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) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. When this happens, then a passage such as Hebrews 1:1-3 rolls down like mighty waters, full of exciting possibilities of theological reflection. <<6D546C3FADADB2110A00A09A6B9CFF7F>]/Prev 416812>> GAZETTE: Are ancestors considered deities in the traditional African cosmology? Its about getting tangible results. <> This approach is intended to shed further light on the problem of African cultural influence and . interaction between the Christian churches and West African religious culture. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa now identify with either Christianity or Islam. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. 0000015705 00000 n GAZETTE: But yet you said its a mixed bag? As the map also shows, the ratio of Christians to Muslims increases the further south one goes in the continent. (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. I have received much in a short period. He went on to conduct some of the most significant research on African religions in decades. While some African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not. 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. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions So I read on and on, and conducted field research to learn more and more. I have been greatly enriched by working at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, 1974-1980. Par contre, les croyances en la sorcellerie ont persist. 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. Awolawu and Depamu (1979) 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. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. In five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. African religion has equipped people to listen to the gospel, to discover meaningful passages in the Bible, and to avoid unhealthy religious conflict. Omissions? African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. GAZETTE: What is the state of indigenous African religions today? 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. What factors are responsible for it? But I feel that the issue of looking at African history in light of the biblical understanding of history is clearly called for. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. Their culture, history, world views and spiritual aspirations cannot be taken away from them. 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. What is African Traditional Religion? That experience gave me a face-to-face encounter with the ecumenical movement and left a lasting mark on me. Consequently, traditional Africans have different ideas on what role the ancestors play in the lives of living descendants. 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. 43. There is no room to describe them, and I can mention only two or three of them briefly. In most countries, however, less than one-in-twenty say this is their primary religious affiliation. 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. I am tantalized by the fact that my vision cannot cope with that horizon. Humans are spirits who inhabit the visible world. Amen. The Church in Africa, 1450-1950. Christianity in Africa dates to the very inception of the church. Indigenous African religions are by nature plural, varied, and usually informed by ones ethnic identity, where ones family came from in Africa. I simply and honestly answered him that "for us in Africa, God is not dead." My doctoral studies in New Testament eschatology led me also to the field of Christology. 817-820. I want to reflect and write on this topic, but somehow it makes me feel frightened. First, the association of traditional African religion with an other-worldly orientation may appear problematic, given the "pragmatic" basis of this religion. 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]. Indigenous religion in Africa is the way Africans understand and worship their god. The book comprised ideas that I had gathered from 300 African peoples ("tribes" -- a term that today is sometimes used in derogatory ways). It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. African immigrants and slaves worked to maintain traditional religious and social practices in their new surroundings. 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. stream I have seen the quest more sharply. Because of this, Africa is now home to some of the world's largest Christian and Muslim communities. In the other case no such written record exists. 0000002264 00000 n Their history has a theological meaning. C'est l'poque de la colonisation belge que les premiers missionnaires catholiques et protestants sont arrivs dans cette rgion du Zare. 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. 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"). 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 . <>stream (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. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. African spirituality is truly holistic. Vodou ritual activity (e.g., prayer, song, dance, and gesture) is aimed at refining and restoring balance and energy in relationships between people and between people and the spirits of the unseen world. 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. 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. Y.91sC@o9sJL9@XMw`7\`1%nRjBS %U=a{N>. 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). The councils programs in response to these problems are impressive. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. He has researched and written about such diverse religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the Old Order Amish. 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. 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). %%EOF 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. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in postcolonial Africa have made inter-religious dialogue an urgent necessity. Indigenous African religions are pragmatic. 0000003641 00000 n I am not a historian, and I have not done careful thinking in this direction. 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. %PDF-1.7 % Instead, God brought them. OLUPONA: Thats a mixed bag. Corrections? In these congregations, knowledge is passed on through a ritual of initiation (kanzo) in which the body becomes the site of spiritual transformation. GAZETTE: It sounds like African indigenous religions are dynamic, inclusive, and flexible. Then was he not there in other times and in such places as Mount Fuji and Mount Kenya, as well as Mount Sinai? 0 There are also other parallels in social, political and cultural areas, just as there are some significant differences. The continued influence of traditional African religion is also evident in some aspects of daily life. These statements await further exploration by African theologians. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, between 10% and 15% of respondents are Muslim. The council made me aware, perhaps even frightfully so, of the problems of our world. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Read our research on: Congress | Economy | Gender. trailer It was during the Belgian colonial period that the first Catholic and Protestant missionaries came to this region of Zaire. That is anathema to the fundamentalist faith movements that have been gaining momentum in recent decades. For over 200 years, Africans, largely from the west coast of Africa, were brought to the United States in the slave trade. In one case the thinking and experience of the people produced a written record of Gods dealings with the Jewish people in particular. 