Old Wine in New Wineskins. Traditionalists and Christians among the Rukuba / Vin vieux, outres neuves. Traditionalistes et chrétiens chez les Rukuba - article ; n°1 ; vol.38, pg 49-62

Jean-Claude Muller.

Description

Archives des sciences sociales des religions - Année 1974 - Volume 38 - Numéro 1 - Pages 49-62
Cet article examine les raisons données par les Rukuba chrétiens pour leur conversion et celles données par les traditionalistes pour leur non-conversion. Les premiers prétendent — s'appuyant sur des preuves tirées de certains rituels traditionnels — que tous les Rukuba étaient déjà chrétiens auparavant et que le christianisme apporté par les missions n'a fait, en quelque sorte, que les remettre sur le droit chemin. Les traditionalistes, de leur côté, s'arrangent pour ne voir que les similitudes entre les dogmes chrétiens et certains aspects de leur pratique, et estiment qu'en fait les deux doctrines sont si semblables dans le fond qu'il n'est pas nécessaire pour eux de se convertir. L''analyse, d'une part, des raisons qui ont motivé la conversion des Rukuba chrétiens et, d'autre part, de révolution de leur communauté chrétienne, permet de démontrer que les facteurs « intellectuels », qui seraient, selon certains auteurs, les principales raisons de conversion en Afrique, ne le sont certainement pas pour les Rukuba. Ceux-ci sont, en effet, plutôt déterminés par les facteurs socio-économiques lorsqu'ils se convertissent.
14 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Archives-des-sciences-sociales-des-religions
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1974
• Nombre de lectures: 21
• Langue: Français
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

