African Indigenous Religions and Disease Causation : From Spiritual Beings to Living Humans /
Westerlund, David,
African Indigenous Religions and Disease Causation : From Spiritual Beings to Living Humans / From Spiritual Beings to Living Humans David Westerlund. - 1 online resource. - Brill Book Archive Part 1, ISBN: 9789004472495 Studies of Religion in Africa ; 28 . - Brill Book Archive Part 1, ISBN: 9789004472495. Studies of Religion in Africa ; 28. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
This comparative and historical study focuses on religious aspects of disease etiologies among five, systematically selected, African peoples: the San, Maasai, Sukuma, Kongo and Yoruba. Unlike the homogenizing tendencies of many earlier comparative works by scholars of religion, this book highlights the differences between and the plurality within the religions and cultures of the selected peoples, as well as processes of change. The work covers a period of about 100 years, from the late 19th to the late 20th century, and much of the material used comes from European mission archives. To different degrees among the peoples studied, there has been a gradual shift from an emphasis on spiritual beings such as God and ancestors to living humans like 'witches' as agents of disease. In a theoretically eclective analysis, possible reasons for this shift are discussed.
9789047407690 9789004144330
10.1163/9789047407690 DOI
Diseases--Causes and theories of causation.
Diseases--Religious aspects.
Medicine, African Traditional.
BL2462.5
299.6/11661
African Indigenous Religions and Disease Causation : From Spiritual Beings to Living Humans / From Spiritual Beings to Living Humans David Westerlund. - 1 online resource. - Brill Book Archive Part 1, ISBN: 9789004472495 Studies of Religion in Africa ; 28 . - Brill Book Archive Part 1, ISBN: 9789004472495. Studies of Religion in Africa ; 28. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
This comparative and historical study focuses on religious aspects of disease etiologies among five, systematically selected, African peoples: the San, Maasai, Sukuma, Kongo and Yoruba. Unlike the homogenizing tendencies of many earlier comparative works by scholars of religion, this book highlights the differences between and the plurality within the religions and cultures of the selected peoples, as well as processes of change. The work covers a period of about 100 years, from the late 19th to the late 20th century, and much of the material used comes from European mission archives. To different degrees among the peoples studied, there has been a gradual shift from an emphasis on spiritual beings such as God and ancestors to living humans like 'witches' as agents of disease. In a theoretically eclective analysis, possible reasons for this shift are discussed.
9789047407690 9789004144330
10.1163/9789047407690 DOI
Diseases--Causes and theories of causation.
Diseases--Religious aspects.
Medicine, African Traditional.
BL2462.5
299.6/11661