Christianization Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Africa (19th to 21st centuries) == {{Further|Scramble for Africa}} [[File:Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913-v2.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913-v2|alt= two maps of Africa, one in 1880 and one in 1913, showing how the country was divvied up by the colonial powers of that period]] Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, ''[[New Imperialism]]'' was a second wave of colonialism that took place primarily in the years between 1870 and [[World War I]] in 1914.{{sfn|Headrick|2012|p=2}}{{sfn|Wesseling|2015|p=x}} It differed from earlier colonialism in many ways. For example, during this time, colonial powers gained territory at almost three times the rate of the earlier period particularly in what is sometimes referred to as the [[Scramble for Africa|scramble for Africa]].{{sfn|de Juan|Pierskalla|2017|p=introduction/Conditions at Times of Colonial Intervention}} Some imperial practices, (combined with pre-existing conditions in the colonial states), have had negative long-term effects on the colonial states, [[Social development theory|socially]] and [[Political decay|politically]], as well as on [[economic development]], the development of [[democracy]], and the ability of local governments to accomplish policy goals.{{sfn|de Juan|Pierskalla|2017|pp=159–162}} The political legacies of colonialism include political instability, violence and ethnic exclusion, which is also linked to civil strife and civil war, while contact with the colonial slave trade has had additional harmful effects.{{sfn|de Juan|Pierskalla|2017|pp=161–162}} According to political scientists Alexander de Juan and Jan Henryk Pierskalla, the legacy of Protestant Christianization is largely one of beneficial long-term effects in the areas of [[human capital]], political participation, and [[democratization]].{{sfn|de Juan|Pierskalla|2017|p=161}} De Juan and Pierskalla add that "Sociologists have identified the key role of Christian missionaries, in particular Protestant missionaries, in generating a democratic legacy for many former colonies, through the spread of [[literacy]], [[Printing|mass printing]], and [[Voluntary association|voluntary organizations]]..."{{sfn|de Juan|Pierskalla|2017|p=161}} Theologian [[Justo L. González|Justo Gonzales]] has written that, while the sixteenth century has generally been seen as the "great age of Catholic expansion", the nineteenth century was that for Protestantism.{{sfn|Gonzalez|2010|p=302}} This included translating the Bible and other Christian writings into the local language (in more than half of the world's over 7000 languages). Missionaries of this era worked with indigenous people to create a written [[grammar]], a [[lexicon|listed inventory of native traditions]], and a [[dictionary]] of their spoken language, (in approximately 90% of those languages).{{sfn|Sanneh|2007|p=xx}} Tracing the impact of this shows local native cultures have responded with "movements of [[indigenization]] and cultural liberation".{{sfn|Sanneh|McClymond|2016|p=265}} Sanneh writes that "The translated scripture ... has become the benchmark of awakening and renewal" in Africa.{{sfn|Sanneh|McClymond|2016|p=279}}{{sfn|Sanneh|2007|p=285}} According to anthropologist [[Elizabeth Isichei]], it is the transition to [[literacy]] that translation of scripture and missionary schools created that engendered much of the transformation that followed.{{sfn|Isichei|1995|p=9}} In Sanneh's view, this means that western missionaries pioneered the "largest, most diverse and most vigorous movement of cultural renewal in [the] history" of Africa.{{sfn|Sanneh|2007|pp=xx-xxii}} In 1900 under colonial rule there were just under 9 million Christians in Africa. By 1960, and the end of colonialism there were about 60 million. By 2005, African Christians had increased to 393 million, about half of the continent's total population at that time.{{sfn|Sanneh|2007|p=xx}} Population in Africa has continued to grow with the percentage of Christians remaining at about half in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=Religion in Africa 2022 |url=https://www.findeasy.in/africa-population-by-religion/ |website=Find Easy population & more |date=October 26, 2022 |publisher=PEW Research Center |access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref> According to Isichei, "The expansion of Christianity in twentieth-century Africa has been so dramatic that it has been called 'the fourth great age of Christian expansion'."