Traditional African Religion and Modern Christianity in Zaire: The Case of the Bira

Authors

  • Raija Warkentin Lakehead University

Abstract

The rural Bira of northeastern Zaire have been exposed to the Christian message for well over half a century. It was during the Belgian colonial period that the first Catholic and Protestant missionaries came to this region of Zaire. Today most Zairians belong to either the Catholic or Protestant church, and the Bira themselves are predominantly Catholic. The suppression of ancestor worship is the only area where mission Christianity has scored a triumph over the traditional religious life of the Bira. In contrast, witchcraft beliefs persist. As for the belief in God, it appears that the Bira have utilized Christianity to make their traditional God Mbali less remote and more caring, a change which has also made the Christian God more compassionate and forgiving of sins. Thus, Mbali-God is a creative response on the part of the Bira to the syncretic religious encounter.

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Author Biography

Raija Warkentin, Lakehead University

Raija Warkentin is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario. She received her M.A. from the University of Helsinki and her Ph.D. from the University of Alberta. She conducted field research among the Bira of northeastern Zaire (Congo) from 1977 to 1981 and in 1985-86. More recently, she has conducted research on Finnish immigrant women in northern Ontario and Russian immigrant women in Finland. Her publications include Our Strength Is in Our Fields: African Families in Change (Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1994).

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Published

2022-06-02

How to Cite

Warkentin, R. (2022). Traditional African Religion and Modern Christianity in Zaire: The Case of the Bira. Anthropologica, 38(1), 3–19. Retrieved from https://cas-sca.journals.uvic.ca/index.php/anthropologica/article/view/2021

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 1 (1996)

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Articles

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