Understanding and Engaging Animism

    Welcome to the newest website of The Missiology Homepage family of sites.  This page is intended to help the Christian evangelist effectively communicate God's eternal message in animistic contexts.  

    Animism, as explored on this website, is not merely the religion of tribal societies.  Animism is prevalent in every continent and is part of every culture, although it is more formative in some than others.  In Western contexts animistic customs include channeling and magical use of crystals in the New Age movement, ritual practices of the occult, and the readings of the horoscopes to perceive how the alignment of heavenly bodies affect the living.  Spiritism in Brazil, Santeria in Cuba, voodoo in Haiti, ancestral veneration among the Chinese, Shintoism in Japan, and cargo cult in Melanesia are all types of animistic systems.

    There are also animistic undercurrents to all major religions as they are practiced around the world.  for example, spiritism is an ideology followed by most Catholics in Brazil.  Many Muslims not only worship God at the mosque on Friday but also venerate holy men at their tombs.  Hindus not only believe in karma, reincarnation, and samsara, but they also presume that rakasas (evil spirits) and ancestors influence life and, therefore, must be manipulated and controlled.

    Paradoxically most of the people coming to Christ in the world are of an animistic tradition, while the missionaries initiating movements and evangelizing in those contexts are of a secular heritage.  We pray that this website will help equip missionaries from a largely secular background to minister in the animistic contexts of the world. 

    I invite you to enter into this study about communicating Christ in animistic contexts by sending us new links, definitions, and illustrations.

Gailyn Van Rheenen