Or subscribe to articles in the subject area by email or RSS, […] I know we didn’t talk much about religion in the African Culture, but I found this interesting website that talks about 4 main religions that are spread throughout the continent of Africa. It deals with their cosmology, ritual practices, symbols, arts, society, and so on. Map shows only the religion as a whole excluding denominations or sects of the religions, and is colored by how the religions are distributed not by main religion of country etc. Only by giving a belief system a proper name can a comprehensive, complex theology and cosmology emerge, along with a m… Required fields are marked *. African religiousness is not a matter of adherence to a doctrine but is concerned with supporting fecundity and sustaining the community. So normally we refer to African Traditional Religions in the plural, and it’s simply summarized or written in notation form as “ATR” – African Traditional Religion. To understand the issue one must go back to the beginnings of anthropology in the 19th century and follow its evolution (see 19th-Century Background). African Traditional Religion book. Journals such as the London-based Africa, Cahiers d’Études Africaines (Paris), and the Journal of Religion in Africa (Leiden, The Netherlands) publish articles on religion from time to time, representing the latest thinking. The African religions scholar Placide Tempels describes every misfortune that Africans encounter as "a diminution of vital force." Their studies avoided describing African cultures in indigenous terms. Traditional Religions The religions practiced by the majority of people living in Africa are Christianity and Islam. The intention of these scholars was to protest against a long history of derogatory evaluations of Africans and their culture by outsiders and to replace words such as “heathenism” and “paganism.” African Traditional Religion is now widely taught in African universities, but its identity remains essentially negative: African belief that is not Christianity or Islam. It is described as the product of thinking and experience of African forefathers and mothers of former generations. WHY IS AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION NOT CONSIDERED AS A WORLD RELIGION, […] While those who identify as practitioners of traditional African religions are often in the minority, many who identify as Muslims or Christians are involved in traditional religions to one degree or […], Discuss the comments on graduation from childhood to adulthood in ATR, The Bible and the Quran, accept slavery as normal behavior, I would like to know if Traditional African religion touched on this. The traditional belief systems, spirituality and faith of West African peoples has been described in more or less disparaging terms over the course of history, broad terms that fail to reflect the complexity and depth of these beliefs: “paganism”, “animism”, “ancestor-worship”, “idolatry”, “fetishism”, “heathenism”, etc. Two chapters concern Islam in Africa. These languages have absorbed the Islamic worldview (though at some level languages such as Swahi… ATR’s belief system is embedded in the life of Africans and it is difficult to take that out of them. Traditional African Belief. Is african traditional religion a world region? At the same time a movement that began after World War I and intensified after World War II supported the idea that Africans retained values that the militaristic and materialistic modern world had lost and that Africans individually and collectively were spiritual people. A collection representative of the “religio-phenomenological” approach to comparative religion, theology, and philosophy, in which religion is conceived of as a phenomenon sui generis, “the transcendent” is universally recognized, and religions are presented in isolation from their cultural and historical contexts. LGBTI Minorities and Queer Politics in Eastern and Souther... Maasai and Maa-Speaking Peoples of East Africa, The, Modern African Literature in European Languages, Northeastern African States, c. 1000 BCE-1800 CE, Political Science and the Study of Africa, Postcolonial Sub-Saharan African Politics, Religion and Politics in Contemporary Africa, States of the Zimbabwe Plateau and Zambezi Valley, Swahili City-States of the East African Coast. 1994; Olupona and Nyang 1993; and Olupona 2000 provide essays on specific examples of African religion by leading scholars, while implicitly illustrating the gap between “spiritual” and “ethnographic” approaches. My interest is in the intersection of indigenous African religious traditions and Christianity – Islam – Judaism, We Africans should focus even more on our own jux like other continents do, coz ATR is our indigenous and non else. African traditional religion refers to the indigenous or autochthonous religions of the African people. 5. The traditional African understanding and the interpretation of Christianity have deep roots in these fundamental beliefs of the African traditional religions. These statements await further exploration by African theologians. Image Credit: A map of the Africa, showing the major religions distributed as of today. Your email address will not be published. In 2007, he was awarded the Nigerian National Order of Merit, one of Nigeria’s most prestigious honors. 