The previous year I had published African Religions and Philosophy (Doubleday, 1969). My research into and teaching of African religion has led to another important area of development. A prominent European New Testament professor visited Makerere University and interviewed me on what I thought about the "death of God" discussion. But I have discovered that there is also the fundamental factor of African religion, without which this phenomenal expansion of Christianity would not be a reality. A belief in ancestors also testifies to the inclusive nature of traditional African spirituality by positing that deceased progenitors still play a role in the lives of their living descendants. One read Honest to God and a variety of other works in an effort to understand the hot debate then raging in Europe and America. degree at Harvard Divinity School. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the World Council of Churches is a great witness of the Christian response to the prayer of our Lord that we may all be one. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 0000002884 00000 n I have been greatly enriched by working at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, 1974-1980. Again, it doesnt reflect the multiplicity of ways that traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. 0000005005 00000 n 4 0 obj 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. GAZETTE: What allows African indigenous religions to be so accommodating? Updates? 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These impinge upon their daily life- and experience of the Christian faith. This statistical tilting of Christendom from the north to the south, after 2,000 years, holds tremendous prospects and challenges. As for the belief in God, it appears that the Bira have utilized Christianity to make their traditional God Mbali less remote and more caring, a change which has also made the Christian God more compassionate and forgiving of sins. For this reason, some African theologians take African religiosity to be one of the sources of theological reflection (besides the Bible, Christian heritage, etc.). They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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. (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. There is not space here to argue the case for the role played by African religion in the establishment of the Christian faith in Africa. This approach is intended to shed further light on the problem of African cultural influence and . The unseen world is populated by lwa (spirits), myst (mysteries), anvizib (the invisibles), zanj (angels), and the spirits of ancestors and the recently deceased. One important task, then, is to see the nature, the method and the implications of Gods revelation among African peoples, in the light of the biblical record of the same revelation. They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam . 1996 Canadian Anthropology Society Black Americans who identify with a religion are most likely to say belief in God is essential to what their faith means to them (84%), while large majorities say the same about opposing racism (76%) and sexism (71%). Outline of the Curricular Framework: Anglicanization Atlantic slave trade "Atlantic World" Barbados (sugar) British-American system of slavery the Carolinas (rice) Caste system cereal crops Colonial resistance Dominion of New England Enlightenment Furs Great Awakening Indentured Servants Mercantilism Metis Models of colonization Molasses Act Corrections? One of the things these diaspora African religions testify to is the beauty of African religions to engage a devotee on many spiritual levels. Omissions? Authoring or editing more than half a dozen books on religion and African culture (including the recent African Religions: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press), Olupona has researched topics ranging from the indigenous religions of Africa to the religious practices of Africans who have settled in America. God was not a stranger to African peoples. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. Dr. Mbiti is on the staff of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland. Par consquent, Mbali-Dieu est la rponse crative des Biras une rencontre religieuse syncrtique. This was an extremely liberating word in my theological thinking. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. 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. This re-ligion is found in almost all the activities of the African man. Anthony Chiorazzi, who has an M.Phil. But they used the names of the God who was and is already known by African peoples -- such as Mungu, Mulungu, Katonda, Ngai, Olodumare, Asis, Ruwa, Ruhanga, Jok, Modimo, Unkulunkulu and thousands more. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. They are not mutually exclusive. 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. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 75 19 Orthodox Christianity, although influenced by other religions, generally looked negatively upon these syncretistic movements. That finished the interview. Wendy Sherman, who was the lead U.S. negotiator in the nuclear deal with Iran, was welcomed by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. But I feel that the issue of looking at African history in light of the biblical understanding of history is clearly called for. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax Anthropologica For instance, in a few years time, I pray that I will be participating in an age-grade festival for men around 70 years of age called Ero in my native Nigerian community in Ute, in Ondo state. The Yoruba diviners, for example, draw on this extensive indigenous knowledge every day by consulting Ifa, an extensive literary corpus of information covering science, medicine, cosmology, and metaphysics. Vodou is a worldview encompassing philosophy, medicine, justice, and religion. Syncretistic movements in the Orient, such as Manichaeism (a dualistic religion founded by the 3rd-century-ce Iranian prophet Mani, who combined elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism) and Sikhism (a religion founded by the 15th16th-century Indian reformer Guru Nnak, who combined elements of Islam and Hinduism), also met with resistance from the prevailing religions of their respective areas. 43. