African Spiritual Beliefs

Gomez magnifies the untold history of the African people throughout the book. The initial three chapters of this work are referred to as “Old World Dimensions” bring Africa’s independence, strength, and significance to the forefront. The remaining five chapters examines what he refers to as the “New World Realities”. In the beginning of the book he explains the grounds and power Africans possessed in the early Eastern (Mediterranean) world. Gomez stressed two key matters throughout the book. He makes prominent that the arrival of the Europeans in the fifteenth century and the transatlantic slave trade that followed, unfortunately resulting in African Diaspora, was but the tip of the iceberg of who the people and their story. Africa and its citizens did, in fact, have a strong history prior the European’s arrival. Gomez turns to acknowledge Africa(ns)

However, for the sake of this essay, I am going to focus on Islam, its introduction, its practice, and its role in the lives of West Africans in the 8th through 15th centuries. With that being said, historians date the arrival of Islam in West Africa to roughly the 8th century C.E. Islamic scholars who had come from Arabia, through the Savannah, began to write about the history of West Africa and the role their religion played [1]. With the spread of Islam came the expansion of trade routes spanning across the continent. Along these commercial highways, Islamic culture fostered intellectual development and innovation never before known in West Africa. With this philosophical and theological expansion came increased literacy among native peoples and thirst for knowledge that resonated among West Africans for centuries. In short, Islam and its practice had just as much of an effect on the material world of West Africans as it did their intellectual

How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity By Thomas C. Oden Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press, 2008, 204 pp, $ 19.00 hardcover. Thomas Oden, an accomplished scholar in systematic and historical theology, and retired professor at Drew University, has offered a compelling and positively provocative work in How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind. A work of scholarly repentance, he ably repudiates the posture of western theologians and historians (i.e. Harnack, Bauer, Schleiermacher) toward Africa’s theological legacy (pp. 57-59). His present work is the fruit of thirty years of reading the early African fathers, and in the last fourteen, he has served as the general editor of the

Religion is a social construct embedded in the African American experience through the ages. Whether it be Christianity, Muslim, Judaism and many other religions that found itself in the Americas the religions derived from the African diaspora was very mixed, they had traditional belief about magic which are derived from some Yoruba and Muslim belief system, Christianity was something new to them. As their, ancestors were brought to the Americans they brought their own traditional belief system. African American religious institutions served as contexts in which African Americans create a meaning to their experience during their enslavement, thus they interpret their relationship to Africa and charted a vision for a collective future that will

History shows that both Africans and African Americans alike faced unique problems prior to and during the 1800's, particularly prior to 1865. One such problem is the issue of Diaspora and how culture and slavery has affected the choice of religion. It is the purpose of this paper to expose comparatively the extent to which individuals have been influenced by these issues. One such individual is Olaudah Equiano. By following and analyzing some of the key moments of faith in his life, this paper seeks to expose the extent to which the series of controversial dialectical incidents that happen throughout his early life, i.e., his cultural African religious traditions

Edward Curtis IV is Millennium Chair of the Liberal Arts and Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Curtis is also founding co-editor of the Journal of Africana Religions. Edward Curtis’s credentials include a B.A., Kenyon College, 1993. M.A., Washington University in St. Louis, 1997. D.Litt et Phil., University of South Africa, 2000. Curtis does not seem to endorse or show any bias towards any one particular group or person. The main topics in the book only seem to analyze Muslims around the world as a whole and how they interact with other each and other religious groups around the

One of the most powerful aspects of this documentary was the journey taken by two African American women to Lagos and through Orisha initiation, because it provided a beautiful picture into the relationship between religious practices in the diaspora and religious practices on the continent, in this case Nigeria. Coming to Lagos provided these women with the opportunity to “rewrite [their] stories” in a powerful way. This film emphasized that permeability, community, and liveliness continue to be central components of West African religion, and these were tenants that can be observed historically in the diaspora as well. Specifically, characteristics of modern Orisha worship will be presented in conjunction with aspects of the Christianity

Even though historians still struggle today to identify the true meaning of some African art; art, religion and rituals relate in many ways because religion and rituals have been part of Africans everyday life for centuries and art has been used as a communication path for religion and ritual histories for future African generations.

In South America, there is one traditional practitioner for every 700-1,200 people, while in other parts of Africa there is one physician for every 17,400 people. There are many more traditional healers in Africa, for example in Kenya there is one traditional healer for every 833 people. Nigeria has more: one healer per 110 people. African healers use historic cultural treatments and rely on long-established remedies to cure patients. These healers use their beliefs to determine what is making their patients ill and how to treat them. In “No Witchcraft for Sale” Gideon shows the reader how important this culture is to him. An important component of the African lifestyle is their medical practices. Through research

Africana Studies to me is the study of the history, origin and race of the African culture. A journey taken by Africans where through failures, struggles, challenges, disappointments, and discouragements up to freedom, success and independence one can witness the strong uphold of these people. The African nation and its people have witnessed the most gruesome terrible things that many generations combined can undergo through. From slavery to the Trans-Atlantic trade to colonization of the African countries one can unfold a deep history that lies along. I have taken interest in studying and learning Africana studies not because I come for Nairobi, Kenya but because I want to grasp and comprehend the hidden, unknown, overlooked and underappreciated history of the African continent and its people.

During this ending semester, I had a chance to take African art. It was amazing how african people had their way of worshiping and living their spirituality before the colonization. A practical example is Yoruba religion that was practised in Nigeria. In this paper, I am going to talk about spirituality and religion in Rwanda before the arrival of whites. I found this interesting because it relates to african art and colonization. After the arrival of white people, they introduced christianity and people had to follow the new religion and abandon the old ones. people had to burn any kind of tools they used in their traditional worshiping and swear to not do it again because it was seen as evil and satanic.

Since the article “David Livingstone’s Vision Revisited – Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation in the 21st Century” confirms the unstoppable power of Christianity in demonstrating peace as well as love to a nation tragically victimized by greed, which fueled the bondage of slavery of the African people by their own leaders. However, Livingstone believed Jesus Christ was the focal point of stopping this oppression to the African people. Christianity symbolizes a force that withstands time by the Almighty hand of God. Furthermore, Christianity significantly embodies ideal principles in aiding the spread of commerce and trade to Africa through the persistent work of David Livingstone. Overall, God used Livingstone in a mighty way, acknowledging

The scholars begin to debate whether Egyptians were black or white because the states of Africa were becoming independent. The West African art and music related to religion because the art symbolize their ancestors, spirits and they’re used for rituals practices. The music is related to religion by using the instruments to create rhythm and to dance to the religious rituals. The difference between the practice of Christianity, Islam and the indigenous religions in West Africa. Christianity was the first religion to arrive in Africa and it travels to the West from Alexandria and East of Ethiopia. For Islam, Arab traders introduced Islam in West Africa. “Unlike Christianity, Islam tolerated traditional values, allowing a man to have more than

that are ascribed to African worship, some of the aspects of the description of the

Hermione Harris observes the Cherubim and Seraphim Church (C&S), which were Aladura churches initiated by migrant generation of Yoruba in Britain. Harris emphasizes the significance of Yoruba practices in these churches and how religion is used to build a sense of community and network for this group of immigrants in country that is foreign to them. Throughout the book Harris pulls this thread of spirituality and spiritual power and their importance to the transformed religious ideas of this immigrant West African community in the C&S. This study is distinguished from other studies, in it’s unique perspective, which Harris brings as both a participant and an observer in the C&S services and congregations.