Orthodox Christianity, although influenced by other religions, generally looked negatively upon these syncretistic movements. For over 200 years, Africans, largely from the west coast of Africa, were brought to the United States in the slave trade. There are other areas of exploration in which I continue to be engaged. This includes five countries (Cameroon, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal) where more than half the population uses traditional healers. I told my father that I was coming home, he recalled. According to all the major surveys, Christianity and Islam each represent approximately 40 percent of the African population. OLUPONA: Yes, its a mixed bag because in the African diaspora mostly due to the slave trade starting in the 15th century indigenous African religions have spread and taken root all over the world, including in the United States and Europe. They proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). OLUPONA: No, this type of binary thinking is simplistic. Some of these African diaspora religions include Cuban Regla de Ocha, Haitian Vodou, and Brazilian Candomble. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 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. Afro-American Religious Syncretism in Brazil and the United States: A Overall, however, Christians outnumber Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa by about two-to-one. 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. It publishes a journal Anthropologica and has reclaimed the name of its former journal, Culture for its occasional online bulletin. For example, an African amulet might have inside of it a written verse from either the Koran or Christian Bible. Ritual functionaries include priests, elders, rainmakers, diviners, and prophets. GAZETTE: How have ancestors played a role in traditional societies? 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. Thus, Mbali-God is a creative response on the part of the Bira to the syncretic religious encounter. 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. (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. 0000014207 00000 n startxref I have met here the church not only in its geographical outreach but also in its historical roots -- seeing, for example, the rich traditions of the Orthodox Church, the universality of the Roman Catholic Church (even though it is based in the Vatican), the reconciling positioning of the Anglican Communion, the dynamic vitality of African independent churches, and so on. 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. 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. << /Length 5 0 R /Filter /FlateDecode >> Updates? Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. All too often, the result is conflict and radicalisation. They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam . Africans consequently played a crucial role in establishing the doctrines and theology of the early church. In Cameroon, Ethiopia, Liberia and Mozambique, Muslims account for between 15% and 30% of survey respondents. Anthropologica, journal of the Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) was created from the merger of the Society's former journal, Culture, with Canada's oldest anthropology journal, Anthropologica. 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. Rituals are aimed at maintaining a harmonious relationship with cosmic powers, and many have associated myths that explain their significance. The conviction that people will be reborn in this world again and again tends to be more common among Christians than Muslims. degree at Harvard Divinity School. 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. 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. 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. GAZETTE: Are ancestors considered deities in the traditional African cosmology? In one case the thinking and experience of the people produced a written record of Gods dealings with the Jewish people in particular. The rural Bira of northeastern Zaire have been exposed to the Christian message for well over half a century. The unseen world is populated by lwa (spirits), myst (mysteries), anvizib (the invisibles), zanj (angels), and the spirits of ancestors and the recently deceased. 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. The original constitution defined the organization's mandate as providing a forum for the exchange of ideas among ethnologists. 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. On returning home, the learned professor wrote an article using my brief answer as his title. Some scholars choose to call it the African Traditional Religion, while others prefer to name it the African traditional Religions. Religious pluralism serves peace. 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). 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. 0000015705 00000 n It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. At first, Christianity made few inroads into the African slave population, which had its own religious traditions. In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main The first African captives entered England's North American colonies through Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. (See the glossary for more information on the evil eye.). Nevertheless, since 1900, Christians in Africa have grown from approximately 7 million to over 450 million today. 1"7$X9Xyyyb GNpL!9I&mxo0++44cA@5c. Y.91sC@o9sJL9@XMw`7\`1%nRjBS %U=a{N>. (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. 0000002505 00000 n 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. For the full article, see, New religions, independent churches, and prophetic movements, https://www.britannica.com/summary/African-religions. %PDF-1.7 % An old African adage says: The sky is large enough for birds to fly around without one having to bump into the other.. These initiation rituals are already not as common in Africa as they were only 50 years ago, yet age-grade initiations have always helped young Africans feel connected to their community and their past. 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. In these congregations, knowledge is passed on through a ritual of initiation (kanzo) in which the body becomes the site of spiritual transformation. African immigrants and slaves worked to maintain traditional religious and social practices in their new surroundings. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. ), 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. I had it. Ancestors also serve as intermediaries (see ancestor worship). While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. In this case, so-called "salvation history" must widen its outreach in order to embrace the horizons of other peoples histories. Indigenous African religions are pragmatic. Vodou, also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, or French Vaudou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. A magisterial historical synthesis of the formative period of African Christianity written by one of its foremost scholars. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Instances of religious syncretismas, for example, Gnosticism (a religious dualistic system that incorporated elements from the Oriental mystery religions), Judaism, Christianity, and Greek religious philosophical conceptswere particularly prevalent during the Hellenistic period (c. 300 bcec. These statements await further exploration by African theologians. 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. Request Permissions, Published By: Canadian Anthropology Society. GAZETTE: What will Africa lose if it loses its African indigenous worldview? Prayers and sacrificial offerings are usually directed toward secondary divinities, who are intermediaries between the human and sacred realms. The first and most intriguing topic that immediately engaged my attention was the thinking of African peoples about God. 75 19 They depended on the labor of enslaved Africans who often constituted the majority of the population in these areas and developed their own forms of cultural and religious autonomy Examples: plantation agriculture, the Carolinas (rice), Barbados (sugar), tobacco Colonial government PDF African American Christianity - Harvard University 0000001791 00000 n Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. Additionally, I will not discourage, disparage, or try and convert those who practice their form of African indigenous religions. A calendar of ritual feasts, syncretized with the Roman Catholic calendar, provides the yearly rhythm of religious practice. Traditional African religious beliefs, such as belief in the protective power of sacrifices to ancestors, Traditional African religious practices, such as owning sacred objects. Corrections? Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. GAZETTE: What is the state of indigenous African religions today? 0000001198 00000 n Aujourd'hui, la plupart des Zariens sont soit catholiques, soit protestants; les Biras pour leur part sont principalement catholiques. There are also other parallels in social, political and cultural areas, just as there are some significant differences. The more I peeped into African religious insights about God, the more I felt utterly unable to use the word "only" in this case. (PDF) Christianity and the African traditional religion(s): The This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. 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