺，如果进一步调查，可以利用这些价值和承诺来丰富人类知识并扩大现有文献的范围。