Christianization

=== 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>