African development. I have met here the church not only in its geographical outreach but also in its historical roots -- seeing, for example, the rich traditions of the Orthodox Church, the universality of the Roman Catholic Church (even though it is based in the Vatican), the reconciling positioning of the Anglican Communion, the dynamic vitality of African independent churches, and so on. Download chapter 3 in full (3-page PDF, <1MB), Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis, Part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA X0#J++?U;_3_gmx9[F\"{,Um1yu 9 ?ce%9EG`N: &U0EHC$p4=$'=DlX6M_7,--" This is in sharp contrast with the religious composition of the region about 100 years ago, when, according to a Pew Forum analysis of historical information from the World Religion Database, less than a quarter of the population identified as either Christian or Muslim. 0000001519 00000 n These initiation rituals are already not as common in Africa as they were only 50 years ago, yet age-grade initiations have always helped young Africans feel connected to their community and their past. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. God was not a stranger to African peoples. GAZETTE: What allows African indigenous religions to be so accommodating? After that date there will be more Christians in the south than in the north. x\u}4`P}E#(9q"%LCl'KLb)Sfgdq N What is African Traditional Religion? When this happens, then a passage such as Hebrews 1:1-3 rolls down like mighty waters, full of exciting possibilities of theological reflection. (back to text), 3 Nigerias 2006 census did not ask about religious affiliation, and recent estimates of the numbers of Muslims and Christians in the country vary. Eating pattern tied to 24% reduction in cardiovascular, cancer mortality in people diagnosed with the chronic condition, HMS/Brigham study shows most advertised medicines little better than other treatment options. I have seen the quest more sharply. No viable theology can grow in Africa without addressing itself to the interreligious phenomenon at work there. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. Omissions? Some people tried to involve Africa in the debate. For this reason, some African theologians take African religiosity to be one of the sources of theological reflection (besides the Bible, Christian heritage, etc.). Anthropologica is published for CASCA by University of Toronto Press. But for many Africans, religion can never be separated from all these. This approach is intended to shed further light on the problem of African cultural influence and . Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. religious syncretism, the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices. I want to make a pilgrimage into Christ. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Additionally, I will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who practice their form of African indigenous religions. In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. 817-820. He must have been active among African peoples as he was among the Jewish people. They have also fostered a greater feeling of individual self-worth by acknowledging important milestones in ones life, including becoming an adult or an elder. Did he then reveal himself only in the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel and other personalities of the Bible? 0000002026 00000 n Ethiopia's Christian population, at 6 million in 1900, will grow to a projected 100 million in 2050. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. This chapter includes information on: Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects Download chapter 3 in full (3-page PDF, <1MB) Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis Since Christianity and Islam spread across Africa, many people there have observed a mixture of religious practices. Yet . OLUPONA: We would lose a worldview that has collectively sustained, enriched, and given meaning to a continent and numerous other societies for centuries through its epistemology, metaphysics, history, and practices. GAZETTE: It sounds like African indigenous religions are dynamic, inclusive, and flexible. But after braving that first blizzard in a land far from his native Nigeria, Olupona stuck it out and earned his Ph.D. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. African immigrants and slaves worked to maintain traditional religious and social practices in their new surroundings. All too often, the result is conflict and radicalisation. Its aim is to develop an extensive library of resources, representing many different points of view, but all written from the perspective of sound scholarship. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main They will certainly be overwhelming, and I feel very excited about them. OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. Religious pluralism serves peace. OLUPONA: The role of ancestors in the African cosmology has always been significant. For starters, the word religion is problematic for many Africans, because it suggests that religion is separate from the other aspects of ones culture, society, or environment. Theological development in Africa must inevitably grow within this religious setting. The success of Christianity and Islam on the African continent in the last 100 years has been extraordinary, but it has been, unfortunately, at the expense of African indigenous religions. 0000002264 00000 n I find the traditional Western distinction between "special revelation" and "general revelation" to be inadequate and unfreeing. African spirituality simply acknowledges that beliefs and practices touch on and inform every facet of human life, and therefore African religion cannot be separated from the everyday or mundane. w?0t7/Oa84P]T}T}?gHq.qsRnkc;]X*s1!E"l^~K_/|j p z|9~p uf:}[Mc|4!#"Zg!/vc _~|oyuQ'dX :?NmU)?oPSw?6#?[OUN@6oz{j;\e7nWsV~XyU4vMm4#f4c:[Wefkd&88XB|cMh6)mt<4M8}; *:7??+0:0$! Rituals are aimed at maintaining a harmonious relationship with cosmic powers, and many have associated myths that explain their significance. His research has helped to introduce and popularize new concepts in religious studies, such as the term reverse missionaries, referring to African prelates sent to Europe and the United States. 0000005005 00000 n They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam . Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. settlements formed by African slaves who ran away from imprisonment the Americas Ritual functionaries include priests, elders, rainmakers, diviners, and prophets. Request Permissions, Published By: Canadian Anthropology Society. In Kenya I grew up in home, school and church milieus which held that the African religious and cultural background was demonic and anti-Christian. