How did Christianity impact culture?
The cultural influence of Christianity includes social welfare, founding hospitals, economics (as the Protestant work ethic), natural law (which would later influence the creation of international law), politics, architecture, literature, personal hygiene, and family life.
From Africa came the idea of university, the development of Christian exegesis of scripture, the earliest intimations of ecumenical conciliar patterns, the rise of monasticism and categorization of Christian dogma."
Christianity was one justification that European powers used to colonize and exploit Africa. Through the dissemination of Christian doctrine, European nations such as Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands sought to educate and reform African culture.
CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY TO WEST AFRICA
Apart from giving to the converts a new religious faith which they consider is superior to the traditional religions, the Christian missionaries did pioneering work in introducing new crafts, industries, Western education and modern health services.
Christ, the “Man for All Cultures,” helps people discern and live according to God's will in the context of their respective cultural and religious traditions. Thus Christianity cannot be culturally uniform. The churches of the apostolic period presupposed this relationship between Christ and culture.
Religion can be a key factor in the cultural identity of many people, influencing their behavior and traditions. Rituals, sacrifices, prayer, art, are one of the many ways people show their allegiance to a particular religion.
Geographically, Africa resembles a bulging sandwich. The sole continent to span both the north and south temperate zones, it has a thick tropical core lying between one thin temperate zone in the north and another in the south. That simple geographic reality explains a great deal about Africa today.
On the downside, Christianity led to the demise of the African customs, which it viewed as pagan and evil; the religion also led to the implementation of apartheid (to which it gave its theological support), and undermined the leadership role of women.
- without question, missionaries were an important factor in promoting economic change. They introduced and encouraged the use of foreign products (clothing, tea, etc.) which undermined the former self-sufficiency of the subsistence economy. This brought Africans more and more into a market economy.
The reasons for African colonisation were mainly economic, political and religious.
How does religion affect development in Africa?
In African Traditional Religion, the fostering of values in society is achieved through the immersion of the individual in the activities of society through participation in the community. This act of immersion in society through participation in community is the very core of indigenous spirituality and morality.
Just like in Christianity, traditional African religion has organised practices. Both religions believe that God reveals Himself to people through dreams, prophecies and other special events. Both believe in a supreme God. Both believe in life after death.
Perhaps the most lasting cultural impact of the missionaries has come through their contributions to Bible translation and education. By translating the Bible into the language of a non-European people, missionaries had to become pupils, learning the finer points of a local language from indigenous teachers.
There are certain Christian traditions that are practiced throughout the liturgical year, such as praying a daily devotional during Advent, erecting a nativity scene during Christmastide, chalking the door on Epiphany Day, fasting during Lent, waving palms on Palm Sunday, eating easter eggs during Eastertide, and ...
The 5 are: 1) Uniqueness of Jesus (Virgin Birth) --Oct 7; 2) One God (The Trinity) Oct 14; 3) Necessity of the Cross (Salvation) and 4) Resurrection and Second Coming are combinded on Oct 21; 5) Inspiration of Scripture Oct 28.
Christ Enlightens Us
The truth is that God is Jesus. Christianity is the only religion where God is born as a man, becomes fully human. This is the height of enlightenment. All other religions teach that humans must work their way toward divinity.
Two of the factors affecting religious development are sense of religion and religious feelings which are origin of belief in individual. The religious feeling in human is defined as the source and capacity that governs the religious interests, desires, and quests that lead to belief.
Religion gives people something to believe in, provides a sense of structure and typically offers a group of people to connect with over similar beliefs. These facets can have a large positive impact on mental health — research suggests that religiosity reduces suicide rates, alcoholism and drug use.
Thus, religion is considered to be a part of culture and it acts as one among many forms of overtly expressing and experiencing spirituality that is inward, personal, subjective, transcendental, and unsystematic. In other words, cultural values are seen as a foundation to religiosity.
