Receptivity of Animistic Peoples to Christianity
Historically the great growth of the Christian movement has been at the expense of animistic religions. John Stott writes, "The great mass movements into the church have, generally speaking, involved people of broadly 'animistic' background. By comparison very few of those who have inherited one of the major 'culture-religions'- Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Moslems and Marxists-have been won to Christ" (Stott and Coote 1980, viii). For example, when Adoniram Judson died after 37 years of labor in Burma, he left only 100 converts from Buddhism but 7,000 converts from the animistic Karens (Stott and Coote 1980, viii).
Most early converts into the Christian church in Gentile contexts were also animistic. Michael Green asks what attracted the ordinary Gentiles to Christianity in the early church and concludes that "perhaps the greatest single factor which appealed to the man in the street was deliverance from demons, from Fate, from magic" (1970, 123). He gives many examples from the early Christian church. Tatian spoke of his "rescue . . . from a multiplicity of rulers and 10,000 tyrants" (Address to the Greeks 29). Justin said, "We who formerly used magic arts, dedicate ourselves to the good and unbegotten God, . . ." (First Apology 14). He knew of "wicked and deceitful spirits . . . which are hostile to God and whom we of old time served" (Dialogue 30). The belief that arrangement of the stars governs events on the earth "accounts for the courageous resignation of the Stoics," but "Jesus was preached as Lord, Master of the scroll of destiny, the one who breaks the dominance of the astral powers on man" (Green 1970, 124). Ignatius records how "all magic was dissolved and every band of wickedness vanished away, ignorance was removed and the old kingdom was destroyed" (Ephesians 19). Belief in magic was so prevalent in Irenaeus' day that he was forced to contrast Christian miracles to magic (Against Heresies 2.32.3). These early Christians, like the Thessalonians, "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Thess. 1:9).
Much of Northern Europe was also animistic before Christian evangelists proclaimed the Way to deliver the inhabitants "from the domain of darkness." Northern Europeans were involved in spirit worship and magic when Boniface first went to Germany. He bravely confronted animistic practices by cutting down the sacred oak of the thunder god and, by doing so, demonstrated the power of God over both the taboo of the tree as well as the spirit which stood behind the tree (Tucker 1983, 47). The Irish in Patrick's day "worshiped the sun, moon, wind, water, fire, and rocks, and believed in good and evil spirits of all kinds inhabiting the trees and hills" (Tucker 1983, 39). Although Patrick experienced opposition from the Druids, who upheld the Irish folk religious system, he accepted the Druid social order and proved "himself a mightier druid than the pagan druids." He planted two hundred churches and baptized an estimated 100,000 converts. Most likely a residue of animistic belief "continued for centuries in Celtic Christianity" (Tucker 1983, 39-40) because of Patrick's mixing of the Christian and the animistic. Thus European Christians can look back in history to their animistic heritage.
For a variety of reasons animists remain the most reachable of all the peoples of the world. First, animistic peoples live with an all-pervasive fear of ancestors, spirits, magic, and witchcraft. However, the Christian message provides an ideology in which "perfect love drives out fear" (1John 4:18). Christ has triumphed over the principalities and powers which undergird animistic systems and put them to open shame (Col. 2:15). Second, while animists fear disharmony, which tears society apart, the Christian message shows how people can truly live in harmony with both God and man. This harmony is not based on humans manipulating the divine; rather, the Christian learns to place his life dependently in the hands of the sovereign God, who is worshipped as Lord of lords and King of kings. Third, tribal animists have been especially receptive because their worldviews are inadequate to explain technologies which seek to control nature. Tribal animists, who believe that trees and rocks contain powerful nature spirits, are shocked when bulldozers and tractors destroy sacred trees and push aside rocks while constructing a new road. Christianity, however, presents God as the creator of all things, who has put humans in charge of his creation (Gen. 1:26). Fourth, the animistic system is typically amoral. The spirits and forces appeased and propitiated in Animism are morally ambivalent. However, moral and righteous Creator God calls the animist into relationship with him. In these ways the Christian system is appealing to the animist.
Because of the receptivity of animistic people, who make up at least 40 percent of the world's population, the church of Christ needs effective evangelists trained to communicate the Gospel in ways that the animist will understand.
Works Cited
Green, Michael. 1970. Evangelism in the Early Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Ignatius. 1926. Epistle to the Ephesians. In The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 1. New York: Scribner's.
Irenaeus. 1926. Against heresies. In The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 1. New York: Scribner's.
Justin Martyr. 1926. Dialogue with Trypho. In The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 1. New York: Scribner's.
________. 1926. First Apology. In The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 1. New York: Scribner's.
Stott, John R. W., and Robert Coote, eds. 1980. Down to Earth: Studies in Christianity and Culture. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Tatian. 1926. Address to the Greeks. In The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 1. New York: Scribner's.
Tucker, Ruth A. 1983. From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Bibliographical History of Christian Missions. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Copyright ©2000 by Gailyn
Van Rheenen -- excerpt from Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts (Pasadena:
William Carey Library, 1996)
All rights reserved. If you wish to copy this information, please e-mail
Dr. Van Rheenen.