Religion and faith in Africa : confessions of an animist / Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, SJ.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Orobator, A. E., author.

Contributor:

Class of 1932 Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Africa.

Confessions.

Christianity--Africa.

Christianity.

Christianity and other religions.

Religions--Relations.

Religions.

Relations.

Physical Description:

xx, 188 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Maryknoll, New York : Orbis Books, [2018]

Summary:

Before his conversion to Christianity, A. E. Orobator was raised in a Nigerian family steeped in the practice of traditional African Religion-animism, to use the term of anthropologists; "paganism" or "heathenism," to use the term of the missionaries. This repository of African religion, he argues-at its heart "a deep belief in the livingness of creation"-is the soil in which Christianity and Islam have taken root. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Faith of My Father, Spirit of My Mother 1

Africa, My Africa 4

The Medicine Room 8

Inside the Mind of an Animist 13

Animism Embodied 16

Some Guiding Instructions for the Road 19

2 The Miracle of a Century 25

So, Once upon a Time 29

The Apostle and the Queen 30

The Missionaries Are Coming 34

Let the Scramble Begin 36

Reading between the Lines 39

Beware of Gifts 41

The Mode of the Receiver 41

Numbers Don't Lie? 44

3 A Marketplace of Faiths 51

What's in a Name? 53

What about Islam? 56

Sowers and Reapers of Wrath 60

Religion and Politics 64

Below the Surface 66

The Dark Side of Light 70

The Spirit of African Religion 72

4 Pathological Performance and Prophetic Practice 77

The Ghost and the Darkness 82

A Religion of Underdevelopment 84

Religion Works 86

Pathological Performance 88

Prophetic Practice 95

5 Healing the Earth, Healing Humanity 103

Tears of a Woman 105

The Enemy Is Us 107

Creative Animism 108

Ecological Gratitude 110

Ecology as Fullness of Life 115

Ecology as Covenant 119

6 The Backbone of the Church or Gender Rhetoric 127

Numbers, Words, and Beyond 129

Evolution and Revolution 133

An Inventory of Inequality 139

Untapped Leadership Potential 142

African Women Changing the Face of Theology 143

Backbone of the Church 146

7 The Flourishing of Religions 153

Things Are Happening Everywhere in Africa 156

Christians Are Talking, Singing, Preaching, Writing, Arguing, Discussing 160

The Root of All Evil? 163

Religion of the People, by the People, and for the People 165.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-178) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1932 Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Orobator, A.E. Religion and faith in Africa.

ISBN:

9781626982765

1626982767

OCLC:

1006305832