Catholic hierarchy tried to suppress Tempels’s book as heretical

Evidence

There were immediate reactions to Tempels’s book. French philosopher Gaston Bachelard greeted Tempels’s book as a treasure. Senegalese intellectual Alioune Diop pledged his faith on it and wrote an introduction to the French version, in which he described Bantu Philosophy as the most influential work he had ever read. In this work Tempels rebutted the primitiveness of Africa and affirmed its lived philosophy. Nevertheless, the book met with stiffresistance from the Roman Catholic hierarchy. For example, Bishop Jean-Felix de Hemptinne tried to control the circulation of Bantu Philosophy and persuade Rome to condemn the book as heretical. He even insisted that Tempels be expelled from the country. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 520

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why did the Church fear a book that was, in effect, evangelizing-friendly? Possibly because it admitted African religious-philosophical depth.