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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, also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, or French Vaudou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Author of. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. 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. 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. GAZETTE: What allows African indigenous religions to be so accommodating? Ethiopia's Christian population, at 6 million in 1900, will grow to a projected 100 million in 2050. Updates? 0000001019 00000 n
As discussed elsewhere in this report, many Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa retain beliefs and rituals that are characteristic of traditional African religions. 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. Holding or maintaining to a uniform doctrine is not the essence of indigenous African religions. GAZETTE: In trying to understand African spirituality, is it helpful to refer to it as polytheistic or monotheistic? The amount of devotees to indigenous practices has dwindled as Islam and Christianity have both spread and gained influence throughout the continent. 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. v6 -j>,>Or%I&!To !{vgrh7xxDs}d[!$8k1zX+@}~ So, "Lord, help Thou my unbelief!" Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa now identify with either Christianity or Islam. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Unlike in Europe and the United States, very few people in sub-Saharan Africa say they are unaffiliated with a particular faith. 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. It sensitized my thinking in many areas, one of these being the quest for Christian unity. 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. 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. This is not to say that indigenous African spirituality represents a form of theocracy or religious totalitarianism not at all. GAZETTE: How do you balance your Christian and indigenous African identity? In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, between 10% and 15% of respondents are Muslim. Revelation is given not in a vacuum but within particular historical experiences and reflections. They constitute an important channel of the churchs prophetic witness today. OLUPONA: Yes, and the pluralistic nature of African-tradition religion is one of the reasons for its success in the diaspora. OLUPONA: My father, a faithful Anglican priest, was a good example. Corrections? Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. African Traditional Religion in the Context of increasing Christian and Islamic Encounter . 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). 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. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. In respect and honor of my culture, I also dress in my traditional Nigerian attire when Im in my country. That would be a serious loss not only for Africans, but also for academics, researchers, writers, and general seekers of wisdom the world over. religious syncretism, the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices. 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. In most countries surveyed, at least three-in-ten people believe in reincarnation, which may be related to traditional beliefs in ancestral spirits. 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. 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. There are other areas of exploration in which I continue to be engaged. {PB,`s 0000002264 00000 n
As the map in the preface to this report shows, sub-Saharan Africa is much more religiously mixed than northern Africa, where the population is overwhelmingly Muslim. 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 five countries (Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Mali) majorities express this belief. God is not insensitive to the history of peoples other than Israel. 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. These impinge upon their daily life- and experience of the Christian faith. 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. Olupona earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975. %PDF-1.3 Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. 43. At many points I see intriguing parallels between the biblical record and African religiosity. Consequently, people are discovering that the biblical faith is not harmful to their religious sensibilities. 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. No viable theology can grow in Africa without addressing itself to the interreligious phenomenon at work there. I simply and honestly answered him that "for us in Africa, God is not dead." Ancestors also serve as intermediaries (see ancestor worship). African scholars It includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. That finished the interview. At first, Christianity made few inroads into the African slave population, which had its own religious traditions. African religion has equipped people to listen to the gospel, to discover meaningful passages in the Bible, and to avoid unhealthy religious conflict. That which had been seen as the enemy of the gospel turns out (to me) to be indeed a very welcoming friend. A subscription to Anthropologica is included in CASCA's annual membership fee. Awolawu and Depamu (1979) 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 0000001198 00000 n
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. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. 0000001519 00000 n
In three of the countries surveyed (Djibouti, Mali and Senegal), Muslims clearly outnumber Christians. I was like a snail shyly peeping out of its house after a heavy thunderstorm. Since I myself had never heard any lectures on African religion, I set out to do research on the subject in order to teach the course adequately. 0000001791 00000 n
I want to reflect and write on this topic, but somehow it makes me feel frightened. The suppression of ancestor worship is the only area where mission Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. He must have been active among African peoples as he was among the Jewish people. 0000002884 00000 n
The rural Bira of northeastern Zaire have been exposed to the Christian message for well over half a century. Maybe this is why I am not an Anglican priest. x\u}4`P}E#(9q"%LCl'KLb)Sfgdq N It doesnt have a fixed creed, like in some forms of Christianity or Islam. Indigenous African religions are pragmatic. 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. 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. 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). 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 The original constitution defined the organization's mandate as providing a forum for the exchange of ideas among ethnologists. African immigrants and slaves worked to maintain traditional religious and social practices in their new surroundings.