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Why did Africa accept Christianity?
Through North Africa, Christianity was embraced as the religion of dissent against the expanding Roman Empire. In the 4th century AD the Ethiopian King Ezana made Christianity the kingdom’s official religion. In 312 Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.
What was the purpose of religion in Africa?
The concerns for health, wealth, and procreation are very central to the core of African religions. That is why they have developed institutions for healing, for commerce, and for the general well-being of their own practitioners and adherents of other religions as well.
How did Islam Impact Africa?
Islam in Africa has linked together diverse peoples through better cultural understanding and a spirit of cooperation and common weal. The historial impact of Islam upon trade, particularly in West Africa, greatly increased the wealth of African people and helped form many great African empires.
What was the impact of Islam on Africa?
In summary, the coming of Islam to Sub-Saharan Africa facilitated the rise of political empires, encouraged trade and wealth, and increased the traffic in slavery. In its pure form, Islam was more attractive to kings because of its concept of the caliph combined political power with religious authority.
How did Islam spread to Africa?
Following the conquest of North Africa by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century CE, Islam spread throughout West Africa via merchants, traders, scholars, and missionaries, that is largely through peaceful means whereby African rulers either tolerated the religion or converted to it themselves.
What is the African concept of God?
In African terms, God is the animating force that makes life possible, the one who answers the question of life purpose. According to Akan anthropology, the ancestor symbolizes actualized human potential, a realized life purpose. One can only ascend to the ancestral realm upon fulfillment of his/her human destiny.
What was the religion of Africa before Christianity?
Polytheism was widespreaded in most of ancient African and other regions of the world, before the introduction of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. An exception was the short-lived monotheistic religion created by Pharaoh Akhenaten, who made it mandatory to pray to his personal god Aton (see Atenism).
Why did Islam spread in Africa?
According to Arab oral tradition, Islam first came to Africa with Muslim refugees fleeing persecution in the Arab peninsula. This was followed by a military invasion, some seven years after the death of the prophet Mohammed in 639, under the command of the Muslim Arab General, Amr ibn al-Asi.
How did Christianity impact West Africa?
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.
Why did Islam spread so quickly in Africa?
Many native converts studied & became scholars, missionaries, & even saints, & so Islam came to be seen no longer as a foreign religion but a black African one. As more people were converted, so more Muslim clerics were attracted from abroad and the religion was spread further across West Africa.
Who is the supreme being of African traditional religion?
I agree with Paul Talbot: any religion must have God as the Supreme Being and focal point (Talbot 1926, p. 78). African religion is based on belief in a Supreme Being that controls the affairs of all creatures, having created them and every other thing.