ABSTRACT
Christianity and African Religion are both forms of human spirituality. “Spirituality” is understood here as a worldview or a way of looking at and interpreting the universe to make sense of it for the sake of meaningful human existence. As such, every human group (as well as every individual in normal circumstances) subscribes to some form of spirituality or another, whether or not the specific perception or worldview involved includes overt appeal to invisible forces such as God, gods or spirits – although, in fact, it generally does. When a particular perception of the universe or spirituality is conceptualized and organized in specific symbols, namely through certain creeds, rituals, and attitudes or forms of behavior, we describe it as religion. Religion is, therefore, the concrete, established, and common expression of the spirituality of a given community signifying the ideal of human life. It is an essential dimension of a people’s civilization. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries marked the Enlightenment period in
Europe, characterized by the putative superiority of European culture. Since then, there have been numerous attempts in the form of anthropological studies as well as popular perceptions to label non-European (usually dominated) cultures to be without religion. Where Africa is concerned, such academic studies proliferated, especially in the twentieth century, characterizing African peoples under European domination as “primitive,” “uncivilized,” “pagan,” “superstitious” and “animist” – in short, without religion.1 Oftentimes commissioned by the colonial authorities, these studies usually provided remarkably accurate information about the social, religious, political, and economic beliefs and structures of the ethnic groups or “tribes” in question, designed to aid the colonial
administrations to control the populations more effectively. Inconsistently, however, they at the same time denied the existence of distinct religious philosophies among them. When, by the 1960s, many African and non-African scholars began to show
the coherence and internal logic of the creeds, rituals and ethics of the African worldviews,2 the question of the existence of concrete forms of African spirituality was soon settled. But whether it was possible to speak of the characteristics of “African Religion” in the singular and in capital letters (as I do in this contribution) lingered on and has not been definitively settled to the satisfaction of all. Thus the debate about the homogeneity or heterogeneity of the African worldview continues today. Considering the enormous range of the ritual, aesthetic, and practical ethical expressions found among the thousands of ethnic groups across Black Africa, it is a legitimate question. And to one extreme, it has led some skeptics to ask rather sarcastically and rhetorically, “Is there anything ‘African’ at all about Africa?” This question, by and large, implies that the constitution of the continent is bound to be forever fragmented. Increasingly, however, current scholarship shows that while it may be legitimate
to speak of African “religions” (emphasizing the differences), there are enough commonalities in the creeds, rituals and religious norms of the African ethnic worldviews to allow and justify the use of the concept of African Religion in the singular (underlining the commonalities inherent in it throughout the sub-Saharan region of the continent).3 Just as in the routine reference to “Christianity,” whereas, in fact, it would be more accurate to refer to multiple “christianities,” it all depends on where the observer’s sympathies lie. Most students of African spirituality now prefer to view its core as essentially integrated, hence the increasing use of the expression “African Religion” in the singular. To speak of Christianity, it is argued, may be as anomalous as to speak of African Religion, but it can also be as profoundly accurate and relevant.4