{{sfn|Isichei|1995|p=1}} === Zaire === [[File:Zaire 96map.png|Zaire_96map|thumb|alt=map locating Zaire on African continent]] Simon Kimbangu's movement, the [[Kimbanguism|Kimbanguist church]], had a radical reputation in its early days in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]], was suppressed for forty years, and is now the most studied of all the African prophet movements.{{sfn|Fernandez|1979|pp=284,285}} It has become an establishment church in Zaire, is very much involved in modern Zairian life, and with upwards of 3 million members, is now the largest independent church in Africa. {{sfn|Fernandez|1979|pp=284, 285}} Whether Kimbanguism is a political or a religious movement is resolved by making a distinction between the genuine Kimbanguists and the pseudo-Kimbanguists, also known as the Ngunzists.{{sfn|Fernandez|1979|pp=285-286}} Of first importance to genuine Kimbanguism is unquestioning acceptance of the intercession of Christ.{{sfn|Fernandez|1979|p=286}} Measured according to Reformation criteria, the ''Church of Jesus Christ of this Earth by the Prophet Simon Kimbangu'' (EJCSK) is a Christian religion.{{sfn|Fernandez|1979|p=286}} However, as [[James W. Fernandez]] says, it is a mistake to identify Christianity only with its European version.{{sfn|Fernandez|1979|p=287}} <blockquote>Jules Rosette shows how ritual symbolization is the training ground, the interface, for the translation of the African into the Christian, "how ritual vocabulary translates tradition into new practices." Christianity, she suggests, provides the grammar and syntax, as it were, and traditional customs the lexicon that is formulated by Christianity into a new religious argument.{{sfn|Fernandez|1979|p=291}}</blockquote> ===Tanzania=== In Tanzania, a child is not a full member of society until they reach adulthood. Adulthood begins at puberty, but a man fully enters adult society by marrying, a woman by giving birth, and the transition from childhood to adulthood is marked by initiation rites.{{sfn|Bürki|1977|p=201}} For the Maasai, this includes circumcision of both boys and girls.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maasai Ceremonies and Rituals |url=https://maasai-association.org/ceremonies.html |website=Maasai Association |access-date=15 August 2023}}</ref> Anne Marie Stoner-Eby writes, "The Christianization of initiation rites in the Anglican Diocese of Maasai in what is now southeastern Tanzania is arguably the most famous instance of 'adaptation' in African mission Christianity."{{sfn|Stoner-Eby|2008|p=171}} It has long been assumed that [[Vincent Lucas]], Bishop of Maasai (1926–1944), initiated the Christianizing of the initiation rites in an effort to adapt, and not destroy African cultural life, publishing what became a famous essay on 'The Christian Approach to Non-Christian Customs'.{{sfn|Stoner-Eby|2008|pp=171-173}} Initiation was one of a chief's most important and prestigious responsibilities, but long before 'adaptation' became a missionary watchword, Maasai clergy had taken advantage of a crucial increase in their numbers to place ''jando la kikristo'' (Christian initiation) in place of ''unyago wa lupanda'' (Lupanda initiation in ancestor worship) by 1913.{{sfn|Stoner-Eby|2008|p=174}} ===Other countries=== Eastern Maghrib was one of the first three places in the world where Christians were a majority.{{sfn|Isichei|1995|pp=1-2}} In the early twenty-first century outside the United States, [[Kenya]] has the largest yearly meeting of [[Quakers]]. In [[Uganda]], more [[Anglicans]] attend church than do so in [[England]]. Ahafo, [[Ghana]] is recognized as more vigorously Christian than any place in the United Kingdom.{{sfn|Isichei|1995|p=1}} There is revival in East Africa, and vigorous women's movements called ''Rukwadzano'' in [[Zimbabwe]] and ''Manyano'' in [[South Africa]].{{sfn|Isichei|1995|p=2}} [[Apostles of Johane Maranke|The Apostles of John Maranke]], which began in Rhodesia, now have branches in seven countries.{{sfn|Isichei|1995|p=2}}{{refn|group=note|As in all preceding cultures, Christianity in Africa has been influenced by local African culture just as local African culture has absorbed aspects of Christianity.{{sfn|Isichei|1995|p=7}} Whether a church is 'orthodox' or 'syncretistic' is not an academic question, yet it remains a concern for anthropologists attempting to record a history of religious changes in Africa.{{sfn|Isichei|1995|p=7}} Isichei writes that the history of religion focuses on "what is central to religion: belief, ritual and the religious community" while still recognizing that religion is of central importance to contemporary world history.{{sfn|Isichei|1995|pp=7, 9}}}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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