ABSTRACT
In the discourse on Christianity in Africa, the term ‘syncretism’ is usually either avoided, or employed in a neutral or even pejorative way to designate the mixture of Christianity and indigenous religion. ‘Syncretism’ has mainly been used in theories of ‘acculturation’ or ‘culture contact’ which aim to classify religious expressions along a continuum whose poles are ‘traditional’ and ‘Western’. Used in this way, the term thus describes local versions of Christianity by reference to the origins of their elements. However, this ‘mechanical assignation of cultural traits’ (Peel 1968:140) is of no aid in understanding how the mixture termed syncretism actually comes about and is conceived by African Christians themselves. Though this critique is shared by a growing number of Africanists, there are still very few studies which describe how local interpretations of Christianity evolve. It is the objective of this chapter to provide insight into this process. I will explore how this world religion is practically appropriated by people with hitherto indigenous beliefs. In my usage here, ‘appropriation’ means the process of making Christianity one’s own-a process which can even result in the subversion of missionary ideas. I prefer this term to others like ‘adoption’ or ‘adaptation’ because it signals the necessity of going beyond the conceptualization of African Christianity in terms of acculturation and culture contact theories, and of understanding African Christians as active agents in a historical process. Another problem with ‘syncretism’ is that in the discourse on African Christianity it has virtually been confined to local interpretations that are formulated in independent churches, whereas mission churches are generally considered to represent missionary Christianity. Critical African intellectuals often see members of mission churches as victims of Western missionary dominance, who are unable to synthesize traditional religion and Christianity, and who need to be freed from their divided consciousness, which makes them ‘slide back’ into the former when the latter fails to help them solve existential problems. This is to be brought about by Africanization, a theologically devised synthesis of traditional and Christian elements. The terms ‘syncretistic’ and ‘divided consciousness’ both deny grassroots members of independent as well as
mission churches, a developed and appropriate understanding of Christianity. By making use of these terms theologians thus contest local interpretations; they do not merely describe them (Droogers 1989:20). At the same time the two terms suggest a difference between the ideas of the members of the two types of churches. However, since up to now missionary Christianity at the grassroots has hardly been investigated, one may have serious doubts as to whether this difference exists.
