The Christianizing Process among Preliterate Peoples
Although missionaries have assumed that a preliterate people will exchange its native social organization and religion for Christianity, the actual process which takes place when civilized and preliterate peoples meet involves the fusion of native and Christian religion into a third and new type of...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
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Published: |
University of Chicago Press
1924
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In: |
The journal of religion
Year: 1924, Volume: 4, Issue: 3, Pages: 261-280 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Summary: | Although missionaries have assumed that a preliterate people will exchange its native social organization and religion for Christianity, the actual process which takes place when civilized and preliterate peoples meet involves the fusion of native and Christian religion into a third and new type of religion. Among the North American Indians and Eskimos, the Christianizing process has been complicated by the failure of the whites to recognize a social organization among the native tribes and by repressive and restrictive measures on the part of both missionaries and laymen. Among both Indians and Eskimos there has been a survival of native religious ceremonies and beliefs and a re-interpretation of Christianity in the light of the native culture. The Eskimo has succeeded in making a workable orientation of the native and Christian systems of religion. The Indian, through a series of revivals covering more than two hundred years, sought first through revolts an actual return to the days before the advent of the white man, and later, through half-native, half-Christian religions, an expression of his desire for freedom from the repressions of the whites. |
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ISSN: | 1549-6538 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1086/480430 |