African Religion

Overview

"Dr. Magesa takes the moral traditions as the starting point to analyze and present African religion . . . . He explores African insights into this moral universe and concludes that 'the basis of African morality is the promotion of human life.'"--John Mbiti, author, Bible and Theology in African Christianity

"Will interest all those thinking of reconstructing the African continent and the Black race from the ethical resources of African tradition."--Elochukwu E. Uzukwu, author, A Listening Church

"One of the few books that has gone beyond the usual, often superficial and anecdotal writing on African religion to present and pomote African spirituality on its own terms."--Michael C. Kirwen, M.M., Director, Maryknoll Institute of African Studies

This is the first comprehensive exploration of the moral and ethical imperatives of African religion that treats the religious tradition of Africa as an equal among the world's faiths. Laurenti Magesa argues that, just as Christianity or Islam do, traditional African religion defines how people ought to live. By integrating the natural, the human, and the spiritual its moral teachings delineate distinctive values, norms and principles which promote standard of spiritual abundance, and also infuse community life with meaning and harmony.

Laurenti Magesa, one of Africa's best-known Catholic theologians, has taught at the Catholic Institute of Higher Education in Nairobi, Kenya. Currently a parish priest in Tanzania, his other books include What Is Not Sacred? and Anatomy of Inculturation.