Its fundamental principle is that everything is spirit. That experience gave me a face-to-face encounter with the ecumenical movement and left a lasting mark on me. Ethiopia's Christian population, at 6 million in 1900, will grow to a projected 100 million in 2050. There is no centralized hierarchy, no single leader, and no official spokesperson, but various groups sometimes attempt to create such official structures. Diviners who go through a long educational and apprenticeship program hold the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of the African people. settlements formed by African slaves who ran away from imprisonment the Americas 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. I simply and honestly answered him that "for us in Africa, God is not dead." 0000015705 00000 n
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. For the full article, see, New religions, independent churches, and prophetic movements, https://www.britannica.com/summary/African-religions. At many points I see intriguing parallels between the biblical record and African religiosity. In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. 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. (See the glossary for more information on juju. 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. Focuses on the influences of Africans and African ideas on the mission enterprise, conversion, religious innovation, and church life, but it neglects to cover the . Fewer say it is paramount to their faith to attend religious services (39%), avoid sex before marriage (30%) or oppose abortion . OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. 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 The more I peeped into African religious insights about God, the more I felt utterly unable to use the word "only" in this case. Spiritual activities like prayer, thanksgiving, and the making of sacrifices were well-established facts of life for the existence and continuation of the community. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax I find the traditional Western distinction between "special revelation" and "general revelation" to be inadequate and unfreeing. We can list some obvious and often publicized factors. ), In addition to expressing high levels of belief in the protective power of sacrificial offerings and sacred objects, upwards of one-in-five people in every country say they believe in the evil eye, or the ability of certain people to cast malevolent curses or spells. Indeed, ten years ago I had no significant theological position. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. That book was followed by a flurry of literature on the so-called "death of God" theology (if "theology" it was, for I would call it "atheology"). I am tantalized by the fact that my vision cannot cope with that horizon. Humans are spirits who inhabit the visible world. Read our research on: Congress | Economy | Gender. 0 Reuben Kigame, the Kenyan Christian musician and apologist, has rightly suggested that considering the fact that Christianity existed in Africa for a good eighteen centuries before the. It will keep me chewing for a long time, and it will most certainly feed my theological development. Corrections? 0000003217 00000 n
What factors are responsible for it? They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam . African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. In most of the 19 countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, 90% or more of the respondents say they belong to one of these faiths. Liberia is the only country where more than one-in-ten (12%) identify primarily with an African traditional religion. He later earned both an M.A. 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. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. Some African diasporans are returning to the continent to reconnect with their ancestral traditions, and they are encouraging and organizing the local African communities to reclaim this heritage. He must have been active among African peoples as he was among the Jewish people. <> w?0t7/Oa84P]T}T}?gHq.qsRnkc;]X*s1!E"l^~K_/|j
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*:7??+0:0$! While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. For this reason, some African theologians take African religiosity to be one of the sources of theological reflection (besides the Bible, Christian heritage, etc.). First, the association of traditional African religion with an other-worldly orientation may appear problematic, given the "pragmatic" basis of this religion. Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. 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. An old African adage says: The sky is large enough for birds to fly around without one having to bump into the other.. This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. The missionaries who introduced the gospel to Africa in the past 200 years did not bring God. religious syncretism, the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices. mixing of Christianity and traditional African religions What were maroon communities? But to the disappointment of those theological exporters, this fish was not attracted by the bait. 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. I wont pray to an orisa, but I will affirm the importance of my connection with members of my age group. In 1900 there were an estimated 9 million Christians (accounting for about 7 per cent of the population of Africa). In five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. If they are two wavelengths, they make sense only when they move toward a convergence. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The WCCs very existence as a council of churches is a living hope. 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. So the church which exists on the African scene bears the marks of its peoples backgrounds. 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. African religion has equipped people to listen to the gospel, to discover meaningful passages in the Bible, and to avoid unhealthy religious conflict. "For us in Africa, God is not dead" -- and that applies whether or not there is a written record of his relations with and concern for people. Updates? En ce qui concerne la croyance en Dieu, il semblerait que les Biras se soient servis de la chrtient pour rendre leur dieu traditionnel Mbali plus accessible et plus comprhensif, un changement qui a rendu le Dieu des chrtiens plus compatissant et indulgent vis vis du pch. GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. 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. Consequently, people are discovering that the biblical faith is not harmful to their religious sensibilities. OLUPONA: The role of ancestors in the African cosmology has always been significant. Anthropologica 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. In four countries (Chad, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria and Tanzania), the number of Christians and Muslims is more equally divided, with a ratio of less than two-to-one in either direction.2 The other countries surveyed are predominantly Christian with Muslim minorities of varying sizes. Par contre, les croyances en la sorcellerie ont persist. 0000000016 00000 n
Their culture, history, world views and spiritual aspirations cannot be taken away from them. 0000001586 00000 n
