Glimpses of Animism

    Kipsigis Tribe, Kenya--1984:  The day that Jonathan died was the saddest of days.  Jonathan had been a pillar of the church.  He had even taken the gospel back home and taught his mother and father to know Jesus Christ.  As an effective arbitrator of disputes, he was deeply respected by the village.  His sudden death had been a shock to the community.  As the casket, made from roughhewn boards, was lowered into the ground, even the stoic old men of the village wept.

    In Jonathan's mind his illness could be traced to an incident when one of his neighbors borrowed a cow from another neighbor to provide milk for his family.  When the owner came to get the cow, the neighbor concealed that the cow had given birth to a calf and that the calf had been sold.  When the owner eventually heard that his cow had calved, he angrily returned to demand possession of the calf.  He was told that the calf had been sold but that another would be purchased and given to him instead.  While these negotiations were going on, the wife of the man who had borrowed the cow became sick and died.  Many in the community began to whisper that witchcraft had killed the woman; others concluded that her death was in retribution for the sins of the family for selling the calf.

    Jonathan became involved when he talked with the daughter-in-law of the man who had borrowed the cow.  Her husband, Richard, became very angry when he heard that Jonathan, an outsider, was interfering.  Richard rushed to Jonathan's house and cursed him.

    Soon Jonathan became very ill.  At the hospital he was described as having diabetes complicated by malaria and a severe infection.  But Jonathan's worldview could not describe disease merely in terms of physical causes.  As pain and fear increased, Jonathan screamed "Richard! Richard!" in his delirium.  His mind could only think "Richard! Richard! Why have you cursed me?"

    Jonathan's dying screams came out of the deep recesses of the Kipsigis worldview.  Kipsigis believe that there are spiritual causations to all sudden and severe illnesses.

    Kipsigis Christians who were at the hospital caring for Jonathan heard his dying screams.  They understood that Jonathan had believed in the curse and did not have adequate faith in the power of Christ to counter it.  "Why didn't he have the faith to counter the power of a curse?" they asked.  "Is our faith adequate to withstand the power of Satan?"  They questioned Jonathan's faith and at the same time wondered about their own.

    Abilene, Texas--1988:  An insightful Brazilian woman living in the United States and dating a future Brazilian missionary has aptly challenged the naiveté of future American missionaries going to her country.  While critiquing one of my papers on Brazilian Spiritism, she wrote a series of reflective questions concerning the typical missionary's lack of preparation in dealing with animistic religion.
a.  How can we expect missionaries to be effective if no realistic
    preparation about Spiritism is offered prior to going to my country?
b.  Considering that Americans do not understand the concept of
    spirits existing in our world today, how can they understand the
    Brazilian mind and culture and succeed in spreading the genuine
    message of God?
c.  How cynical are untrained missionaries toward beliefs in Spiritism?
    (Da Silva, 1988).

    White House, Washington D.C.--1988:  Who decided the exact time when President Reagan and Premier Gorbachev would sign the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty?  According to Time's cover story "Astrology in the White House," the astonishing answer seems to be the astrologer Joan Quigley, a sixty-year old Vassar graduate who has written three books on astrology (Seaman 1988, 25).  Donald Regan, the disgruntled former White House Chief of Staff, has written:
Virtually every major move or decision the Reagans made during my time as White House chief of staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise.  (1988a, 26)

    First Lady Nancy Reagan dabbled in astrology as far back as 1967.  Her trust in astrology, however, was bolstered in 1981 when Quigley showed her that the astrologer's chart predicted extreme danger for the President around March 30.  On that date John Hinckley had severely wounded the President with a handgun.  From that time on Mrs. Reagan consistently consulted her astrologer to determine "propitious" times for her husband to travel, to make public appearances, and even to sign treaties (Seaman 1988, 25).  She later wrote, "Astrology was simply one of the ways I coped with the fear I felt after my husband almost died in the assassination attempt (Reagan 1989, 56).

    Nancy Reagan's use of astrology is only one of many examples of animistic practices in the United States.  Shirley MacLaine's five books on the New Age movement have sold more than 8 million copies.  Out On a Limb, her third volume, describes her personal walk as she discovered the spirit world.  In 1987 this book was made into a five-hour TV extravaganza promoting New Age thinking.  Numerous Hollywood movies depict the dead in some way coming back to guide or help the living.

    Personal spiritual beings are channeled by New Age practitioners.  The much heralded J. Z. Knight professes to be the medium channeling the messages of Ramtha, a 35,000yearold warrior who reports that he once lived on Atlantis.  Jo Ann Karl believes she channels the spirits of the archangel Gabriel and a spirit named Ashtar.   Neville Rowe, a New Zealander who now lives in California, claims to channel the spirit of the astral being Soli (Friedrich 1987, 66). 

    Belief in impersonal spiritual forces is becoming more widespread.  An estimated 50 million Americans "casually or in dead earnest look to the alignment of the stars for guidance" (Seaman 1988, 25)!  Dr. Delores Krieger in her nursing classes at New York University teaches the art of therapeutic touch to transfer mystical healing power (Friedrich 1987, 65).  Despite opposition by conservative Christians, Edward Winchester has formed a Pentagon Meditation Club to link "individual `peace shields' to protect humanity" ("Peace Shield," 1988) by the unified force of global meditation.  Although Animism remains only a substream in American culture, animistic practices are beginning to proliferate in the post-Christian age. 

    Although these rites are classified under "New Age," they are not new; they are merely reformulations of old beliefs practiced in various ways in animistic contexts throughout the world.  A subheading of Time rightly comments that "a strange mix of spirituality and superstition is sweeping across the country" (Friedrich 1987, 62).  From Nancy Reagan to Shirley MacLaine to J. Z. Knight, animistic customs of New Age thinking are being promoted and practiced in the United States of America. 

    These three glimpses of Animism--one from Kenya, another relating to the inadequacy of missionary training for animistic cultures, and the third from the United States--provoke many questions.  Are animistic worldviews "logical"?  Should these perceptions be taken seriously?  How are Christian missionaries to learn about animistic beliefs of a given people when they are hidden from outsiders?  How does Christianity deal with the issues posed by animistic religion?  What does the Bible have to say about animistic practices?  What biblical model must be presented in communicating God's eternal message to animistic people?

Works Cited

Friedrich, Otto. 1987. New Age harmonies. Time, 7 December, 62-72.

Peace shield. 1988. Time, 25 April, 42.

Reagan, Nancy, with William Novak. 1989. My turn: The memoirs of Nancy Reagan. Newsweek, 23 October, 52-66. Excerpts from My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan. 1989. New York: Random House.

Regan, Donald T. 1988a. For the record. Time, 16 May, 26-40.

Seaman, Barrett. 1988. Good heavens! Time, 16 May, 24-25.

Copyright ©2000 by Gailyn Van Rheenen -- excerpt from Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1996)

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