Content area
Full Text
(Proquest Information and Learning: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)
In the 1960s and 1970s it was possible to observe the beginnings of religious change among the Sidama in North-eastern Africa.1 I propose to examine the conversion process among a minority of Sidama to Protestant Christianity. I begin by analysing the way in which their experience relates to Horton's theory of 'closed systems' of cosmology and how their conversion has been similar to and different from what has happened in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. It will then be appropriate to consider proselytisation and the reasons for and against accepting Christianity, the basis of the challenge to the parochial order of kinship continuity, community commitment versus individualism, and the reasons for lack of complete religious schism among the Sidama. I then introduce a brief comparison of similarities to and differences from the Christian conversion process, with an analysis of why the neighbouring Oromo-speaking peoples have tended to adopt Islam rather than Christianity.
Horton has suggested that African cosmologies are partially 'closed systems' in the sense that they have not historically been open to competing explanatory paradigms (1982: 2B). It is not so much that there is a lack of a 'multiplicity of agencies', but that alternative choices can be made only within a 'single theoretical framework'. In this article I wish to examine the conditions under which dissatisfaction with the premises of the indigenous religious beliefs makes some individuals open to alternative explanations provided by Protestant Christianity. Given the exclusionary aspect of Christianity, I want to suggest that syncretism between the two systems of religious beliefs becomes virtually impossible. On the other hand, I agree with Horton that the 'missionaries of the world religions' bring new ideas about Western materialism, but for those who find customary beliefs unsatisfactory they also bring an alternative cosmological paradigm. It has been possible to reinterpret parts of Sidama secular life to fit 'modern Western mechanistic materialism' for all Sidama. It is, however, virtually impossible to syncretise indigenous religious symbols and rituals for those who become converts to Protestant Christianity. But, as I shall demonstrate, religious syncretism is apparent for the even smaller number who have embraced Islam.
Unlike Sidamoland, where Protestant Christian conversion has been piecemeal, involving the commitment...