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In 1988 the society changed its name to the Canadian Anthropology Society to clarify its identity and emphasize its role as an anthropology association. It doesnt have a fixed creed, like in some forms of Christianity or Islam. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. 0000014207 00000 n GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? 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. Omissions? 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. in social anthropology from Oxford University, is studying for a master of theological studies (M.T.S.) 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. Because of this, Africa is now home to some of the world's largest Christian and Muslim communities. 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. There are other areas of exploration in which I continue to be engaged. The Pew Forums survey found 52% of the population is Muslim. Dr. Mbiti is on the staff of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland. 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. 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. The unseen world is populated by lwa (spirits), myst (mysteries), anvizib (the invisibles), zanj (angels), and the spirits of ancestors and the recently deceased. 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. OLUPONA: We would lose a worldview that has collectively sustained, enriched, and given meaning to a continent and numerous other societies for centuries through its epistemology, metaphysics, history, and practices. 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 . (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. Did he then reveal himself only in the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel and other personalities of the Bible? 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. The more I peeped into African religious insights about God, the more I felt utterly unable to use the word "only" in this case. 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 . GAZETTE: How have ancestors played a role in traditional societies? OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. In five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. Following a period of parish work in England, I went to teach at Makerere University, Uganda, where I remained for ten years until 1974. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and . 0000005714 00000 n Aujourd'hui, la plupart des Zariens sont soit catholiques, soit protestants; les Biras pour leur part sont principalement catholiques. So the church which exists on the African scene bears the marks of its peoples backgrounds. 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. endobj Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. The missionaries who introduced the gospel to Africa in the past 200 years did not bring God to our continent. It publishes a journal Anthropologica and has reclaimed the name of its former journal, Culture for its occasional online bulletin. Corrections? 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. Outline of the Curricular Framework: Anglicanization Atlantic slave trade "Atlantic World" Barbados (sugar) British-American system of slavery the Carolinas (rice) Caste system cereal crops Colonial resistance Dominion of New England Enlightenment Furs Great Awakening Indentured Servants Mercantilism Metis Models of colonization Molasses Act 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. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. The God described in the Bible is none other than the God who is already known in the framework of our traditional African religiosity. These were not empty names. In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. Religion Online is designed to assist teachers, scholars and general seekers who are interested in exploring religious issues. 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 conviction that people will be reborn in this world again and again tends to be more common among Christians than Muslims. Ritual sacrifices and witchcraft beliefs are still common. The beliefs and practices of the traditional religions in Africa can enrich Christian theology and spirituality." OLUPONA: The role of ancestors in the African cosmology has always been significant. I also celebrate and honor the kings festivals and ceremonies in my hometown and other places where I live and do research. 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. 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. C'est l'poque de la colonisation belge que les premiers missionnaires catholiques et protestants sont arrivs dans cette rgion du Zare. x\u}4`P}E#(9q"%LCl'KLb)Sfgdq N I want to walk with Jesus of Nazareth on the shores of Lake Galilee and the hillsides of Judea, through the gates of Jerusalem. The concept of the church as the body of Christ in the whole world is another growing development for me. So, "Lord, help Thou my unbelief!" Ethiopia's Christian population, at 6 million in 1900, will grow to a projected 100 million in 2050. In 1900 there were an estimated 9 million Christians (accounting for about 7 per cent of the population of 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. <<6D546C3FADADB2110A00A09A6B9CFF7F>]/Prev 416812>> Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. I have received much in a short period. The first and most intriguing topic that immediately engaged my attention was the thinking of African peoples about God. How Africa Is Changing Faith Around the World 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. 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. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. They were names of one and the same God, the creator of the world, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I find the traditional Western distinction between "special revelation" and "general revelation" to be inadequate and unfreeing. Oral tradition says the first Muslims appeared while the prophet Mohammed was. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. In the other case no such written record exists. GAZETTE: Are ancestors considered deities in the traditional African cosmology? Their history has a theological meaning. But I am grateful for that one step I may be taking under the light of this vision. 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. Alternate titles: Vaudou, Vodun, Voodoo, Voudou, vodon, Elizabeth McAlister Associate Professor of Religion, Weslyan University. This includes five countries (Cameroon, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal) where more than half the population uses traditional healers. GAZETTE: What is the state of indigenous African religions today? Consequently, people are discovering that the biblical faith is not harmful to their religious sensibilities. 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 suppression of ancestor worship is the only area where mission Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. 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. 0000008365 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. 