Question

What role did religion-both traditional west african beliefs and practices and the spread of christianity-play in the shaping of an african american culture during the eighteenth century

Answer 1

Within the african American culture, there has been a huge influence of indigenous traditions, the Catholic Christianity, Islam and other developing theologies. There were different religious perspectives that was brought in by the native Americans. With the spread of Christianity, the african Americans embraced it well. Around the 18th century, as Christianity began to spread, after 1770, there was development of independent communities of church, with the creation of larger communities of church such that larger structures such as the American Methodist episcopal church, or the national baptist convention or the Zion church.

The west Africans, when came to North America, brought with the, a rich african tradition and its practices and beliefs. The religious traditions that they came from, where the spiritual power if the ancestors was given utmost respect, and they would worship many goes overlooking the various aspects of life. The reli lives included spiritual health, rites initiation along with naming rituals, as well as folk tales and ecstatic dance. This life was transformed as the Africans came into America with a spread of Christianity.

The traditions found in west Africa had blended in the syncretism present in Islam, which was included in the American landscape. When we hear narratives of african born children, we would see an amalgamation with Christianity, the west african traditions and some of the Islamic theologies.