Christianity in Africa: the Three Phases of Christianization and the Specifics of African Theology and Spirituality
Abstract
African Christianity stands on a solid tradition of two thousand years. According to statistics, it is the most widespread religion in contemporary Africa: about half of the continent's entire population professes it - in sub-Saharan Africa it is almost 60% of the population.
However, this statement needs to be supplemented, clarified and the real reality of African Christianity - and religious life in general - presented. This is the content of this article.
The main aim of the article is to look at the story of African Christianity in the basic outlines, to emphasize its specifics and to point out three - not two, as it is often abbreviated - phases of the continent's Christianization. Related to this is the clarification and explanation of the African specificity with regard to statistics.
Another goal is to draw attention to selected unique syncretisms of Christianity and the original African religions - some within the boundaries of orthodoxy, but others outside them. The topic is elaborated by the method of own field research, which took place in Africa between 2001 and 2019 in a total length of three years, supported by a comparison of relevant literature.