This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. 43. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994. First, the association of traditional African religion with an other-worldly orientation may appear problematic, given the "pragmatic" basis of this religion. A magisterial historical synthesis of the formative period of African Christianity written by one of its foremost scholars. In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. 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. 0000002884 00000 n 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). <>stream These statements await further exploration by African theologians. My research into and teaching of African religion has led to another important area of development. 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. 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. In particular, the concepts about God provide one area of great commonality. I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. God is not insensitive to the history of peoples other than Israel. For six years I worked with the World Council of Churches in Geneva. A calendar of ritual feasts, syncretized with the Roman Catholic calendar, provides the yearly rhythm of religious practice. mixing of Christianity and traditional African religions What were maroon communities? 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. After that date there will be more Christians in the south than in the north. I cannot claim that I have witnessed much progress in that quest at the organizational level, but perhaps I had expected too much. This is not an empty coincidence. Indigenous African religions are pragmatic. GAZETTE: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? 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. 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. 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. stream Ritual functionaries include priests, elders, rainmakers, diviners, and prophets. 0000000016 00000 n Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. In the other case no such written record exists. 300 ce). 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. The councils programs in response to these problems are impressive. "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. This was an extremely liberating word in my theological thinking. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). African development. At Makerere University I taught New Testament, African religion and other courses. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. GAZETTE: What else would we lose if we lost traditional African Religions? 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. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Vodou, also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, or French Vaudou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. Belief in the power of such objects is highest in Senegal (75%) and lowest in Rwanda (5%). Yet consider that in 1900 most Africans in sub-Saharan Africa practiced a form of indigenous African religions. A follower of African diaspora religions has many choices in terms of seeking spiritual help or succor. OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. 93 0 obj And this witness deserves ones support through service and prayer. 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. religious syncretism, the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices. It includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. It publishes a journal Anthropologica and has reclaimed the name of its former journal, Culture for its occasional online bulletin. The award allows Olupona a year of study and research in Germany; he is on leave this year (201516). OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. This approach is intended to shed further light on the problem of African cultural influence and . I told my father that I was coming home, he recalled. 0000001019 00000 n In four countries, for instance, half or more of the population believes that sacrifices to ancestors or spirits can protect them from harm. For this reason, some African theologians take African religiosity to be one of the sources of theological reflection (besides the Bible, Christian heritage, etc.). 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. 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. OLUPONA: The role of ancestors in the African cosmology has always been significant. v6 -j>,>Or%I&!To !{vgrh7xxDs}d[!$8k1zX+@}~ 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%). Since Christianity and Islam spread across Africa, many people there have observed a mixture of religious practices. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions 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). It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Current articles and subscription information can be found at www.christiancentury.org. 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. In 1988 the society changed its name to the Canadian Anthropology Society to clarify its identity and emphasize its role as an anthropology association. He has researched and written about such diverse religious cultures as the Hare Krishnas, Zoroastrians, Shakers, and the Old Order Amish. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. I want to see his healing hand, to hear his word that exorcises evil spirits. Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. In most countries, however, less than one-in-twenty say this is their primary religious affiliation. My findings were used in teaching, but eventually I put them together in a book, Concepts of God in Africa, published by the British publisher SPCK (1970). In these congregations, knowledge is passed on through a ritual of initiation (kanzo) in which the body becomes the site of spiritual transformation. /// Dans le nord-est du Zare, la communaut rurale Bira a t expose depuis plus de cinquante ans au message chrtien. Overall, however, Christians outnumber Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa by about two-to-one. 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. Read our research on: Congress | Economy | Gender, Side by side with their high levels of commitment to Christianity and Islam, many people in the countries surveyed retain beliefs and rituals that are characteristic of traditional African religions. 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. But in practical terms, there is a Christian Yes to African religiosity. Y.91sC@o9sJL9@XMw`7\`1%nRjBS %U=a{N>. 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. They are not mutually exclusive. GAZETTE: It sounds like African indigenous religions are dynamic, inclusive, and flexible. 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 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. 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. 0000001198 00000 n 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. Liberia is the only country where more than one-in-ten (12%) identify primarily with an African traditional religion. GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? Religion informs everything in traditional African society, including political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa now identify with either Christianity or Islam. The Pew Forums survey found 52% of the population is Muslim. The church is composed largely of people who come out of the African religious background. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). OLUPONA: Your question underscores an important facet about African spirituality: It is not a closed theological system. As the map also shows, the ratio of Christians to Muslims increases the further south one goes in the continent. 0000005005 00000 n They proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ. 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. (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 Its aims were to encourage formal and informal dissemination of knowledge through an annual conference and publications; promote relations with other academic and professional associations, aboriginal groups, and governments; and publicize ethnological research and activities to further understanding of ethnological practices. Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors, Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects. Some scholars choose to call it the African Traditional Religion, while others prefer to name it the African traditional Religions. Additionally, I will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who practice their form of African indigenous religions. 0000002264 00000 n It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. 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. 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. Par contre, les croyances en la sorcellerie ont persist. The Church in Africa, 1450-1950. Today, the country claims about 80 million of each . What factors are responsible for it? I completed my doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge in 1963, the year that Honest to God, by J.A.T. Request Permissions, Published By: Canadian Anthropology Society. I have seen the quest more sharply. Indigenous religion in Africa is the way Africans understand and worship their god. He went on to conduct some of the most significant research on African religions in decades. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. In 1900 there were an estimated 9 million Christians (accounting for about 7 per cent of the population of Africa). For instance, if we were to lose indigenous African religions in Africa, then diviners would disappear, and if diviners disappeared, we would not only lose an important spiritual specialist for many Africans, but also an institution that for centuries has been the repository of African history, wisdom, and knowledge. endobj Subscriptions are available to libraries and individuals who are not members of CASCA. The first and most intriguing topic that immediately engaged my attention was the thinking of African peoples about God. settlements formed by African slaves who ran away from imprisonment the Americas 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. 0000001791 00000 n This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. 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 respect and honor of my culture, I also dress in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im in my country. The previous year I had published African Religions and Philosophy (Doubleday, 1969). "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. 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 . As a resident fellow, Sherman will teach a study group on negotiation and diplomacy this semester. African spirituality is truly holistic. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. We have already noted that the overseas missionaries did not bring God to Africa. That experience gave me a face-to-face encounter with the ecumenical movement and left a lasting mark on me. 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. I had it. 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. 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. 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 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. (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. 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.. 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.
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