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. In most countries, however, less than one-in-twenty say this is their primary religious affiliation. The council made me aware, perhaps even frightfully so, of the problems of our world. xref 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. No doubt there still remain much research and reflection to be done in order to work out a consistent theological understanding of the issues entailed here. I should also state that there are signs of the revival of African indigenous practices in many parts of Africa. This is not an empty coincidence. This re-ligion is found in almost all the activities of the African man. OLUPONA: One of the basic reasons is that indigenous African spiritual beliefs are not bound by a written text, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. mixing of Christianity and traditional African religions What were maroon communities? Today most Zairians belong to either the Catholic or Protestant church, and the Bira themselves are predominantly Catholic. interaction between the Christian churches and West African religious culture. %PDF-1.3 African Traditional Religion in the Context of Christian and Islamic 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%. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. This is not a biblical distinction. GAZETTE: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? {PB,`s X0#J++?U;_3_gmx9[F\"{,Um1yu 9 ?ce%9EG`N: &U0EHC$p4=$'=DlX6M_7,--" 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. 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. God was not a stranger to African peoples. 9_r'v>#z2"syiBm?mry8%;m8v L,WNHitMJk#RZwEl+M3N1n[nt4]C$i2y]_6Iasrt No viable theology can grow in Africa without addressing itself to the interreligious phenomenon at work there. 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. APUSH Content Quiz #2 Flashcards | Quizlet (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax 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. This article appeared in the Christian Century, August 27- September 3, 1980, pp. Author of. 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. African religion has equipped people to listen to the gospel, to discover meaningful passages in the Bible, and to avoid unhealthy religious conflict. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. Chapter 1: Religious Affiliation | Pew Research Center 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. stream Oxford: Clarendon, 1994. GAZETTE: How would you define indigenous African religions? 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. 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. PDF Christianity and the African traditional religion(s): The postcolonial While some African cosmologies have a clear idea of a supreme being, other cosmologies do not. I was like a snail shyly peeping out of its house after a heavy thunderstorm. 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. 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. African religions and corresponding beliefs and practices The book comprised ideas that I had gathered from 300 African peoples ("tribes" -- a term that today is sometimes used in derogatory ways). Afro-American Religious Syncretism in Brazil and the United States: A As the map also shows, the ratio of Christians to Muslims increases the further south one goes in the continent. Religious beliefs among Black Americans | Pew Research Center 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. Ritual functionaries include priests, elders, rainmakers, diviners, and prophets. 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. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa now identify with either Christianity or Islam. Modernity has not put a total stop to its influence. 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. 4 0 obj Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa are the only countries surveyed where a significant number of people (roughly one-in-ten) describe their religion as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular. In all the other countries, the figure is closer to zero. According to all the major surveys, Christianity and Islam each represent approximately 40 percent of the African population. settlements formed by African slaves who ran away from imprisonment the Americas Fewer say it is paramount to their faith to attend religious services (39%), avoid sex before marriage (30%) or oppose abortion . God is not insensitive to the history of peoples other than Israel. My research into and teaching of African religion has led to another important area of development. I told my father that I was coming home, he recalled. degree at Harvard Divinity School. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. 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). 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. 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. 0000014025 00000 n I want to make a pilgrimage into Christ. Christianity is more dominant in the south, while Islam is more dominant in the north. 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. 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 its place there emerged the word "also." Y.91sC@o9sJL9@XMw`7\`1%nRjBS %U=a{N>. 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. In 1900 there were an estimated 9 million Christians (accounting for about 7 per cent of the population of Africa). Updates? One of the things these diaspora African religions testify to is the beauty of African religions to engage a devotee on many spiritual levels. He must have been active among African peoples as he was among the Jewish people. 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. Amen. But for many Africans, religion can never be separated from all these. I am not a historian, and I have not done careful thinking in this direction. It was during the Belgian colonial period that the first Catholic and Protestant missionaries came to this region of Zaire. African religions, Indigenous religions of the African continent. This chapter includes information on: Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects Download chapter 3 in full (3-page PDF, <1MB) Photo credit: Sebastien Desarmaux/GODONG/Godong/Corbis While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Request Permissions, Published By: Canadian Anthropology Society. But in practical terms, there is a Christian Yes to African religiosity. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 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. OLUPONA: Thats a mixed bag. I have concentrated these comments on the role of African background in my theological reflection. OLUPONA: If we lose traditional African religions, we would also lose or continue to seriously undermine the African practice of rites of passage such as the much cherished age-grade initiations, which have for so long integrated and bought Africans together under a common understanding, or worldview. Updates? 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. It may be, and needs to be, a qualified and critical Yes. What is African Traditional Religion? All too often, the result is conflict and radicalisation. A prominent European New Testament professor visited Makerere University and interviewed me on what I thought about the "death of God" discussion. 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. w?0t7/Oa84P]T}T}?gHq.qsRnkc;]X*s1!E"l^~K_/|j p z|9~p uf:}[Mc|4!#"Zg!/vc _~|oyuQ'dX :?NmU)?oPSw?6#?[OUN@6oz{j;\e7nWsV~XyU4vMm4#f4c:[Wefkd&88XB|cMh6)mt<4M8}; *:7??+0:0$! 1996 Canadian Anthropology Society Since Christianity and Islam spread across Africa, many people there have observed a mixture of religious practices. 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. 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. (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.