We hope that everyone had an amazing summer as we are very excited for the upcoming fall season of the Interfaith Experience. The first event of the season is this Friday, September 26th at 7pm. Please join Seton Hall professor Peter Savastano as he discusses the African-based religions in the diaspora. Our October event will be held on the 24th with the Reverend Fletcher Harper of GreenFaith, an interfaith coalition for the environment.
"African-Based Religions in the Diaspora: An Exploration of Fluidity, Ambiguity, Relationality and Transformation."
When most people are asked to define religion, their response is often "religion is a set of beliefs", especially in those cultures historically associated with the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). While "belief" plays a role in the African based traditions in the Diaspora (i.e., Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santeria or Lucumi, Brazilian Candomble, and others), it is not dominant. Rather, in the African-based Diasporic traditions the focus is on the dynamics of healing ritual activity not creedal statements and/or doctrinal theological formulations.
In the African based traditions in the Diaspora, there is no Pope (to borrow from a
Roman Catholic model), no cannon law, and no formal creed; they are African-based Diasporic traditions resisting institutionalization and centralization. They are dynamic and fluid, constantly expanding and contracting as the need arises. The African-based traditions in the Diaspora absorb and transform what is external to their ritual and symbol system, welcoming the "other" rather than building doctrinal walls to keep out that which is foreign. They are open-ended, rooted in the ritual action of the body, emotions, and intuition. They are innovative, improvisational and have a great capacity for ambiguity, while at the same time having a distinct world view, and a common set of symbols and ritual patterns on which practitioners draw in unique and different ways. These are traditions whose primary focus is on maintaining balanced relationships between the world of the living, the world of the ancestors, the world of the Deities (i.e., the Orisha, the Lwa or the Spirits) and when a practitioner's relationships is out of balance with any of these worlds, re-balancing is sought through divination, trance/possession, and various healing activities.
This lecture will explore the dynamic character of these traditions and the valuable contribution that they make to human spiritual life and to a richer understanding of religion.
When most people are asked to define religion, their response is often "religion is a set of beliefs", especially in those cultures historically associated with the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). While "belief" plays a role in the African based traditions in the Diaspora (i.e., Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santeria or Lucumi, Brazilian Candomble, and others), it is not dominant. Rather, in the African-based Diasporic traditions the focus is on the dynamics of healing ritual activity not creedal statements and/or doctrinal theological formulations.