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. Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Oral tradition says the first Muslims appeared while the prophet Mohammed was. 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 suppression of ancestor worship is the only area where mission Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? 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. The unseen world is populated by lwa (spirits), myst (mysteries), anvizib (the invisibles), zanj (angels), and the spirits of ancestors and the recently deceased. This is, obviously, a general statement, one which needs detailed elaboration. My research into and teaching of African religion has led to another important area of development. Abstract. It includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. And this witness deserves ones support through service and prayer. 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. GAZETTE: What allows African indigenous religions to be so accommodating? With it, one began to explore afresh the realm of Gods revelation and other treasures of our faith. 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. Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. 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. 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. 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. 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. OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. 0000008365 00000 n (1981) and Ph.D. (1983) in the history of religions from Boston University. Thus, Mbali-God is a creative response on the part of the Bira to the syncretic religious encounter. 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. That testifies to the enduring power of indigenous religion and its ability to domesticate Christianity and Islam in modern Africa. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). "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. Corrections? The introduced religions of Islam (in northern Africa) and Christianity (in southern Africa) are now the continent's major religions, but traditional religions still play an important role, especially in the interior of sub-Saharan Africa. They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam . 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. Islam And Christianity Christianity came first to the continent of Africa in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. 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%). I wish to apply "change of mind" here to mean theological growth, and not necessarily a rejection of or turnaround from ideas that I may have held ten years ago. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. Vodou, also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, or French Vaudou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. The WCCs very existence as a council of churches is a living hope. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 0000002505 00000 n Overall, however, Christians outnumber Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa by about two-to-one. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994. 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. Unlike in Europe and the United States, very few people in sub-Saharan Africa say they are unaffiliated with a particular faith. I also celebrate and honor the kings festivals and ceremonies in my hometown and other places where I live and do research. Some Africans believe that the ancestors are equal in power to deities, while others believe they are not. 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. 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. The missionaries who introduced the gospel to Africa in the past 200 years did not bring God to our continent. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 9_r'v>#z2"syiBm?mry8%;m8v L,WNHitMJk#RZwEl+M3N1n[nt4]C$i2y]_6Iasrt Ethiopia's Christian population, at 6 million in 1900, will grow to a projected 100 million in 2050. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. While Islam and Christianity tend to . 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. 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. Moreover, the religions developed in the Americas impact Africa in that devotees of the African diaspora have significant influence on practices in Africa. A subscription to Anthropologica is included in CASCA's annual membership fee. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. 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. 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. This is in sharp contrast with the religious composition . 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. Later, my theological studies in America and England did not challenge this position, since that was not a living issue for my professors and fellow students. I was like a snail shyly peeping out of its house after a heavy thunderstorm. The first and most intriguing topic that immediately engaged my attention was the thinking of African peoples about God. Vodou is an oral tradition practiced by extended families that inherit familial spirits, along with the necessary devotional practices, from their elders. 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. Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors, Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. He later earned both an M.A. 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. % Some people tried to involve Africa in the debate. ), 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Theological development in Africa must inevitably grow within this religious setting. religious syncretism, the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices. So, "Lord, help Thou my unbelief!" It will keep me chewing for a long time, and it will most certainly feed my theological development. Below is the article summary. 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. 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). In this case, so-called "salvation history" must widen its outreach in order to embrace the horizons of other peoples histories. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Fewer say it is paramount to their faith to attend religious services (39%), avoid sex before marriage (30%) or oppose abortion . 0000001791 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. In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. in social anthropology from Oxford University, is studying for a master of theological studies (M.T.S.) (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. This includes five countries (Cameroon, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal) where more than half the population uses traditional healers. The decisive word here is "only." Following a period of parish work in England, I went to teach at Makerere University, Uganda, where I remained for ten years until 1974. (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 At Makerere University I taught New Testament, African religion and other courses. No viable theology can grow in Africa without addressing itself to the interreligious phenomenon at work there. 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. Take em with a grain of salt. 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. 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.. 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.
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