The Encyclopedia of World Religions

African-American religions S 5

of Gabon at the beginning of the 20th century. It built upon traditional cults of ancestors ( see ANCES TOR WORSHIP ) but has changed over the years by the addition of various beliefs and ritual systems. In some circles it is best known for its ritual use of the plant iboga, a nonaddictive hallucinogen. SIGNIFICANCE Africa is, arguably, the most vibrant home of Christianity today, and the so-called African new religious movements contribute to that vitality. Some have begun to spread beyond Africa to North America and other places. It remains to be seen what kind of impact they will have worldwide in the 21st century. Further reading: Kwame Bediako, Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience (New York: Orbis, 2004); Christian History 22, no. 3 (2003) [issue on African Christianity]; Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans, 1995); Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002); Jacob K. Olupona, ed., Beyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity, (New York: Routledge, 2004); Frederick Quinn, African Saints: Saints, Martyrs, and Holy People from the Continent of Africa (New York: Crossroad, 2002); Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed, A History of the Church in Africa (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000). African-American religions The religions of people of African descent living in the Western Hemisphere. African Americans have had and con tinue to have a vibrant and rich religious life. African-American religions in the Caribbean and South America often preserve and adapt Afri can traditions ( see A FRICAN RELIGIONS ). Good exam ples are V OODOO from Haiti, S ANTERÍA from Cuba, Candomble in Brazil, and Winti in Suriname. They often combine African and European practices. This combining is sometimes called “syncretiza tion” or “creolization.”

ple of the Aladura churches is the Christ Apostolic Church, begun in the 1920s. It rejects the use of either traditional or scientific medicine. The same features also characterize the Zionist churches of South Africa. Zionist churches get their name because their inspiration originally came from the Evangelical Christian Catholic Church of Zion, Illi nois. Both Zionist and Aladura refer to groups of churches rather than to a single church. While some founders of African churches have been prophets, some have been more than proph ets: They have been Messiahs. A famous example is the Zulu religious leader, Isaiah Shembe (1867– 1935). He received a call from God in a vision and founded a church in the Zionist tradition known as the amaNazaretha Church. In 1912, after an expe rience similar to the temptation of Jesus in the wil derness, he received the power to heal and cast out demons. He saw himself as a Messiah sent to the Zulu, as M OSES and Jesus were sent to the Jews. His church’s worship practices include dances in traditional Zulu style and hymns that Shembe him self wrote. A large proportion of Africans practice Islam. New religious movements among African Muslims have, however, been relatively rare. Possible examples might include the rise of new brotherhoods within S UFISM . Other African movements, however, have rejected Christianity and Islam altogether and have attempted to revitalize indigenous traditions. One example is the movement led by Alinesitoue Diatta (1920–44), a Diola woman of Senegambia in West Africa. She resisted the influence of both Christian ity and Islam, as well as that of the French colonial government, by calling upon people to revive rain rituals and observe a traditional day of rest every sixth day. Because of her success, the colonial gov ernment arrested her in 1943. She disappeared and died in exile, though her death was kept secret for more than 40 years. Another indigenous revival movement goes by the name of Bwiti. It arose among the Fang people OTHER AFRICAN NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS