I am tantalized by the fact that my vision cannot cope with that horizon. Indigenous religion in Africa is the way Africans understand and worship their god. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). religious syncretism, the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices. In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. There are also secret societies, called Bizango or Sanpwl, that perform a religio-juridical function. 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. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, between 10% and 15% of respondents are Muslim. This includes five countries (Cameroon, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal) where more than half the population uses traditional healers. Oral tradition says the first Muslims appeared while the prophet Mohammed was. He has researched and written about such diverse religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the Old Order Amish. Yet consider that in 1900 most Africans in sub-Saharan Africa practiced a form of indigenous African religions. The councils programs in response to these problems are impressive. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. Vodou is an oral tradition practiced by extended families that inherit familial spirits, along with the necessary devotional practices, from their elders. 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. 93 0 obj They proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ. They constitute an important channel of the churchs prophetic witness today. 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. 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 . 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. A calendar of ritual feasts, syncretized with the Roman Catholic calendar, provides the yearly rhythm of religious practice. (a) The Structures of African Traditional Religions: Sometimes it is a difficult task among scholars to choose a unanimous name for the religious traditions and beliefs of the African people. Currently I am about to complete a book on this question of the encounter between the biblical faith and African religion. The idea is that the traditional African practitioner who constructed that amulet believes in the efficacy of other faiths and religions; there is no conflict in his mind between his traditional African spirituality and another faith. That finished the interview. (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. 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 They are not mutually exclusive. Chapter 1: Religious Affiliation. 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. 0000015705 00000 n (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main I feel deeply the value of biblical studies in this exercise, and the contribution of biblical insights in this development. 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. The beliefs and practices of the traditional religions in Africa can enrich Christian theology and spirituality." After that date there will be more Christians in the south than in the north. 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. 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. Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. This statistical tilting of Christendom from the north to the south, after 2,000 years, holds tremendous prospects and challenges. 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. Religion informs everything in traditional African society, including political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death. The Pew Forums survey finds a similar number of people in Guinea Bissau identifying themselves as Muslim (38%) but a much higher percentage identifying themselves as Christian (62%) and very few describing themselves mainly as practitioners of traditional African faiths. Current articles and subscription information can be found at www.christiancentury.org. 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. 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. (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. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa now identify with either Christianity or 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. 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 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. The theological horizon continues to expand. 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. 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. 0000002264 00000 n There is some regional difference in ritual practice across Haiti, and branches of the religion include Rada, Daome, Ibo, Nago, Dereal, Manding, Petwo, and Kongo. 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"). For example, an African amulet might have inside of it a written verse from either the Koran or Christian Bible. The suppression of ancestor worship is the only area where mission Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. 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. The word Vodou means spirit or deity in the Fon language of the African kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin). He later earned both an M.A. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax Of course, behind all these factors is the Holy Spirit working through them. The book comprised ideas that I had gathered from 300 African peoples ("tribes" -- a term that today is sometimes used in derogatory ways). 75 19 OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. For example, in 14 of the 19 countries surveyed, more than three-in-ten people say they sometimes consult traditional healers when someone in their household is sick. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. 0 %PDF-1.7 % This approach is intended to shed further light on the problem of African cultural influence and . 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. Updates? No viable theology can grow in Africa without addressing itself to the interreligious phenomenon at work there. Its about getting tangible results. I completed my doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge in 1963, the year that Honest to God, by J.A.T. Indigenous African religions are by nature plural, varied, and usually informed by ones ethnic identity, where ones family came from in Africa. 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. v6 -j>,>Or%I&!To !{vgrh7xxDs}d[!$8k1zX+@}~ Request Permissions, Published By: Canadian Anthropology Society. My research into and teaching of African religion has led to another important area of development. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. But today that is not the case due to more exclusive-minded types of Christianity and Islam that see patronizing indigenous African beliefs and practices as violating the integrity of their Christian or Muslim principles, but I believe that one can maintain ones religious integrity and also embrace an African worldview. 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. God is not insensitive to the history of peoples other than Israel. 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. 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. 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. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam . GAZETTE: How would you define indigenous African religions? Since the Bible tells me that God is the Creator of all things, his activities in the world must clearly go beyond what is recorded in the Bible. The concept of the church as the body of Christ in the whole world is another growing development for me. There is no room to describe them, and I can mention only two or three of them briefly. Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. But it is nevertheless a working Yes and one that demands theological understanding. 0000002026 00000 n It includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. 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? Theological development in Africa must inevitably grow within this religious setting. This article appeared in the Christian Century, August 27- September 3, 1980, pp. 0000002505 00000 n It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Some of these African diaspora religions include Cuban Regla de Ocha, Haitian Vodou, and Brazilian Candomble. xref Some scholars choose to call it the African Traditional Religion, while others prefer to name it the African traditional Religions. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World, Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, Next: Chapter 2: Commitment to Christianity and Islam, Chapter 2: Commitment to Christianity and Islam, Chapter 3: Traditional African Religious Beliefs and Practices, Chapter 4: Interreligious Harmony and Tensions, In the U.S. and Western Europe, people say they accept Muslims, but opinions are divided on Islam, In Western Europe, familiarity with Muslims is linked to positive views of Muslims and Islam, Q&A: Measuring attitudes toward Muslims and Jews in Western Europe, Europes Muslim population will continue to grow but how much depends on migration, The Growth of Germanys Muslim Population, Size & Demographic Characteristics of Religious Groups, Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable With Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care, Gender pay gap in U.S. hasnt changed much in two decades. 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. startxref While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. They do this by having Africans increasingly identify themselves as either Muslim or Christian, thus denying their unique African worldview that has always viewed as evidenced in their creation myths everything as unified and connected to the land, the place were ones clan, lineage, and people were cosmically birthed. 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. It sensitized my thinking in many areas, one of these being the quest for Christian unity. 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. They will certainly be overwhelming, and I feel very excited about them. 1"7$X9Xyyyb GNpL!9I&mxo0++44cA@5c. 0000003217 00000 n << /Length 5 0 R /Filter /FlateDecode >> Some Africans believe that the ancestors are equal in power to deities, while others believe they are not. 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. 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 missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its fundamental principle is that everything is spirit. Since Christianity and Islam spread across Africa, many people there have observed a mixture of religious practices. 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. Consequently, people are discovering that the biblical faith is not harmful to their religious sensibilities. That is anathema to the fundamentalist faith movements that have been gaining momentum in recent decades. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. Animism is a common feature of African religions, and misfortune is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery. I am not a historian, and I have not done careful thinking in this direction. According to the 2003 Demographic and Health Survey, for example, Muslims constituted 50% of the population, while the 2008 DHS figure is 45% and the Nigerian Ministry of Healths 2008 estimate is 50%. A magisterial historical synthesis of the formative period of African Christianity written by one of its foremost scholars.