Histories of Religious Thought and Practice in Africa
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A01=Louis Brenner
Author_Louis Brenner
Category=QRAC
Category=QRAX
Category=QRMP
Category=QRPP
Category=QRRN
Christianity
cultural expression
endogenous religions
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Islam
kubandwa
Muslim
Religious culture
religious practitioners
Religious traditions
rituals
spiritual
sub-Saharan African
Product details
- ISBN 9781847014160
- Weight: 639g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 17 Dec 2024
- Publisher: James Currey
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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This book is a richly detailed comparative analysis of endogenous, Muslim, and Christian religious thought and practice in sub-Saharan Africa.
Organized thematically, the book presents a conceptual and analytical framework for the study of religious traditions as complex and constantly evolving social phenomena. The most salient theme in the book is how different religious traditions defined and provided for the personal and communal wellbeing of their adherents. Other major themes explore how religious traditions have influenced one another, how religious practitioners conceptualized and interacted with spiritual entities, how religious knowledge and expertise were acquired and transmitted, how rituals were organized and structured in order to achieve their aims, and how rituals affected those who performed them. Additional topics analysed include the personalization of relationships with spiritual entities, the gendering of religious thought and practice, how personal transformative rituals were conceptualized and enacted with reference to stages of the life cycle, such as birth, marriage and death, and how suffering was seen as integral to the process of personal transformation.
Overall, the book engages with issues that continue to animate the study of religious thought and practice in Africa and African studies more generally.
LOUIS BRENNER is Emeritus Professor of the History of Religion in Africa at SOAS, University of London.
