It sensitized my thinking in many areas, one of these being the quest for Christian unity. Some individuals have criticized these books -- and no book is perfect. 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. African spirituality is truly holistic. This is not an empty coincidence. African diaspora religions, also described as Afro-American religions, are a number of related beliefs that developed in the Americas in various nations of the Caribbean, Latin America and the Southern United States. The conviction that people will be reborn in this world again and again tends to be more common among Christians than Muslims. Abstract. That which had been seen as the enemy of the gospel turns out (to me) to be indeed a very welcoming friend. trailer The decisive word here is "only." The Story of Africa| BBC World Service - Logo of the BBC 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. Foreign religions simply dont have that same connection to the African continent. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. Much of Oluponas work is an attempt to provide a fuller understanding of the complexity and richness of African indigenous thought and practice by viewing it not as a foil or as a useful comparative to better understand Western religions, but as a system of thought and belief that should be valued and understood for its own ideas and contribution to global religions. Y.91sC@o9sJL9@XMw`7\`1%nRjBS %U=a{N>. The more I peeped into African religious insights about God, the more I felt utterly unable to use the word "only" in this case. Current articles and subscription information can be found at www.christiancentury.org. It publishes a journal Anthropologica and has reclaimed the name of its former journal, Culture for its occasional online bulletin. 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. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa now identify with either Christianity or Islam. Today most Zairians belong to either the Catholic or Protestant church, and the Bira themselves are predominantly Catholic. Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors, Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects. The Yoruba, however, do have a concept of a supreme being, called Olorun or Olodumare, and this creator god of the universe is empowered by the various orisa [deities] to create the earth and carry out all its related functions, including receiving the prayers and supplications of the Yoruba people. 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. For example, followers can seek spiritual direction and relief from healers, medicine men and women, charms [adornments often worn to incur good luck], amulets [adornments often used to ward off evil], and diviners [spiritual advisers]. Humans are spirits who inhabit the visible world. 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. Regardless of the variation, it is still true that Nigeria has both the largest number of Muslims and the largest number of Christians in the region. colonization_terms_apush.docx - ` Units 1 and 2 Vocabulary Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). I have concentrated these comments on the role of African background in my theological reflection. But, it has been a sorrowful, disappointment to me to experience the fact that some individuals who exercise great power in the council are not angels: they sometimes practice the exact contrary of those values and goals to which the council is committed. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. 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 After that date there will be more Christians in the south than in the north. 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. Diviners who go through a long educational and apprenticeship program hold the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of the African people. Important lwa are celebrated on saints days (for example: Ogou on St. Jamess Day, July 25; Ezili Danto on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16; Danbala on St. Patricks Day, March 17; and the spirits of the ancestors on All Saints Day and All Souls Day, November 1 and November 2). 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. Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. I want to walk with Jesus of Nazareth on the shores of Lake Galilee and the hillsides of Judea, through the gates of Jerusalem. GAZETTE: In trying to understand African spirituality, is it helpful to refer to it as polytheistic or monotheistic? hb```b``g`a`.ef@ aV68+ +$.0t9$r8A2Or}6=<4. 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. This is not a biblical distinction. Unlike in Europe and the United States, very few people in sub-Saharan Africa say they are unaffiliated with a particular faith. 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. That finished the interview. Its fundamental principle is that everything is spirit. I am very excited, for example, by the estimate that in 1987 there will be a statistical balance of Christian population between the north (Europe, Soviet Union and America) and the south (Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania). African Traditional Religion in the Context of Christian and Islamic 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. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. When we identify the God of the Bible as the same God who is known through African religion (whatever its limitations), we must also take it that God has had a historical relationship with African peoples. The original constitution defined the organization's mandate as providing a forum for the exchange of ideas among ethnologists. Aujourd'hui, la plupart des Zariens sont soit catholiques, soit protestants; les Biras pour leur part sont principalement catholiques. 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. 0000014207 00000 n 93 0 obj It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. Afro-American Religious Syncretism in Brazil and the United States: A The Church in Africa, 1450-1950. %PDF-1.3 This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. OLUPONA: One of the basic reasons is that indigenous African spiritual beliefs are not bound by a written text, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 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. Christianity in Africa dates to the very inception of the church. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Vodou is a worldview encompassing philosophy, medicine, justice, and religion. 