REL 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Africanization, Olodumare, Human Female Sexuality
Religion in Africa
I. Religion in Africa
A. Christianity
1. Large presence since the 17th century
2. Became larger in the last 300 years
B. Islam
1. Large presence since the 8th century
C. Indigenous Religious cultures
1. Language
2. Ethnicity
3. Region
4. Specific beliefs and practices
• Example: G’kuyu
D. Western scholars have been slow to study these: why?
1. “sacred”
• Deity’s are usually distinct, set apart from ordinary world
• In Yoruba, the sacred are among humans
2. NOT text based
• Centered around practices and stories from memory
• Scholars can’t study their sacred texts like they do with
other religions
II. Yoruba
A. Historical context
1. Nigeria (why it is considered an “African religion”)
2. Pre-History
B. A “World Religion”?
1. Demographic Slope
• 10’s of millions
2. Global Influence
• Ranked #6/8
o Because it has diffused into many cultures
o Many religions have stemmed from it
▪ Example: blended with Catholicism after
slave trade (why there is a problem calling
it an “African religion”)
C. Basic Cosmology
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