Christianity and Public Culture in Africa

Abstract

The role of religion in the public realm in sub-Saharan Africa (henceforward, Africa) is controversial. In order to understand the role of religion in political and social discourse in contemporary Africa—that is, as an ideology of attempted hegemonic control, on the one hand, and as a mobilizing vehicle of community organization to help fend off that control, on the other—scholars have pointed to the importance of the colonial era. During that period, both Christianity and Islam developed and spread as major regional religions, with variable impacts on both politics and society. Of particular concern were these religions' roles as important sources of popular resistance and mobilization of community concerns, which emerged consequential to the social uncertainties attending colonialism and externally stimulated modernization. During the colonial era, a pattern of initial resistance to hegemonic control by Christian Europeans developed over time into a more complex relationship. Christianity became a multifaceted faith in the colonial era as the initial emphasis of Christian missionaries—on an active, morally concerned God—drew millions of Africans into the mission churches only for them to find that their chief concern—that spiritual forces could be called upon to improve their life chances in the here and now—was not always fully satisfied by the Europeanized versions of Christianity on offer. The consequence was that from the early twentieth century there was an explosive growth of African independent churches, which were often understood to be ciphers for proto-nationalist political movements. However, these churches emerged and grew in numbers in part because of a felt spiritual need and in part because of the perception—linked to indignation at the racial intolerance within the mission churches—that Africans would be happier and more fulfilled in their own churches.