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. African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. The God described in the Bible is none other than the God who is already known in the framework of our traditional African religiosity. The award allows Olupona a year of study and research in Germany; he is on leave this year (201516). (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. But it is nevertheless a working Yes and one that demands theological understanding. Traditional African religions and practices were brought to the Western hemisphere through the African diaspora and the slave trade, often resulting in a syncretic blending with Christianity. I feel deeply the value of biblical studies in this exercise, and the contribution of biblical insights in this development. This chapter includes information on: Download chapter 1 in full (6-page PDF, <1MB), 1 The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in the easternmost part of North East Africa, on the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Africans consequently played a crucial role in establishing the doctrines and theology of the early church. For six years I worked with the World Council of Churches in Geneva. The numerous traditional African religions have in common the notion of a creator god, who made the world and then withdrew, remaining remote from the concerns of human life. But whatever the shortcomings of these and my other publications, the materials that went into these two have raised extremely important issues for me that have continued to engage my reflection. I should add that without claiming to be full members of indigenous traditions, there are many professed Christians and Muslims who participate in one form of indigenous religious rituals and practices or another. (PDF) Christianity and the African traditional religion(s): The 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. 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 African captives entered England's North American colonies through Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Vodou, also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, or French Vaudou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. In Africa the traditional religions are a major source for the study of the African experience of God. 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. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax Yet consider that in 1900 most Africans in sub-Saharan Africa practiced a form of indigenous African religions. A close geographical correlation exists between the location of African religion and the rapid expansion of the Christian faith. Par contre, les croyances en la sorcellerie ont persist. %%EOF 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. 75 0 obj 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. Overall, however, Christians outnumber Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa by about two-to-one. Indigenous African practices tend to be strongest in the central states of Africa, but some form of their practices and beliefs can be found almost anywhere in Africa. African immigrants and slaves worked to maintain traditional religious and social practices in their new surroundings. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main Fewer say it is paramount to their faith to attend religious services (39%), avoid sex before marriage (30%) or oppose abortion . 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. Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. This massive expansion within a short time is unprecedented in the history of Christianity. So, "Lord, help Thou my unbelief!" << /Length 5 0 R /Filter /FlateDecode >> Ritual functionaries include priests, elders, rainmakers, diviners, and prophets. 0000001586 00000 n 1996 Canadian Anthropology Society Religious beliefs among Black Americans | Pew Research Center I am not a historian, and I have not done careful thinking in this direction. They proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ. 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. 0 Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. In this overpowering environment, one simply accepted this stand and looked at the world from its perspectives. In most countries, however, less than one-in-twenty say this is their primary religious affiliation. interaction between the Christian churches and West African religious culture. 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 Thus, Mbali-God is a creative response on the part of the Bira to the syncretic religious encounter. God is not insensitive to the history of peoples other than Israel. They are not mutually exclusive. In lieu of these traditional African ways of defining oneself, Christianity and Islam are gradually creating a social identity in Africa that cuts across these indigenous African religious and social identities. The word Vodou means spirit or deity in the Fon language of the African kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin). (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax As the map also shows, the ratio of Christians to Muslims increases the further south one goes in the continent. There is no room to describe them, and I can mention only two or three of them briefly. It is in this complex of religiosity that the preaching of the gospel makes sense; it is this preparedness that has undergirded the spreading of the gospel like wildfire among African societies which had hitherto followed and practiced traditional religion. This re-ligion is found in almost all the activities of the African man. OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa. They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam . Ifa is an indispensable treasure trove of knowledge that cant be duplicated elsewhere; much of its knowledge has been handed down from babalawo [Ifa priest/diviner] to babalawo for centuries. Indigenous African religion is primarily an oral tradition and has never been fully codified; thus, it allows itself to more easily be amended and influenced by other religious ideas, religious wisdom, and by modern development. And if these shrines are not properly cared for by the designated descendant, then misfortune in the form of illness might befall the caretaker. In 1900 there were an estimated 9 million Christians (accounting for about 7 per cent of the population of Africa). One of the things these diaspora African religions testify to is the beauty of African religions to engage a devotee on many spiritual levels. Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. We can list some obvious and often publicized factors. 