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. Its about getting tangible results. mixing of Christianity and traditional African religions What were maroon communities? Many other familial feasts (for the sacred children, for the poor, for particular ancestors) as well as initiations and funerary rituals occur throughout the year. I want to walk with Jesus of Nazareth on the shores of Lake Galilee and the hillsides of Judea, through the gates of Jerusalem. The Church in Africa, 1450-1950. In the 17th century a movement led by the German Protestant theologian George Calixtus aimed at reconciling the differences between the Protestants in Germany, but his efforts were disparaged by orthodox Christian leaders as syncretistic. I am not a historian, and I have not done careful thinking in this direction. One of Jacob Oluponas earliest memories in Massachusetts is of nearly freezing in his apartment as a graduate student at Boston University during the great snowstorm of 1978. A prominent European New Testament professor visited Makerere University and interviewed me on what I thought about the "death of God" discussion. Updates? The introduced religions of Islam (in northern Africa) and Christianity (in southern Africa) are now the continents major religions, but traditional religions still play an important role, especially in the interior of sub-Saharan Africa. Of course, behind all these factors is the Holy Spirit working through them. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Corrections? A calendar of ritual feasts, syncretized with the Roman Catholic calendar, provides the yearly rhythm of religious practice. For myself, I negotiate between my Yoruba and Christian identity by, for example, affirming those aspects of African culture that promote good life and communal human welfare. So I read on and on, and conducted field research to learn more and more. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. They do this by having Africans increasingly identify themselves as either Muslim or Christian, thus denying their unique African worldview that has always viewed as evidenced in their creation myths everything as unified and connected to the land, the place were ones clan, lineage, and people were cosmically birthed. Ancestors can offer advice and bestow good fortune and honor to their living dependents, but they can also make demands, such as insisting that their shrines be properly maintained and propitiated. The first and most intriguing topic that immediately engaged my attention was the thinking of African peoples about God. The fusion of cultures that was effected by the conquest of Alexander the Great (4th century bce ), his successors, and the Roman Empire tended to bring together a variety of religious and philosophical views that resulted in a strong tendency toward religious syncretism. In February 1974 a group of 120 anthropologists launched the Canadian Ethnology Society/socit canadienne d'ethnologie (CESCE), because they felt there was room for an association of anthropologists separate from the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) which was dominated by sociologists. Muslim populations are especially concentrated in a large geographic belt running west to east from Senegal to the Horn of Africa.1 Southern Africa is predominantly Christian. I cannot claim that I have witnessed much progress in that quest at the organizational level, but perhaps I had expected too much. So the church which exists on the African scene bears the marks of its peoples backgrounds. 0000002505 00000 n Liberia is the only country where more than one-in-ten (12%) identify primarily with an African traditional religion. Subscriptions are available to libraries and individuals who are not members of CASCA. The statistical expansion of the Christian faith in Africa in this century is one of the considerations that led me back to the issue of its relation with African religion. OLUPONA: I was raised in Africa during the 1960s, when the Yoruba community never asked you to chose between your personal faith and your collective African identity. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World, Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, Next: Chapter 2: Commitment to Christianity and Islam, Chapter 2: Commitment to Christianity and Islam, Chapter 3: Traditional African Religious Beliefs and Practices, Chapter 4: Interreligious Harmony and Tensions, In the U.S. and Western Europe, people say they accept Muslims, but opinions are divided on Islam, In Western Europe, familiarity with Muslims is linked to positive views of Muslims and Islam, Q&A: Measuring attitudes toward Muslims and Jews in Western Europe, Europes Muslim population will continue to grow but how much depends on migration, The Growth of Germanys Muslim Population, Size & Demographic Characteristics of Religious Groups, Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable With Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care, Gender pay gap in U.S. hasnt changed much in two decades. Aujourd'hui, la plupart des Zariens sont soit catholiques, soit protestants; les Biras pour leur part sont principalement catholiques. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. But to the disappointment of those theological exporters, this fish was not attracted by the bait. The primary goal and activity of Vodou is to sevi lwa (serve the spirits)to offer prayers and perform various devotional rites directed at God and particular spirits in return for health, protection, and favour. In 1900 there were an estimated 9 million Christians (accounting for about 7 per cent of the population of Africa). Vodou, also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, or French Vaudou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. The editor of The Christian Century has given me an undeserved privilege in asking me to contribute some reflections on "How My Mind Has Changed" in the course of the past decade. Spiritual activities like prayer, thanksgiving, and the making of sacrifices were well-established facts of life for the existence and continuation of the community. The council made me aware, perhaps even frightfully so, of the problems of our world. In the end, I believe that Africans can make room for a plurality of religious points of view without one religious point of view excluding or compromising the other. endobj OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa. Since the Bible tells me that God is the Creator of all things, his activities in the world must clearly go beyond what is recorded in the Bible. The fusion of cultures that was effected by the conquest of Alexander the Great (4th century bce), his successors, and the Roman Empire tended to bring together a variety of religious and philosophical views that resulted in a strong tendency toward religious syncretism. 0000000016 00000 n Corrections? Author of. Abstract. 