writer from Uganda (Rinsum 2004). P’Bitek’s devastating attack on theo-
logical approaches to the study of ATRs remains one of the most incisive to
date. For him, ‘the study of the African religions should be to understand the
religious beliefs and practices of African peoples, rather than to discover the
Christian God in Africa’ (p’Bitek 1971: 110). His voice is critical in under-
standing the resistance to theological reductionism in religious studies in sub-
Saharan Africa. His work, African Religions in Western Scholarship(p’Bitek
1971) is a major text in the study of ATRs. Operating from anthropology,
p’Bitek provided an alternative reading of the study of religions in Africa.
According to p’Bitek, African scholars have the obligation to refute negative
ideas about African peoples and cultures that have been perpetuated by Western
scholarship. They also have the task of presenting African institutions as they
really are (p’Bitek 1971: 7). His major criticism is that African scholars have
been too keen to regard ATRs as being similar to Christianity in all respects.
He protested, charging that African scholars were camouflaging African deities
in awkward, Hellenic garments. For him, both Western scholars and African
researchers were responsible for distorting ATRs. As a solution, he recom-
mended that African scholars of religion should conduct fieldwork in order to
come up with accurate descriptions. Furthermore, he contended that depart-
ments of religious studies should concentrate more on the beliefs of African
peoples and should not continue ‘to be a monastery for training priests of
foreign religions’ (p’Bitek 1971: 7). Despite p’Bitek’s criticism of African
Christian scholars, their publications remain a valuable resource for under-
standing the study of ATRs (Chitando 2000).
Mbiti, Idowu, p’Bitek and others were influential in framing method-
ological debates in the study of religions in sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1960s
and 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, other voices emerged. The most influential
figure has been Jacob Kehinde Olupona. Olupona has been president of the
African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR) and has emerged as a
leading figure in the study of religions in sub-Saharan Africa. He adopts a social-
scientific perspective in addition to the phenomenological approach (Olupona
1991). Olupona has paid attention to methodological reflections, alongside
identifying new areas of research in the area of indigenous religions across the
continents (see, for example, Olupona [ed.] 2004a)
Olupona has avoided theological reductionism in his work. He has illustrated
the benefit of adopting multidisciplinary approaches to the study of religions.
Where some scholars have regarded religious studies and the social studies as
fierce rivals, he has seen the fields as complementary. He has coordinated
projects that highlight the role of religion in the struggle for peace in a country
like Nigeria. He has also drawn attention to the role of ATRs in contemporary
society (Olupona 1991). This has been an important intervention, as there is
a tendency to regard indigenous religions as relics from the remote past.
Olupona’s training in the history and sociology of religion has equipped him116
EZRA CHITANDO