African slavery and African Catholicism - Essay Example

African slavery and African Catholicism Introduction Many historians and scholars hold that the domination of European rule in Africa caused African slavery and the development of African Catholicism. However, there is much evidence showing that the development of African slavery and African Catholicism occurred due to deep rooted African systems and an already established traditional form of religion. This paper will argue that the assertion held by most scholars that these aspects are products of European domination, are not sufficient. It will provide the premise that African Catholicism developed as a product of traditional religion with reference to Christianity in Kongo. It will also provide evidence of the roots and development of African slavery. Roots and Development of African Catholicism and African Slavery Many scholars view Christianity in Kongo, especially Catholicism as a foreign religion introduced by the colonizers during the 15th and 16th centuries. In addition, these scholars often deem this form of religion as serving the interests of foreigners more than the indigenous Kongo people. The result of this assertion is that Christianity overlooked the independence of Kongo people. In addition, this caused most historians to view the deemed introduced Christianity as a form of colonization and domination by the Portuguese in Kongo. Moreover, these historians also assert that the conversion of Kongo to Christianity and the development of African Catholicism was a direct effect of westernization of Kongo (Thornton, 147). The history of religion and African Catholicism was quite different from the assertions of these historians and scholars. The conversion of Kongo in to Christianity was under a free will. Consequently, it is evident that the Kongo people and leaders highly determined the structure of the church and its doctrines as well as practices. It is also evident that the Portuguese attempted to control the church under political terms. However, this was not possible since Kongo highly controlled the activities and practices of the church. Even though contemporary studies reveal that there was substantial syncretism in Christian doctrines in Kongo, the European clergy who visited Kongo, recognized it as conventional (Thornton, 148). In the case of African slavery, there are misconceptions by most scholars as to what prompted slave trade in the region. Most of these scholars considered the roots of African slavery as a product of economic underdevelopment in Africa, in which forced labor dominated the economy rather than free labor. However, this was not the case but there was the spirit of slavery rooted deep in the African institutional and legal structures of communities of Africa. In addition, this kind of slavery occurred very differently from the form of slavery in Europe. The main reason that slavery occurred widely in the Atlantic Africa was that in African law, slaves were the only recognized form of private ownership. It became very perverse in the African society because there lacked landed private property (Thornton, 74). The incorporation of Christianity as a part of indigenous religion is the main reason it survived and hence the documentation of the cult dates from the early sixteenth century to the present day. In the nineteenth century, Christianity briefly disappeared from Kongo. However, the disappearance was not due to a lack on the part of Kongo, a failure on the part of the clergy or a resurgence of suppressed local religion. Rather, it was because of the changing definition among European clergy including Rome as to what made up Christianity, together with more chauvinistic attitudes towards non-Western and particularly colonial peoples that happened after I850 (Thornton, 148). In African law, one could only establish a claim on a product through taxation and slavery rather than through the fiction of land ownership. However, this did not make the African legal system backward or egalitarian, but only legally divergent. Due to this divergence, the African political and economic elites would sell a large numbers of slaves to anyone willing to pay hence promoting the Atlantic slave trade. Consequently, the legal feature made slavery and slave trading common (Thornton, 76). It is sad that the missionaries who went to Kongo had an inclusive conception of the religion instead of an exclusive concept, mostly applied in the Spanish colonies in the Americas. In the inclusive concept, all aspects of the culture of the target country that are not directly in contrast to the basic doctrine considered acceptable by the Church (Thornton, 152). While it would have been important that Christian missionaries should have allowed Kongo to practice a syncretism form of Catholicism, they were only partially responsible for planning it. In fact, the strong participation by the Kongo during the creation of their exceptional form of Christianity aided publicizes the religion and hence a clear explanation to its success. Although documentation is sparse, there is a likelihood that the main lines of Kongo's adaptation of Christianity happened during the reign of Afonso I. Afonso studied the principles of Christianity seriously, and early in his reign, he read the large literature brought by the Portuguese priests (Thornton, 155). In that time, there was no landed property hence people wishing to invest wealth in reproducing form could not buy land. Consequently, the