Many scholars in the study of religion argued that reli-
gion was a critical variable in efforts to understand the lives
of most Africans. The academic study of religion was predi-
cated on the assumption that religion was central to most en-
deavors to establish the meaning of existence in an African
context. In this pursuit, multiple methodological strategies
were employed. Sociological, psychological, anthropological,
and phenomenological approaches were used to locate the
significance of religion to Africans. African scholars provided
impressive descriptions of the major religions, alongside
other migrant religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and oth-
ers. In their edited volume The Historical Study of African Re-
ligion, with Special Reference to East and Central Africa
(1972), Terence O. Ranger and Isaria N. Kimambo be-
moaned the lack of historical sensitivity in the study of indig-
enous religions. However, this criticism was taken seriously
and African scholars produced many impressive monographs
on the history of the various religions of Africa by the late
1970s. Although this review concentrates on the efforts of
scholars based in departments of religious studies, it is im-
portant to acknowledge that creative writers, political scien-
tists, and scholars based in other departments made valuable
contributions to the study of religion in Africa.
THE EMERGENCE OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN SUB-SAHARAN
AFRICA. While the academic study of religion became an es-
tablished academic discipline in many African universities by
the latter half of the twentieth century, various categories of
writers had provided useful information on the religions of
Africa much earlier. Travelers, missionaries, amateur ethnol-
ogists, and other nonspecialists had written reports on vari-
ous aspects of religion in Africa in the nineteenth century.
Although indigenous religions suffered at the hands of casual
observers, the earlier writers preserved valuable information.
Missionaries like Henri A. Junod (1863–1934), who operat-
ed in Mozambique from 1907 onward, provided sound de-
scriptions of local religious beliefs and practices. Earlier, John
William Colenso (1814–1883), who was ordained as the
bishop of Natal in 1853, had identified Zulu names for god
in the context of a general theory of comparative religion. By
the time the discipline found its way to African shores, the
reality of religious pluralism had anticipated it.
The academic study of religion in sub-Saharan Africa is
inextricably intertwined with the political history of the re-
gion. The experience of colonialism, from around 1880 to
1960, shaped traditions of the study of religion for most Afri-
can nations. Former British colonies tended to have lively de-
partments of religious studies because religious education
was popular in secondary schools, whereas in Francophone
countries such traditions were suppressed. Similarly, reli-
gious studies departments did not emerge in former Portu-
guese colonies like Angola and Mozambique. Zambia pro-
vided a unique case of a former British colony that did not
develop a department of religious studies, although the facul-
ty of education at the University of Zambia at Lusaka offered
courses on aspects of the discipline.
Historical experiences like the struggles for political in-
dependence and assertions of nationhood in the postcolonial
period are indelibly printed on the study of religion in the
region. After the realization of the importance of education
for Africans by both missionaries and the colonial state, col-
leges and universities were gradually established. Most of the
universities were instituted after World War II, although
Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone, was founded
by the Church Missionary Society in 1827. In Kampala,
Uganda, Makerere University, later to be influential in the
study of indigenous religions, started off as a technical college
in 1922. Although initially university colleges in African
countries were affiliated to universities in metropolitan cen-
ters, the decolonization process in the 1960s led to the emer-
gence of national universities in independent countries. Such
universities promoted the study of religion for ideological
purposes.
It is worthwhile to observe that some departments of re-
ligious studies were established in West Africa before any
such departments existed in Britain. Scholars from outside
Africa were influential in the setting up of nonconfessional
departments of religious studies. Geoffrey Parrinder was in-
strumental in the creation of the religious studies department
at the University College of Ibadan in Nigeria in the late
1940s. Noel King was actively involved in the emergence of
the department for the study of religions at the University
of Ghana, Legon. Harold Turner and Andrew Walls taught
at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, before the civil war in- They went on to have impressive academic careers in
Europe, using their knowledge of the religious situation in
Africa.
The dominance of missionaries in the field of education
contributed to the greater attention that Christianity enjoyed
in the study of religion in sub-Saharan Africa. Many depart-
ments concentrated on church history and theology, reflect-
ing their earlier identity as departments of theology. Most
scholars were themselves adherents of Christianity or Islam,
engendering the committed approach. However, most Afri-
can countries renamed departments of theology or divinity
as departments of religious studies to reflect the pluralist en-
vironment that had been established in most countries. They
also placed special emphasis on the study of indigenous reli-
gions in an effort to develop a distinctive African identity.
Contributions. The achievements of African scholars
in the study of religion may be located in many areas. How-
ever, the most notable areas include theoretical reflections on
the meaning of religion, critique of the centrality of scrip-
ture, and suggesting new approaches to the study of religion.
African scholars also put the study of indigenous religions
firmly on the agenda of religious studies. African scholars re-
fined the debate on insiders and outsiders in the study of reli-
gion by insisting that they were better placed to understand
traditional religions, as opposed to European scholars. In the
1960s and 1970s, African scholars like John S. Mbiti, E. B.
Idowu, Kwesi Dickson, and others published significantSTUDY OF RELIGION: THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 8793