African religion emerged gradually from lived experience, not from a founder’s revelation

Evidence

Before the introduction of Christianity by European missionaries, Black people – or the Luba people in this case – had their own religions, which are variously referred to today as African Religions (AR) or simply African Religion. Unlike Christianity and Islam, which have a founder who appears and provides instructions about how to live, AR does not have a founder with such privileges. The belief system arose slowly out of the African people’s existential situations and experiences of life. According to Mbiti (1991, p.16), African religion “evolved slowly through many centuries, as people responded to the situations of their life and reflected upon their experiences”. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 159

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies what distinguishes African Religion from Christianity and Islam: no founder, gradual emergence from existential experience.
• XREF: Connects to Mbiti’s classic work on African Religions and Philosophy; the founderless-emergent-religion contrast parallels similar distinctions in study of indigenous religions generally.