The Place of Christianity in the Critical Debates of Africana Religious Studies

Abstract:The massive accession to Christian faith in postcolonial Africa is leading to the ongoing creation of distinctively African forms of Christian thought and practice that differ in significant ways from those of the West—a trend anticipated by developments in Black American Christianity. Africana religious studies has been imagined as a field that would "generate credible scholarship on indigenous African religious traditions," yet the rise of African Christianity raises questions about what constitutes indigeneity. If the Ethiopian church represents "Africa indigenously Christian," do these more recent developments suggest Christianity indigenously African? Can Christianity be considered indigenously African? Is there a need for Africana religious scholarship to reassess the widespread notion of Christianity as a cultural product of the West and an imposition alien to Africana peoples? If so, what does the rise of African Christianity indicate about both the nature and structure of Christianity, understood as an Africana religion?