LABBENS
Old Wine in New Wineskins. Traditionalists and Christians
among the Rukuba / Vin vieux, outres neuves. Traditionalistes et
chrétiens chez les Rukuba
In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions. N. 38, 1974. pp. 49-62.
Résumé
Cet article examine les raisons données par les Rukuba chrétiens pour leur conversion et celles données par les traditionalistes
pour leur non-conversion. Les premiers prétendent — s'appuyant sur des preuves tirées de certains rituels traditionnels — que
tous les Rukuba étaient déjà chrétiens auparavant et que le christianisme apporté par les missions n'a fait, en quelque sorte, que
les remettre sur le droit chemin. Les traditionalistes, de leur côté, s'arrangent pour ne voir que les similitudes entre les dogmes
chrétiens et certains aspects de leur pratique, et estiment qu'en fait les deux doctrines sont si semblables dans le fond qu'il n'est
pas nécessaire pour eux de se convertir.
L''analyse, d'une part, des raisons qui ont motivé la conversion des Rukuba chrétiens et, d'autre part, de révolution de leur
communauté chrétienne, permet de démontrer que les facteurs « intellectuels », qui seraient, selon certains auteurs, les
principales raisons de conversion en Afrique, ne le sont certainement pas pour les Rukuba. Ceux-ci sont, en effet, plutôt
déterminés par les facteurs socio-économiques lorsqu'ils se convertissent.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
LABBENS. Old Wine in New Wineskins. Traditionalists and Christians among the Rukuba / Vin vieux, outres neuves.
Traditionalistes et chrétiens chez les Rukuba. In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions. N. 38, 1974. pp. 49-62.
doi : 10.3406/assr.1974.2040
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/assr_0335-5985_1974_num_38_1_2040Arch Sc soc des Rel. 38 1974 49-62
Jean-Claude MULLER
OLD WINE IN NEW WINESKINS
Traditionalists and Christians among the R-ukuba
Benue-Plateau State Nigeria
pour nécessaire tirées tionalistes non-conversion chrétiens les fait dogmes fait les Cet leur de deux certains article en auparavant pour conversion chrétiens de quelque doctrines leur eux examine Les rituels côté sorte de premiers et et certains se sont arrangent traditionnels celles que les convertir si raisons le prétendent les données aspects semblables christianisme remettre pour données par de que ne leur sur les dans tous voir appuyant par pratique le apporté traditionalistes droit les que le les fond Rukuba les chemin Ruku par et similitudes sur il estiment les ba des étaient Les pour ni chrétiens missions preuves est tradi en entre déjà leur pas
analyse une part des raisons qui ont motivé la conversion des
Rukuba chrétiens et autre part de évolution de leur communauté
chrétienne permet de démontrer que les facteurs intellectuels qui
seraient selon certains auteurs les principales raisons de conversion en
Afrique ne le sont certainement pas pour les Rukuba Ceux-ci sont en
effet plutôt déterminés par les facteurs socio-économiques ils se
convertissent
HIS article will endeavour to show how Rukuba Christians and Traditionalists
perceive each other both vis-a-vis the newly introduced religion and vis-a-
vis the traditional Rukuba creed It will be shown that both groups have good
ideological reasons stemming from traditional dogma either for becoming Chris
tian or to remaining Traditionalist One of our tasks will also be to ask how Chris
tians justify their conversion and how Traditionalists view Christianity
In order to do so we shall have some methodological points to examine along
the way because it appears to me some problems have too often been dealt
with in the wrong perspective First regarding the spread of Christianity iti
wrong to state simply that such and such people resist missionization as it
is so often summarily done By talking of resistance one can consciously
or unconsciously be led by our ethnocentrism which takes Christianity as being
better and this is still to be proved than paganism Or an anthropologist
Fieldwork was conducted from 1964 to 1967 when was employed by UNESCO in the
neighbouring town of Jos Subsequent stays in the summer 1968 and in the winter 1971-72 were
respectively financed by the University of Rochester N.Y the Canada Council
49 DE SCIENCES SOCIALES DES RELIGIONS ARCHIVES
can be on the contrary non-Christian for whom evangelization
is what people should do by definition Pagan religion is here seen as better
priori Both attitudes are generated by false assumptions and the relevant question
to investigate seems to me rather why people get converted in the first place
Only after putting the question in this form can one query the next point about
resistance or indifference to the new faith There may be reasons for resistance
stepping from the local theology and creed for instance outright rejection of
anything foreign can be embodied in the local dogma but there may very often
be another little studied aspect of the question when people submitted to
missionization does not follow the creed presented or sometimes imposed
to them there must be factors stemming from certain knowledge of the new
creed knowledge either directly imparted by the missionaries or indirectly by the
new converts which lead them to refuse the new religion
When missionization is under way even the most sceptical Traditionalist
has at least rough knowledge of what the advertised product is all about It
seems that anthropologists who study traditional religions do not ask pagans
what they know of the new faith introduced in their midst this possibly to
preserve the idea that pagans are not yet polluted even by mere knowledge
of the new ideology This to me is serious shortcoming for Traditionalists
know certainly more about the new religion than one may think and their reactions
to it and the ideas they cultivate about it may enlighten us on some of their
religious conceptions and on their world view
How Traditionalists and converts debate these issues among themselves
seems also to me to be an essential part of any anthropological investigation
Unfortunately most studies in religion deal with this point tangentially if at
all one is presented more often than not with either the Traditionalist view or
conversely we are told what happens in revivalistic or syncretic movements
after Christianity has been adopted These studies focusing on specific problems
leave aside the interactions of Christians and Traditionalists in daily life and they
do not deal with the reciprocal opinions of both communities regarding the relative
validity of their respective creeds Of course there are few exceptions and
perhaps an explanation for the most common attitude is that in many places
anthropologists have already found on the one hand heavily or totally Christia
nized populations very often with some kind of syncretism or on the other hand
they have met with two groups the Christians and the Traditionalists within
one population and the study concentrates from personal interest and/or for
lack of time on the one deemed the most important
Our description and analysis will also permit us to assess in conclusion the
value of the intellectualist approach versus that of the socio-structural
approach to conversion in West Africa
Among the Rukuba missionization started early after British conquest It
was not very harsh and the missionary efforts were not too overtly backed by the
British administration this explains partly why after more than fifty years of
evangelization the number of Christians is only to of the total popula
tion
In order to discuss the relationships between the two groups brief outline
of Rukuba social organization is needed The Rukuba patri-virilocal agricultural
people numbering around 12.000 live immediately south-west of Jos the capital
HORTON African Conversion Africa 41 1971 pp 91-112 IFEKA-MOLLER
White-Power Socio-Structural Factors in Conversion to Christianity Eastern Nigeria 1921-
1966 Canadian Journal of African Studies 1974 pp 55-72
Ph MAYER Townsmen or Tribesmen Xhosa in Town Cape Town Oxford University
Press 1961
HORTON op cit
IFEKA-MOLLER Op
50 THE
town of Benue-Plateau State Nigeria They are grouped in more than twenty
villages each ruled by chief who is religious head as well The chief is assisted
in his task by several other ritual leaders who perform distinctive rites for the
benefit of the village as whole The Rukuba are almost all farmers who sell some
of their crops or go to the nearby tin minefields for short periods in order to get
cash to be able to pay their taxes or to buy clothes post-colonial introduction
Men may have several wives if they can persuade them to stay with them
whereas women can have several husbands simultaneously but they can cohabit
with only one at time The whole tribe is united among other things by
pan-tribal ritual calendar which takes if we follow the Rukuba ideal view of
things fourteen years to complete Each geographico-ritual section there
are five of them performs the various rituals and