I am tantalized by the fact that my vision cannot cope with that horizon. After that date there will be more Christians in the south than in the north. 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. A close geographical correlation exists between the location of African religion and the rapid expansion of the Christian faith. While African Traditional religion (ATR) is paramount, it is the purpose of this article to suggest that Since Christianity and Islam spread across Africa, many people there have observed a mixture of religious practices. Par contre, les croyances en la sorcellerie ont persist. While Islam and Christianity tend to . In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. 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. But for many Africans, religion can never be separated from all these. This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR) in Africa. So, "Lord, help Thou my unbelief!" One of the things these diaspora African religions testify to is the beauty of African religions to engage a devotee on many spiritual levels. 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. These statements await further exploration by African theologians. 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. At Makerere University I taught New Testament, African religion and other courses. Humans are spirits who inhabit the visible world. But I am grateful for that one step I may be taking under the light of this vision. 300 ce). There are other areas of exploration in which I continue to be engaged. The amount of devotees to indigenous practices has dwindled as Islam and Christianity have both spread and gained influence throughout the continent. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. There is no room to describe them, and I can mention only two or three of them briefly. It will keep me chewing for a long time, and it will most certainly feed my theological development. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). In the other case no such written record exists. A semi-annual journal, it publishes peer-reviewed articles in both French and English devoted to social and cultural issues whether they are pre-historic, historic, contemporary, biological, linguistic, applied or theoretical in orientation. I was like a snail shyly peeping out of its house after a heavy thunderstorm. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa now identify with either Christianity or Islam. This article appeared in the Christian Century, August 27- September 3, 1980, pp. 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. The WCCs very existence as a council of churches is a living hope. Diviners who go through a long educational and apprenticeship program hold the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of the African people. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. 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. Aujourd'hui, la plupart des Zariens sont soit catholiques, soit protestants; les Biras pour leur part sont principalement catholiques. Didnt our Lord let it be clearly known that "before Abraham was I am" (John 8:58)? Did he then reveal himself only in the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel and other personalities of the Bible? While some African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not. 75 19 It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and . OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa. The theological horizon continues to expand. 0000001791 00000 n OLUPONA: One of the basic reasons is that indigenous African spiritual beliefs are not bound by a written text, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. %PDF-1.3 0000014025 00000 n A subscription to Anthropologica is included in CASCA's annual membership fee. They constitute an important channel of the churchs prophetic witness today. 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. Indigenous African religions are pragmatic. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. 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. 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. In this overpowering environment, one simply accepted this stand and looked at the world from its perspectives. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. 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. Modernity has not put a total stop to its influence. 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. That is anathema to the fundamentalist faith movements that have been gaining momentum in recent decades. These impinge upon their daily life- and experience of the Christian faith. 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. Spirit possession plays an important role in Afro-Haitian religion, as it does in many other world religions. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. Today most Zairians belong to either the Catholic or Protestant church, and the Bira themselves are predominantly Catholic. (1981) and Ph.D. (1983) in the history of religions from Boston University. 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. The concept of the church as the body of Christ in the whole world is another growing development for me. Model tested on tens of thousands of routine brain scans spotted disease risk with 90% accuracy, Experts on law, policy say originalist view used to overturn Roe could upend 76 ruling based on cruel, unusual punishment clause, Issues revolve around culture of viewing civilians as potential threats, concerns about self-protection in departments equipped with military-grade arms, Khalil Gibran Muhammad says College Board needs to stand firm behind curriculum, 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College. In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. Yet . Islam has experienced a similar rapid growth. But after braving that first blizzard in a land far from his native Nigeria, Olupona stuck it out and earned his Ph.D. This approach is intended to shed further light on the problem of African cultural influence and . 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. 0000002264 00000 n <<6D546C3FADADB2110A00A09A6B9CFF7F>]/Prev 416812>> They proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ. GAZETTE: In trying to understand African spirituality, is it helpful to refer to it as polytheistic or monotheistic? The missionaries who introduced the gospel to Africa in the past 200 years did not bring God to our continent. I am not a historian, and I have not done careful thinking in this direction. Its about getting tangible results. Religious pluralism serves peace. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam . In Nigeria, the population in 1900 included 4.2 million Muslims and 180,000 Christians. This re-ligion is found in almost all the activities of the African man. Vodou is a worldview encompassing philosophy, medicine, justice, and religion. Fewer say it is paramount to their faith to attend religious services (39%), avoid sex before marriage (30%) or oppose abortion . African immigrants and slaves worked to maintain traditional religious and social practices in their new surroundings. The first African captives entered England's North American colonies through Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. We can list some obvious and often publicized factors. The God described in the Bible is none other than the God who is already known in the framework of our traditional African religiosity. 0000005714 00000 n Today, the country claims about 80 million of each . (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main Of course, behind all these factors is the Holy Spirit working through them. 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 word Vodou means spirit or deity in the Fon language of the African kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin). 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. 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. 9_r'v>#z2"syiBm?mry8%;m8v L,WNHitMJk#RZwEl+M3N1n[nt4]C$i2y]_6Iasrt OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. 1996 Canadian Anthropology Society The original constitution defined the organization's mandate as providing a forum for the exchange of ideas among ethnologists. With it, one began to explore afresh the realm of Gods revelation and other treasures of our faith. They will certainly be overwhelming, and I feel very excited about them. My doctoral studies in New Testament eschatology led me also to the field of Christology. 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 . Chapter 1: Religious Affiliation. ), 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. Ancestors also serve as intermediaries (see ancestor worship). As the map also shows, the ratio of Christians to Muslims increases the further south one goes in the continent. Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. GAZETTE: How have ancestors played a role in traditional societies? One important task, then, is to see the nature, the method and the implications of Gods revelation among African peoples, in the light of the biblical record of the same revelation. Omissions? Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. For example, an African amulet might have inside of it a written verse from either the Koran or Christian Bible. 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? He must have been active among African peoples as he was among the Jewish people. Robinson, came out. The award allows Olupona a year of study and research in Germany; he is on leave this year (201516). 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. In most countries, however, less than one-in-twenty say this is their primary religious affiliation.
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