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. GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? The previous year I had published African Religions and Philosophy (Doubleday, 1969). 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. Liberia is the only country where more than one-in-ten (12%) identify primarily with an African traditional religion. Moreover, the religions developed in the Americas impact Africa in that devotees of the African diaspora have significant influence on practices in Africa. Orthodox Christianity, although influenced by other religions, generally looked negatively upon these syncretistic movements. 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 . I have seen the quest more sharply. Jacob 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. GAZETTE: What allows African indigenous religions to be so accommodating? It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. 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. 0000002264 00000 n For the full article, see, New religions, independent churches, and prophetic movements, https://www.britannica.com/summary/African-religions. AR-Ndhdnn}H\{%jC!a,]c8F`1LE(3%"w+tj}](q w[,p8i$dd$GrMRD K4wLG4@h\WfPY 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. As the map in the preface to this report shows, sub-Saharan Africa is much more religiously mixed than northern Africa, where the population is overwhelmingly Muslim. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994. They depended on the labor of enslaved Africans who often constituted the majority of the population in these areas and developed their own forms of cultural and religious autonomy Examples: plantation agriculture, the Carolinas (rice), Barbados (sugar), tobacco Colonial government Indeed, ten years ago I had no significant theological position. The Encounter of Christian Faith and African Religion Their history has a theological meaning. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. The recipient of many prestigious academic honors and research fellowships, Olupona also received the 20152016 Reimar Lust Award for International and Cultural Exchange, considered one of Germanys most prestigious academic honors. Nigeria, the most populous country in all of Africa, has the largest number of Muslims as well as the largest number of Christians in the region.3. Omissions? The first and most intriguing topic that immediately engaged my attention was the thinking of African peoples about God. Christianity is more dominant in the south, while Islam is more dominant in the north. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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. He must have been active among African peoples as he was among the Jewish people. Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. Updates? Some Africans believe that the ancestors are equal in power to deities, while others believe they are not. Spirit possession plays an important role in Afro-Haitian religion, as it does in many other world religions. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Request Permissions, Published By: Canadian Anthropology Society. In its place there emerged the word "also." The suppression of ancestor worship is the only area where mission Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. African development. <> Rituals are aimed at maintaining a harmonious relationship with cosmic powers, and many have associated myths that explain their significance. xref The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in postcolonial Africa have made inter-religious dialogue an urgent necessity. Modernity has not put a total stop to its influence. Some people tried to involve Africa in the debate. 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. In the cities, local hierarchies of priestesses or priests (manbo and oungan), children of the spirits (ounsi), and ritual drummers (ountgi) comprise more formal societies or congregations (sosyete). In particular, the concepts about God provide one area of great commonality. (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. 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. The amount of devotees to indigenous practices has dwindled as Islam and Christianity have both spread and gained influence throughout the continent. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. I simply and honestly answered him that "for us in Africa, God is not dead." As a resident fellow, Sherman will teach a study group on negotiation and diplomacy this semester. 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. Then was he not there in other times and in such places as Mount Fuji and Mount Kenya, as well as Mount Sinai? A prominent European New Testament professor visited Makerere University and interviewed me on what I thought about the "death of God" discussion. While Islam and Christianity tend to . %PDF-1.7 % Omissions? Animism is a common feature of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery. GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? 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. No viable theology can grow in Africa without addressing itself to the interreligious phenomenon at work there. 0000002884 00000 n I find the traditional Western distinction between "special revelation" and "general revelation" to be inadequate and unfreeing. 300 ce). In these congregations, knowledge is passed on through a ritual of initiation (kanzo) in which the body becomes the site of spiritual transformation. During religious rites, believers sometimes enter a trancelike state in which the devotee may eat and drink, perform stylized dances, give supernaturally inspired advice to people, or perform medical cures or special physical feats; these acts exhibit the incarnate presence of the lwa within the entranced devotee. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. African religion has equipped people to listen to the gospel, to discover meaningful passages in the Bible, and to avoid unhealthy religious conflict. Indigenous religion in Africa is the way Africans understand and worship their god. There is even a community deep in the American Bible Belt in Beaufort County, S.C., called Oyotunji Village that practices a type of African indigenous religion, which is a mixture of Yoruba and Ewe-Fon spiritual practices. % 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. Chapter 1: Religious Affiliation. 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 the other case no such written record exists. So the church which exists on the African scene bears the marks of its peoples backgrounds. 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
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