only resource available was to buy slaves. These slaves became personal property that could generate wealth and could be inherited. In Europe, African slaves were nearly equivalent to peasant cultivators; in fact, they were the useful equivalent of free tenants and hired workers (Thornton, 87). In Africa, on the other hand, there was a relationship between the development of commerce, social mobility based on commerce and the growth of slavery for slaves in villages doing agricultural work, carrying goods in caravans, or working in mines under private supervision (90). The priests in Kongo (referred to as nganga) involved themselves with various activities that most scholars thought were introduced by the Europeans. This is evidence that Catholicism in Kongo was not as a result of European dominion. This is because the traditional priests in Kongo practiced many aspects of Catholicism even before the arrival of Europeans. These priests carried out all the private and public functions from initiation ceremonies (baptism) to offering personal charms for fortune, safeguarding fields through charms, carrying out public ceremonies to plead with earth spirits in case of famine in addition to sanctifying the coronation of the king. This clearly indicates that this form of religion was present long ago and highly initiated by people of Kongo (Thornton, 157). This form of Christianity became the national religion in Kongo as early as the ruling of Afonso I. this form of Christianity had its own local practices and doctrines, but recognized as conventional Christianity in Rome. In addition, the priests of European origin who were practicing in Kongo embraced this form of Christianity. In this seemingly new religion, Christian priests played the role of the nganga (traditional Kongo priest) in which the only difference between the contemporary and the traditional nganga was the methods of recruitment. The contemporary priests went through a strict program of recruitment and training while the traditional nganga did not go through such a complicated and strict program. Their recruitment was very simple and did not involve much scrutiny (Thornton, 159). There is much evidence supporting the fact that slavery in Africa did not rise as a result of European domination. For instance, there is evidence that Europeans bought slaves from African merchants and this move was readily acceptable by these merchants. In this regard, there was a widely developed slave trade in Africa. This is highly because any European who wished to buy slaves and had the required money, it was very simple and easy to buy slaves from African merchants. It was clear that these Europeans would buy slaves even in the domestic market (Thornton, 94). There is also strong evidence that the form of Christianity developed in Kongo was present long before the impact of the Portuguese. However, many scholars hold the opinion that this form of Christianity, which led to the conversion of Kongo people to African Catholicism, was actually impure and diplomatically oriented. They also deemed that this form of Christianity was a threat to the sovereignty of the Kongo people. The Kongo Christianity, which was very African received substantial acceptance in Europe as the religion of the Country. The reason for this is that the conversion of Kongo to Catholicism occurred voluntarily. This means that Kongo had the capability of contributing much to its own Christianity (Thornton, 167). Kongo's direct control over the theological content rendered the religion to obtain mass approval while its management of the Church organization and finance prevented it from being an element for foreign dominance, despite Portuguese efforts to utilize it as a 'fifth column'. However, despite its wide acceptance, European priests finally declined the local form of Christianity during the Portuguese colonial conquest towards the end of the nineteenth century. This prompted the termination of the acceptance of this form of Christianity by Europeans (Thornton, 167). In the African societies, one of many uses of slaves was the private people using slaves to raise and sustain their wealth. In addition, the political elites employed these slaves to boost their power (91). The origin of the Atlantic slave trade and African participation was in African societies and legal systems. Apart from the acceptance in all the exporting regions, the institution of slavery was widespread in Africa. In addition, some activities like capture, purchase, transport, and sale of slaves were regular occurrences in African society (Thornton, 97). Conclusion Evidence indicates that the development of African slavery and African Catholicism occurred due to deep rooted African systems and ways of life. In the case of African Catholicism, there was a convectional religion, which had practices and doctrines similar to those of the contemporary Catholicism in Kongo. In addition, African slavery developed from the African system of private ownership, developed from the African laws. This is evidence that contrary to what most scholars think African Catholicism and African slavery were not products of European domination. Works Cited Thornton, John. “The Development of an African Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Kongo, 1491-1750.” The Journal of African History 25.2 (1984): 147-167. Thornton, John. Africa and Africans in the making of the Atlantic world, 1400-1800. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Read More