Look forward to reading more of your hubs. Before the arrival of Christianity, Islam and the other foreign religions, people were afraid to take other people's wives. Traditional, animist religion saw humans as being subject to the whims of local gods. The African Americans were able to take what they heard and converse about the good things about Christianity had to offer them. Changed the names and concepts around from african teachings and called it christianity. Religion and culture as powerful institutions within society play a major role in shaping gender roles and perpetuating gender inequality and are powerful institutions within society. On 17 August 2016, an article titled, “The Damning Effects Of Religion In Africa,” written by Kofi Asamoah Okyere was published on Modernghana.com in which the writer sought to establish a case that religion impeded the development of Africa.. The African Americans were forcibly and involuntarily brought to America to work as slaves under a new authority. The Europeans, however, unfortunately did not take into consideration the culture of the Africans like Polygamy, mode of dressing, mode of worship and other peculiar traits of the Africans. This succession of Patriarchs has remained unbroken down to the present day, making the Egyptian Christian, or Coptic, Church one of the oldest Christian churches in existence. Eds. The White Slave owner gave a "basterized" version of the scriptures and called it truth. Perhaps you never heard of the "Slaves Bible" where the scriptures that told of God's love for all mankind and scriptures that forbade slavery were eliminated for the White slave masters greed and rationalization. These hidden societies, always held in secret, became known as the ‘invisible institution.’ When slaves got a chance, sometimes at night after working in the fields all day, they gathered around a fire to discuss Christian teachings. Separated from everyone and everything they ever knew, and in the face of fear and adversity, they found Christianity. With Africa subjugated and dominated, the Western culture and European mode of civilisation began to thrive and outgrow African cultural heritage. Williams, Peter. Yeshua was said to have come from the tribe of judah who all married cannanite women (descendants of ham) more evidence of an African messiah. People saw that converting slaves to Christianity was a way to control them; but for the slaves, what began negatively would eventually come to benefit them. Bacon gave three reasons why slavery was just: 1) God made men and [the slaves], and he made them to serve him. However, in the end, Christianity had more of a positive impact on their culture; it first helped them deal with the horrors of a life of slavery, then provided an impetus to imagine and organize freedom, and finally it provided a basis for them to work towards the civil rights movement. It seems Christianity has done the most in affecting the conscience of the black person in Africa. “Turner’s rebelliousness was nurtured by his sense of divine calling.” (Williams 323). Pg. 2) You [slaves] have souls that need to be saved. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2002. I believe that with the advent of Christianity in parts of Africa, there has been a huge change is the amount of superstition. Many of the early missionaries had a goal to create a more docile and obedient slave by feeding them select bits and pieces of Christian scripture. Christianity was embraced and spread rapidly in Africa because of factors inherent in its culture, such as African religiosity and the sense of being celebratory of life, which both go with communal existence. "You [slaves] must love God." Yet, African Americans resisted very little to conversion; it was only a matter of time before the slaves began to assume Christian identities. ‘Christianity and the African traditional religion(s): The postcolonial round of engagement’, Verbum et Ecclesia 32(1), Art. When the European settlers discovered the communities in Africa, they saw opportunities for advancement of their society. presuppositions about life in a Traditional/Primal society. precipitous decline of traditional cultural pursuits in the colonies. Pg. The African American slaves adapted the Christian religion to fit their needs; they blended old cultural elements with new Christian ideals. Saint Mark's first convert in Alexandria was Anianus, a shoemaker who later was consecrated a bishop and became Patriarch of Alexandria after Saint Mark's martyrdom. I will be posting my own articles on how Africa shaped Christianity. Christianity has to address this traditional religious holism/organism and its pantheistic tendencies. Your efforts are noteworthy but limited in perspective as it relates to the African slave religion. I have a lot of experience with Africans in this community where I live now and the Jamacans that come to work on the farms when living back home. TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND IMPACTS OF CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE NYISHISI. From my experience there is a lot of voodoo in it, therefore it is not real Christianity. They made many attempts to remove the slaves’ culture from them. Christianity was undoubtedly the religion created by those who conquered african nations. While ATR has been often seen in negative terms, especially by early missionaries, later studies have demonstrated that ATR is not really what these outside observers earlier on assumed. New York. Spiritual conflicts exist between African Traditional Religion and Christianity. The first is that the context of this article is sub-Sahara Africa. Communities were more capable of rebellion than a single individual. A classificatory system which attempts to distinguish the principal responses Missiologists have worked more broadly on a correlation of Christianity with African culture as a whole, speaking in terms of an ethnotheology. Moreover, a slave at this time needed to have his master’s permission to be baptized. Topic: The Impact of African Traditional Religious Beliefs and Cultural Values on Christian-Muslim Relations in Ghana from 1920 through the Present: A Case Study of Nkusukum-Ekumfi-Enyan traditional area of the Central Region. As things progressed, we eventually saw a distinct division between the Christianity of the whites, and the Christianity of the blacks. Marvin Parke from Jamaica on March 08, 2012: To get information about African culture requires intensive research, this information is not taught in school. Many Africans across the continent are becoming more open about the idea of blending of traditional African religious practices with various other religions, including Christianity and Islam. People were afraid to cheat on other people. Bacon stated that there were four main duties that the slaves must adhere to: 1) Duty and Behavior toward God. In Africa the traditional religions are a major source for the study of the African experience of God. Slaves who were more docile and gullible would not be able free themselves from slavery; thus, it was a bad thing for them. These papyri are written in the Coptic script and are older than even the oldest Greek copies of the Bible ordered by Constantine in AD 312. It wasn’t until the Great Awakening of the 1740’s that we saw appreciable mass conversion of black American’s. Asalways, I appreciate the comments and alternative perspective. Do be indoctrinated with a European religion isn't my idea of a positive outcome when much of the old testament took place in africa. Conflict is a universal phenomenon that is inevitable in human interaction. In a relatively short time, Africa has gone from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians and Muslims. ... African Traditional Religion in Biblical Perspective, p. 78. Not the one modern day christians will lead you to believe who looks blonde hair and blue eyes. doi:10.4102/ ve.v32i1.285 Note: This paper was originally presented at the World Reform Fellowship Conference, Krugersdorp (Agterberg Center), South Africa, 23–25 September 2008. His goal was to instigate behavioral changes in the slaves and suppress future rebellions. There are other spiritual movements though. My article is a short synopsis of a very issue which was written from the point of view of the 4 references that I cited. Their conversion and adaptation to Christianity held many positive and negative effects for the African Americans. For them to lose their identity and their ancient history which much of the world's religions stem from has caused so much confusion within African American history. 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