The History of African Indigenous Churches in Scholarship

bibliographic database
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Periodical article

Title:	The History of African Indigenous Churches in Scholarship
Author:	Masondo, Sibusiso
Year:	2005
Periodical:	Journal for the Study of Religion
Volume:	18
Issue:	2
Pages:	89-103
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	African theology African Independent Churches Bibliography/Research Education and Oral Traditions Religion and Witchcraft History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:	This paper reflects on historical developments in the study of African Indigenous Churches (AICs) until the present and shows that there have been a number of different phases in the study of AICs. AICs were initially studied by missionaries who wanted to prove that AICs were not Christian but misled, pagan corruptions of the Christian faith. Missionaries and theologians did all they could to disown these churches of their Christian heritage. The second phase was dominated by anthropologists, who implemented ethnographic tools of investigation. The AICs were said to be syncretic: an illegitimate mixing of Christianity and African beliefs and customs. The third stage of development arrived when the AICs were recognized as authentically African. This type of identification was due to the fact that they drew heavily from traditional African practices and customs. The last stage is located within sociohistorical and anthropological studies in which AICs have come to be understood as being both African and Christian. Bibliogr., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract]