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African
Religions
By
Daniel C. Peterson and William J. Hamblin
From a Eurocentric
perspective, Africa is not generally viewed as an important center
of world religion. Yet, it is a continent with a fascinating religious
history. Evidence of religion in Africa dates to prehistoric times;
African rock art is an important source for understanding the religion
of Neolithic peoples. The recently discovered site of Nabta in
the Sahara desert is a ceremonial center with a standing stone circle
designed for astronomical observations that date from as early as
7000 BC. Pharaonic Egypt, of course, is home to one of the most
fascinating religions of antiquity, whose magnificent temples and
tombs attract tens of thousands of tourists annually. Nubia (the
modern Sudan), often a rival to Egypt, was also home to numerous
pyramids and temples, while the worship of Baal was imported to
Carthage and into North Africa by the Phoenicians.
Christianity
was introduced into Africa during the lifetime of the original apostles,
when Philip converted an Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40), after
which the religion slowly spread up the Nile valley, culminating
in the conversion of Ezana, king of Ethiopia, in AD 347—less than
three decades after the official conversion of Rome to Christianity
under Constantine. Several early Church Fathers, such as Origen
of Alexandria and Tertullian of Carthage, were North Africans, while
arguably the most influential Christian theologian in history—Augustine
of Hippo—lived within the boundaries of modern Tunisia. Judaism
also existed in Africa, where the Falasha Jews of Ethiopia have
survived for at least 1500 years.
Throughout most
of the Middle Ages, Islam was the most important monotheistic religion
of Africa, reaching North Africa within a few years of its founding
in the seventh century and expanding into sub-Saharan Africa by
the eleventh. Arabic became the international African language
of scholarship, with a famous Islamic university established in
Timbuktu by the thirteenth century, where Plato and Aristotle were
studied along with the Qur’an and Islamic law. By the sixteenth
century, mosques could be found as far south as Kilwa and Sofala
in modern Mozambique.
Indigenous African
beliefs are also very important for the study of religion, in part
because they represent the survival of polytheistic religion into
the twenty-first century. Whereas ancient Greek and Roman polytheism
proved unable to resist the spread of Christianity, African faiths
have been much more resilient. Africa is an immense and complex
continent with hundreds of different ethnic groups, tribes, languages
and religions. Although each is unique, many exhibit patterns of
similar beliefs. Although all African tribal religions are polytheistic,
many include the belief in a single all-powerful creator god who
is often not directly accessible to common worship. Although each
tribe’s beliefs are different, they often include trans-tribal cults
and pilgrimage centers where many different groups worship together,
providing some form of social cohesion.
Complex oral
traditions, myths, and epics form the core system of beliefs as
recounted by specialists in oral traditions often called “griots”
(bards). Various forms of divine kingship—where the kings are descendants
or special representatives of the gods—are widespread throughout
Africa. The most commonly worshiped divinities are nature gods
who provide fertility and water to sustain life. Ancestor veneration
is also common. Many tribes have special initiation rituals whereby
young people become full adult members of tribes or members of secret
religious societies such as warrior or hunting cults. The belief
in spirit possession—that gods, nature spirits, or the spirits of
ancestors can take possession of the bodies of worshippers—is also
common. Complex rituals of divination and sorcery are widespread.
The horrors
of the slave trade from the sixteenth through the early nineteenth
centuries not only brought millions of Africans to the Americas,
but also many of their religious beliefs. While most slaves were
nominally converted to Christianity, they often retained many of
their former beliefs, merging Catholic saints with their African
gods in much the same fashion as had occurred a thousand years earlier
in Europe with Roman, Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic divinities.
In the Caribbean, this syncretism of African deities with Catholicism
has developed into spiritualist movements known as Voodoo (Voudou)
and Santeria, while in Brazil Umbanda is predominant. These African
versions of Christianity are widespread in the Caribbean and Brazil,
claiming millions of followers.
And today, Africa
is undergoing an astonishing religious transformation. Both Islam
and Christianity (including the Latter-day Saints) are spreading
at remarkable rates on the continent. In many ways, Africa is becoming
the focus of a new Christian revival, far more significant than
the relatively placid Christian revivalism in North America. There
is even some speculation that the next pope could be an African
cardinal. Africa will undoubtedly play an increasingly important
role in world religions throughout the twenty-first century.
Further
Reading
Nehemia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels, eds., The History of Islam
in Africa (2000) Benjamin
C. Ray, African Religions: Symbol, Ritual, and Community,
2d ed. (1999)
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