0 0000000676 00000 n In its place there emerged the word "also." "The success of Christianity and Islam on the African continent in the last 100 years has been extraordinary, but it has been, unfortunately, at the expense of African indigenous religions," said Olupona. I also celebrate and honor the kings festivals and ceremonies in my hometown and other places where I live and do research. The bottom line then is that Africans who still wholly practice African indigenous religions are only about 10 percent of the African population, a fraction of what it used to be only a century ago, when indigenous religions dominated most of the continent. Par consquent, Mbali-Dieu est la rponse crative des Biras une rencontre religieuse syncrtique. The missionaries who introduced the gospel to Africa in the past 200 years did not bring God to our continent. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. African spirituality has always been able to adapt to change and allow itself to absorb the wisdom and views of other religions, much more than, for example, Christianity and Islam. Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. Instances of religious syncretismas, for example, Gnosticism (a religious dualistic system that incorporated elements from the Oriental mystery religions), Judaism, Christianity, and Greek religious philosophical conceptswere particularly prevalent during the Hellenistic period (c. 300 bcec. (I myself have consulted with several diviners for my research on specific academic topics regarding African culture and history; consequently, if we were to lose Africas diviners, we would also lose one of Africas best keepers and sources of African history and culture. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and . Consequently, people are discovering that the biblical faith is not harmful to their religious sensibilities. For example, an African amulet might have inside of it a written verse from either the Koran or Christian Bible. There are other areas of exploration in which I continue to be engaged. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. If they are two wavelengths, they make sense only when they move toward a convergence. In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. (back to text), Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis, Part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA Vodou represents a syncretism of the West African Vodun religion and Roman Catholicism by the descendants of the Dahomean, Kongo, Yoruba, and other ethnic groups who had been enslaved and transported to colonial Saint-Domingue (as Haiti was known then) and partly Christianized by Roman Catholic . Indigenous African religions are by nature plural, varied, and usually informed by ones ethnic identity, where ones family came from in Africa. My research into and teaching of African religion has led to another important area of development. A semi-annual journal, it publishes peer-reviewed articles in both French and English devoted to social and cultural issues whether they are pre-historic, historic, contemporary, biological, linguistic, applied or theoretical in orientation. Yet consider that in 1900 most Africans in sub-Saharan Africa practiced a form of indigenous African religions. This number has since grown rapidly, to the point that in 1980 there are estimated to be 200 million Christians (or about 45 per cent of the population). For example, sickness in the indigenous African worldview is not only an imbalance of the body, but also an imbalance in ones social life, which can be linked to a breakdown in ones kinship and family relations or even to ones relationship with ones ancestors. The defining line between deities and ancestors is often contested, but overall, ancestors are believed to occupy a higher level of existence than living human beings and are believed to be able to bestow either blessings or illness upon their living descendants. That would be a serious loss not only for Africans, but also for academics, researchers, writers, and general seekers of wisdom the world over. The suppression of ancestor worship is the only area where mission Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. % There are also secret societies, called Bizango or Sanpwl, that perform a religio-juridical function. Read our research on: Congress | Economy | Gender, Side by side with their high levels of commitment to Christianity and Islam, many people in the countries surveyed retain beliefs and rituals that are characteristic of traditional African religions. %%EOF It is the southern two-thirds of Africa (including Madagascar) which we can rightly call Christian Africa, as the northern one-third is Muslim Africa. He later earned both an M.A. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World, Chapter 3: Traditional African Religious Beliefs and Practices, Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, Next: Chapter 4: Interreligious Harmony and Tensions, Chapter 2: Commitment to Christianity and Islam, Chapter 4: Interreligious Harmony and Tensions, In the U.S. and Western Europe, people say they accept Muslims, but opinions are divided on Islam, In Western Europe, familiarity with Muslims is linked to positive views of Muslims and Islam, Q&A: Measuring attitudes toward Muslims and Jews in Western Europe, Europes Muslim population will continue to grow but how much depends on migration, The Growth of Germanys Muslim Population, Size & Demographic Characteristics of Religious Groups, Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable With Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care, Gender pay gap in U.S. hasnt changed much in two decades. The conviction that people will be reborn in this world again and again tends to be more common among Christians than Muslims. A conference of mainly African theologians, held in Ghana in December 1977, said in its final communiqu: "The God of history speaks to all peoples in particular ways. In this overpowering environment, one simply accepted this stand and looked at the world from its perspectives. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). With it, one began to explore afresh the realm of Gods revelation and other treasures of our faith. Anthony Chiorazzi, who has an M.Phil. As discussed elsewhere in this report, many Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa retain beliefs and rituals that are characteristic of traditional African religions. The theological horizon continues to expand. interaction between the Christian churches and West African religious culture. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. A follower of African diaspora religions has many choices in terms of seeking spiritual help or succor. The Pew Forums survey found 52% of the population is Muslim. L'interdiction de pratiquer le culte des anctres est l'unique domaine dans lequel la mission chrtienne a triomph de la vie religieuse traditionnelle des Biras.
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