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. He must have been active among African peoples as he was among the Jewish people. It is here that I have discovered the church in Burma, in the Pacific islands, the house church in China, the basic Christian communities in Latin America, the struggling church in South Africa, plus countless other endeavors of Christians all over the world. They include the work of missionaries (of whom there are about 40,000 today, without counting their family members); the work of African Christians in evangelism and pastoral care (their numbers are infinitely greater than those of overseas missionaries, and include men, women and children, both lay and ordained); the role of Christian schools; the translation and distribution of the Bible (which is now available in full or in part in nearly 600 of Africas 1,000 languages); and the ending of the colonial era during the decades 1960-1980. Today most Zairians belong to either the Catholic or Protestant church, and the Bira themselves are predominantly Catholic. 0000001586 00000 n %%EOF In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. In five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. In addition, roughly a quarter or more of the population in 11 countries say they believe in the protective power of juju (charms or amulets), shrines and other sacred objects. Spiritual activities like prayer, thanksgiving, and the making of sacrifices were well-established facts of life for the existence and continuation of the community. And in Botswana, Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia, the survey finds that 5% or less identify as Muslim. That testifies to the enduring power of indigenous religion and its ability to domesticate Christianity and Islam in modern Africa. OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. 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. But the basic truth seems to be that Gods revelation is not confined to the biblical record. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 0000000016 00000 n Some of these African diaspora religions include Cuban Regla de Ocha, Haitian Vodou, and Brazilian Candomble. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. In 1900 there were an estimated 9 million Christians (accounting for about 7 per cent of the population of Africa). That is anathema to the fundamentalist faith movements that have been gaining momentum in recent decades. 1"7$X9Xyyyb GNpL!9I&mxo0++44cA@5c. In its place there emerged the word "also." ancient Rome: Religious and cultural life in the 3rd century, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/religious-syncretism, Academia - Religious Syncretism as a Syncretistic Concept: The Inadequacy of the " World Religions " Paradigm in Cross-Cultural Encounter. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. This number has since grown rapidly, to the point that in 1980 there are estimated to be 200 million Christians (or about 45 per cent of the population). One African theologian, Gabriel Setiloane, has even argued that the concept of God which the missionaries presented to the Sotho-Tswana peoples was a devaluation of the traditional currency of Modimo (God) among the Sotho-Tswana. So I read on and on, and conducted field research to learn more and more. The first African captives entered England's North American colonies through Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. We can list some obvious and often publicized factors. Take em with a grain of salt. African spirituality has always been able to adapt to change and allow itself to absorb the wisdom and views of other religions, much more than, for example, Christianity and Islam. African Traditional Religion in the Context of increasing Christian and Islamic Encounter . X0#J++?U;_3_gmx9[F\"{,Um1yu 9 ?ce%9EG`N: &U0EHC$p4=$'=DlX6M_7,--" At first, Christianity made few inroads into the African slave population, which had its own religious traditions. Everywhere he went in southwestern Nigeria, he never opposed or spoke out against African culture including initiation rites, festivals, and traditional Yoruba dress as long as it didnt directly conflict with Christianity. The Church in Africa, 1450-1950. But upon my return to work in Africa, and upon careful study of the religious background of our people, there emerged gradually the demand to examine this issue and to form my own judgment. But for many Africans, religion can never be separated from all these. Omissions? Vodou, also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, or French Vaudou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). Olupona, professor of indigenous African religions at Harvard Divinity School and professor of African and African-American studies in Harvards Faculty of Arts and Sciences, recently sat down for an interview about his lifelong research on indigenous African religions. 0000008365 00000 n OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. OLUPONA: One of the basic reasons is that indigenous African spiritual beliefs are not bound by a written text, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Instead, God brought them. Below is the article summary. I told my father that I was coming home, he recalled. I find the traditional Western distinction between "special revelation" and "general revelation" to be inadequate and unfreeing. I wont pray to an orisa, but I will affirm the importance of my connection with members of my age group. As a resident fellow, Sherman will teach a study group on negotiation and diplomacy this semester. While Islam and Christianity tend to . As for the belief in God, it appears that the Bira have utilized Christianity to make their traditional God Mbali less remote and more caring, a change which has also made the Christian God more compassionate and forgiving . (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. But to the disappointment of those theological exporters, this fish was not attracted by the bait. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. But in practical terms, there is a Christian Yes to African religiosity. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. What factors are responsible for it? Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. Religious pluralism serves peace. Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. Unlike in Europe and the United States, very few people in sub-Saharan Africa say they are unaffiliated with a particular faith. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. stream That would be a serious loss not only for Africans, but also for academics, researchers, writers, and general seekers of wisdom the world over. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). In most of the 19 countries surveyed by the Pew Research Centers Forum on Religion & Public Life, 90% or more of the respondents say they belong to one of these faiths. I want to make a pilgrimage into Christ. Its fundamental principle is that everything is spirit.

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