4. In Sierra Leone, Botswana, and Burkina Faso more than 33 percent follow African religion, although it is not the religion of the majority. The Arabic language has provided abstract concepts, particularly religious ones, that reveal Islamic modes of thought and expression. 12. Christianity makes people live on promises which do not give immediate answers to their problems. None of this literature, however, deals with the radical objections raised in Criticism concerning the definition of religion, the errors introduced by intercultural translation, and the depth of outside influence on supposedly timeless “traditional religion.”. The traditional approach of indigenous African religions to gender is one of complementarity in which a confluence of male and female forces must operate in harmony. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. 6. While those who identify as practitioners of traditional African religions are often in the minority, many who identify as Muslims or Christians are involved in traditional religions to one degree or another. 10. The Very Short Introductions (VSI) series combines a small format with authoritative analysis and big ideas for hundreds of topic areas. Such generalizations have been challenged by scholars who say that Africa is too diverse to support these notions. Traditional/Indigenous African religions are the traditional beliefs and practices of African people including the various traditional religions and customs. 7. For centuries, African Traditional Religion in its myriad of forms was practiced by the majority of Africans, but in the last fifty years Christianity and Islam have become more prominent. Unlike Olupona’s collections (Olupona and Nyang 1993, Olupona 2000), this one does not presume or discuss “African spirituality.” One of the three sections deals with “religion and its translatability,” a topic and a problem of concern to both missionaries and anthropologists. … Trained in the new method of \"fieldwork\"—which entailed observing participants and speaking the language of the community—these anthropologists worked for their governments. Blakely, Thomas D., Walter E. A. van Beek, and Dennis L. Thomson, eds. These figures represent peo-ple who primarily follow African traditional religion… There are many female goddesses along with their male counterparts. Listen! African Traditional Religion is now widely taught in African universities, but its identity remains essentially negative: African belief that is not Christianity or Islam. Olupona identifies African spirituality in myth, and ritual as that which “expresses the relationship between human being and divine being” (p. xvi). The Trans-Atlantic slave trade led to the growth of African-inspired traditions in the Americas such as Candomblé in Brazil, Santería in Cuba, or Vodun in Haïti. Africa South of the Sahara. African religions have also become a major attraction for those in the diaspora who travel to Africa on pilgrimages because of the global reach of these traditions. Because religion is a way of life, it relates to culture and society as they affect the … When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. There are female priestesses, diviners, and other figures, and many feminist scholars have drawn from these traditions to advocate for women’s rights and the place of the feminine in African societies. Adherents of traditional religions in Sub-Saharan Africa are distributed among 43 countries and are estimated to number over 100 million. Your email address will not be published. Traditional African Belief continues to have a significant influence in Ghana because of the intimate relation to local mores and family loyalties. In Africa the traditional religions are a major source for the study of the African experience of God. When addressing religion in Africa, scholars often speak of a “triple heritage,” that is the triple legacy of indigenous religion, Islam, and Christianity that are often found side by side in many African societies. Look outwards and upwards to the furthest horizons catch God’s vision and forget religion and focus on building relationships with the environment, and, more importantly, with those whom you love less. 15. African Traditional Religion has been evolving; there is in it the element of continuity as well as discontinuity. An excellent source for insights into contemporary scholarly issues and approaches. Emergent Key Issues in the Study of African Traditional Religions. Traditional African religion is based on oral traditions, which means that the basic values and way of life are passed from elders to younger generation. Indeed indigenous African religions have provided the blueprint for robust conversations and thinking about community relations, interfaith dialogue, civil society, and civil religion. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here. Because there isn’t real conversion to Christianity, people tend to forsake Christianity for ATR when they are faced with problems. That is why they have developed institutions for healing, for commerce, and for the general well-being of their own practitioners and adherents of other religions as well. African Religions: A Very Short Introduction, https://blog.oup.com/2014/05/15-facts-on-african-religions/, 25 Facts about Africa – Acton Institute PowerBlog. The beliefs and practices of the traditional religions in Africa can enrich Christian theology and spirituality." African Traditional Religion. Because the truth will still prevail, Interesting article! African traditional religion refers to the indigenous or autochthonous religions of the African people. African Traditional Religion is a thriving scholarly business, but a serious disconnect exists between contributions that celebrate a generalized African Traditional Religion and those that describe particular religions and aspects of religion on the basis of ethnographic and archival research. Since Christianity came in contact with the traditional religion, there has always been a sharp conflict between traditionalists and Christians. These traditions are not religious principles, but a cultural identity that is passed on through stories, myths and tales. The 15 facts about African Traditional Religion are indeed true and as a matter of fact, that is why we do not have real conversion to Christianity. They include “witchcraft,” “symbolism,” and “ancestor worship.” These topics, lending themselves to exoticism, give rise in acute form to the problems of intercultural misunderstanding. Religious Plurality in Africa: Essays in Honour of John S. Mbiti. It is best distinguished as ATR. Traditional African religion is still popular throughout Africa and stems from the beliefs of Central and West African ancestors. Here, Jacob K. Olupona, author of African Religions: A Very Short Introduction shares an interesting list of 15 facts on African religions. 2. Religion in Africa. Thus, strictly speaking, religion in its pristine form is no longer in existence. what are some of the unique features of African traditional religion, […] African Religion Facts by Jacob K. Olupona […]. African elders offering a bull as sacrifice to God. It deals with their cosmology, ritual practices, symbols, arts, society, and so on. Certain religious topics have proved perennially fascinating to both scholars and the reading public with reference to the world as a whole, not just Africa. The oral nature of these traditions allows for a great deal of adaptability and variation within and between indigenous African religions. 11. The review suggests that the defensive tone of much writing about African Traditional Religion is directed against outdated studies that no one takes seriously anymore. African Traditional Religion has grown out of the African soil. Faith is a gift: religion a work. Even thoughmorality is the subject matter of ethics, it is most often usedinterchangeably with ‘ethics’. A noted scholar of indigenous African religions, his books include African Religions: A Very Short Introduction, City of 201 Gods: Ilé-Ifè in Time, Space, and the Imagination, Òrìsà Devotion as World Religion: The Globalization of Yorùbá Religious Culture, co-edited with Terry Rey, and Kingship, Religion, and Rituals in a Nigerian Community: A Phenomenological Study of Ondo Yoruba Festivals. New York: Crossroad, 2000. This is based on misconceptions that these religions are antithetical to modernity. Although the majority of Africans are adherents of Christianity or Islam, African people often combine the practice of their traditional belief with the practice of Abrahamic religions. Our Privacy Policy sets out how Oxford University Press handles your personal information, and your rights to object to your personal information being used for marketing to you or being processed as part of our business activities. Please subscribe or login. So we all want to do our own thing: chaos. This volume of fourteen chapters examines the nature, structure, and significance of African traditional religion(s) as dynamic, changing tradition(s). Grow your knowledge with OUPblog and the VSI series every Friday, subscribe to Very Short Introductions articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS, and like Very Short Introductions on Facebook. What are those aspects of African indigenous religious worldview that have found expression with African indigenous churches. The term ‘ethics’ is technically used by philosophers tomean a philosophical study of morality—morality understood as aset of social rules, principles, norms that guide or are intended toguide the conduct of people in a society, and as beliefs about rightand wrong conduct as well as good or bad character. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1994. How does the religious beliefs of an African enhance oral arts? There is also a picture on the website link that shows you where exactly the religions are spread throughout. Islamic influence is, in fact, revealed both at the explicit and suggestive levels in languages as different as the Berber dialects, Hausa, Swahili, and Somali to name just a few. Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. 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