(back to text), 2 The World Religion Database estimates that roughly four-in-ten people in Guinea Bissau are Muslim and approximately one-in-ten are Christian, with the rest of the population associated with traditional African religions. But after braving that first blizzard in a land far from his native Nigeria, Olupona stuck it out and earned his Ph.D. 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. Some Africans believe that the ancestors are equal in power to deities, while others believe they are not. X0#J++?U;_3_gmx9[F\"{,Um1yu 9
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&U0EHC$p4=$'=DlX6M_7,--" Instead, God brought them, for the God described in the Bible is none other than the God who was already known in the framework of our traditional African religiosity. 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 material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. 0000001019 00000 n
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. OLUPONA: Yes, its a mixed bag because in the African diaspora mostly due to the slave trade starting in the 15th century indigenous African religions have spread and taken root all over the world, including in the United States and Europe. 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. Rituals are aimed at maintaining a harmonious relationship with cosmic powers, and many have associated myths that explain their significance. 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. In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. 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. The previous year I had published African Religions and Philosophy (Doubleday, 1969). 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. << /Length 5 0 R /Filter /FlateDecode >> 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. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. This article appeared in the Christian Century, August 27- September 3, 1980, pp. Christianity is more dominant in the south, while Islam is more dominant in the north. Some people tried to involve Africa in the debate. 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. GAZETTE: It sounds like African indigenous religions are dynamic, inclusive, and flexible. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa now identify with either Christianity or Islam. I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. 0000014207 00000 n
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. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. 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. A close geographical correlation exists between the location of African religion and the rapid expansion of the Christian faith. It includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. Indigenous African spirituality today is increasingly falling out of favor. 0000008365 00000 n
Supreme Court may halt health care guarantees for inmates, Why police resist reforms to militarization, Historian says Fla. dispute shows why AP class in African American studies is needed, Low-carb diet can help manage progression of Type 2 diabetes, Those breezy TV drug ads? 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. startxref Religious pluralism serves peace. 0000001519 00000 n
My interpretation of Israels history demands a new look at the history of African peoples, among whom this same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has indeed been at work. While the recourse to traditional healers may be motivated in part by economic reasons and an absence of health care alternatives, it may also be rooted in religious beliefs about the efficacy of this approach. With it, one began to explore afresh the realm of Gods revelation and other treasures of our faith. 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. Yet consider that in 1900 most Africans in sub-Saharan Africa practiced a form of indigenous African religions. The Church in Africa, 1450-1950. For instance, the Yoruba religion has historically been centered in southwestern Nigeria, the Zulu religion in southern Africa, and the Igbo religion in southeastern Nigeria. The rural Bira of northeastern Zaire have been exposed to the Christian message for well over half a century. The award allows Olupona a year of study and research in Germany; he is on leave this year (201516). GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? Since I myself had never heard any lectures on African religion, I set out to do research on the subject in order to teach the course adequately. Orthodox Christianity, although influenced by other religions, generally looked negatively upon these syncretistic movements. There are other areas of exploration in which I continue to be engaged. In Africa the traditional religions are a major source for the study of the African experience of God. I want to walk with Jesus of Nazareth on the shores of Lake Galilee and the hillsides of Judea, through the gates of Jerusalem. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. The theological horizon continues to expand. Vodou, also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, or French Vaudou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. 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. 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 A prominent European New Testament professor visited Makerere University and interviewed me on what I thought about the "death of God" discussion. 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. Animism is a common feature of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery. GAZETTE: What allows African indigenous religions to be so accommodating? While Islam and Christianity tend to be overtly resistant to adopting traditional African religious ideas or practices, indigenous African religions have always accommodated other beliefs. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. 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). There are also other parallels in social, political and cultural areas, just as there are some significant differences. In one case the thinking and experience of the people produced a written record of Gods dealings with the Jewish people in particular. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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). 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. hb```b``g`a`.ef@ aV68+ +$.0t9$r8A2Or}6=<4. African Traditional Religion in the Context of increasing Christian and Islamic Encounter . 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. 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. 817-820. 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. For example, an African amulet might have inside of it a written verse from either the Koran or Christian Bible. %PDF-1.3 300 ce). Anthropologica, journal of the Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) was created from the merger of the Society's former journal, Culture, with Canada's oldest anthropology journal, Anthropologica. In its place there emerged the word "also." In particular, the concepts about God provide one area of great commonality. 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. 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. Theological development in Africa must inevitably grow within this religious setting. A magisterial historical synthesis of the formative period of African Christianity written by one of its foremost scholars.
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