Early African Religion
The earliest evidence we have for religious faith in Africa is from
Egypt, where by 3000
BC people were already worshipping Isis,
Osiris, Ra, and the Amen. Further south, the Kushites
seem to have also worshipped these gods.
Outside of Egypt, however, the Bantu
people of West Africa seem to have been more monotheistic.
They thought of there being one god, sometimes a sky god or sun god
and sometimes not. By around 1300 BC, we can see the first strains
of an interest in monotheism
emerging in Egypt with Akenaten.
Polytheism triumphed when Akhenaten died, though, and survived through
the conquest of North Africa
by the Phoenicians
and Greeks, and
then by the Romans,
each of whom introduced their
own gods to North Africa, like the goddess Tanit.
Around 300 AD we have the second great
change in African religious belief when many North and East Africans
gradually followed the Roman
Emperor’s lead in converting to the monotheistic faith of
Christianity.
The great Christian theologian
St. Augustine
was from North Africa. By the 500’s AD Christianity won over
most of North Africa, including Egypt,
and also the kingdom of Axum south
of Egypt (modern Sudan, Eretria, and Ethiopia). The Christians of
North Africa were split among the Donatists,
the Catholics, and then the Vandal
Arians.
In this same time period, the Bantu
were gradually expanding across southern Africa, bringing their faith
with them. Bantu faith continued to de-emphasize polytheism, while
having instead a firm belief in ghosts and their power over living
people. Some of these ghosts were your own dead parents or grandparents.
Others might be the ghost of a dead king or hero, and these might
be remembered for a long time, rather like Christian
saints.
In the late 600’s AD, another monotheistic faith, Islam,
came to Africa, first to Egypt
and then spreading rapidly across North
Africa. A hundred years later, virtually the entire population
of North Africa had been converted to Islam. Islam quickly spread
across the Sahara Desert as
well, so that many people of the Sudan,
the grasslands south of the Sahara, became Muslims
as well. All the way south to the great rain forests, there were many
Muslims or people who followed at least some Muslim beliefs. And,
thanks to Arab and
Indian traders, the entire
east coast of Africa became
Muslim, as far south as Mozambique.
South of the rain forests, however, in central
and western Africa, Bantu religion
remained dominant. In the Kalahari
desert, the San people retained
their own faith, which was very similar to the Bantu faith in its
emphasis on ancestor ghosts.
To find out more, check out these books on Amazon.com or at your library:
Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt, by Thomas James (1971)
Children of the Lamp (Akhenaten Adventure), by P. B. Kerr (2004)
Abiyoyo, by Pete Seeger (reprinted 1994)
A Coalition of Lions, by Elizabeth E. Wein (2003) - A novel about Christian Africa in the 500's AD- warning: this book is the second in a series!
African Religion, by Aloysius Muzzanganda Lugira, Paula R. Hartz (2004)
The Atlas of Islam: People, Daily Life and Traditions, by Neil Morris, Manuela Cappon, Gian Paulo Faleschini, Studio Stalio (2003)
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