In fact, this school argues that Africa was initially named Alkebulan and was widely referred to as Alkebulan before the name Africa was birthed. In Kemetic History of Afrika, Dr cheikh Anah Diop writes, “The ancient name of Africa was Alkebulan.
Why Africa is important to the world?
The continent has 40 percent of the world's gold and up to 90 percent of its chromium and platinum. The largest reserves of cobalt, diamonds, platinum and uranium in the world are in Africa. It holds 65 per cent of the world's arable land and ten percent of the planet's internal renewable fresh water source.
The Culture of Africa is varied and manifold, consisting of a mixture of countries with various tribes that each have their unique characteristic from the continent of Africa. It is a product of the diverse populations that inhabit the continent of Africa and the African Diaspora.
Christianity eliminated the idea of ethnic cults by creating a portable religion. Marriage became a sacred bond for life. The tradition of patron saints developed. Sexual intercourse became a sin.
There are certain Christian traditions that are practiced throughout the liturgical year, such as praying a daily devotional during Advent, erecting a nativity scene during Christmastide, chalking the door on Epiphany Day, fasting during Lent, waving palms on Palm Sunday, eating easter eggs during Eastertide, and ...
Christians have been pioneering educational initiatives from pre independence time onwards and now has some 25000+ schools, colleges and universities even in very remote and rural areas, imparting quality education to all irrespective of caste, creed or language, contributing to the progress and development of the ...
Beliefs/Practices
Christians believe in one God that created heaven, earth and the universe. The belief in one God originated with the Jewish religion. Christians believe Jesus is the “Messiah” or savior of the world. They also believe that he is the son of God.
Over time, the Christian church and faith grew more organized. In 313 AD, the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which accepted Christianity: 10 years later, it had become the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teacher and healer who proclaimed the imminent Kingdom of God and was crucified c. AD 30–33 in Jerusalem in the Roman province of Judea.
Through crusades, conquests, and simple word of mouth. Christianity is currently the world's largest religion with over 2 billion followers. Beginning with the son of a Jewish carpenter, the religion was spread around the world first by Jesus's disciples, then by emperors, kings, and missionaries.
Christ Enlightens Us
The truth is that God is Jesus. Christianity is the only religion where God is born as a man, becomes fully human. This is the height of enlightenment. All other religions teach that humans must work their way toward divinity.
What are the similarities between African traditional religion and Christianity?
The Christian idea of church has similarities with African traditional life in which brotherhood and the extended family play a central role. The Church is the Christian family, in which all are accompanied to one another through belief and baptism in Jesus Christ.
The 5 are: 1) Uniqueness of Jesus (Virgin Birth) --Oct 7; 2) One God (The Trinity) Oct 14; 3) Necessity of the Cross (Salvation) and 4) Resurrection and Second Coming are combinded on Oct 21; 5) Inspiration of Scripture Oct 28.
A large body of studies show that missionaries had a lasting impact beyond their early years. Today, local communities and ethnic groups that were more exposed to mission schools, still achieve higher levels of education, when compared to communities where there were no schools.
The most important duty of missionaries to teach people about Jesus Christ, and His great commandment to love God and to love others. This means ensuring that their actions not only fulfill a need but also are sustained after they have left the community.
Missionaries sought to win souls as much as to cultivate minds. Their method was to educate the Ugandans through two types of education: Theological teaching and Manual and Industrial training. The presence of missionary schools helped the spread of Western-style education in the colonies.
Christian Uniqueness
Monotheistic Christianity is substantially different from monotheistic Islam and Judaism in that Christianity is based on an incarnated monotheism: God is present in and through the very flesh of Jesus.
Relative to its own populations, Zuckerman ranks the top 5 countries with the highest possible ranges of agnostics and atheists: Sweden (46-85%), Vietnam (81%), Denmark (43-80%), Norway (31-72%), and Japan (64-65%).
The United States has the largest Christian population in the world, followed by Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and the Philippines.