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The importance of Catholicism in Kongo - Coggle Diagram
The importance of Catholicism in Kongo
Afonso
Wanted to create a national Christianity that was controlled by his family to
reinforce political structure
Spread of faith followed aristocrat channels- affected by court from changing the traditional educational structure to educating sons in the house of god
Therefore, Christianity can be seen as a route to royal favour
His fight for power- allied himself with outlying chiefs and held a Christian party. His brother opposed this regime. Power for the throne after Joao's death was fought on these two ideologies and Afonso was able to over throw his brother, taking the throne.
A driving factor for Christianity development in Kongo-
the religion never faced any serious challenge after Afonso took to the throne.
Main lines of Kongo's Christian adaptation came within Afonso's reign
FE: clerics arrived in Kongo and attached themselves to the royal service. Henrique (Afonso's son) was established as a bishop-
this resulted in a well-organised church that adjusted to Kongo's political and social system
Also fits in line with Afonso wanted to embed Christianity into Kongo's society through his relatives to stabilise political structure
Afonso established Christian framework into a lasting part of Kongo's culture that reached the capital all the way to remote country villages through providing dozens of churches
Afonso wanted to frame religious adaptations in Kongo on a European framework. Provincial governors became dukes and court officials became counts. Other religious fineries from Lisbon were distributed into Kongo's aristocraty.
Symbolises a hardening of social structure through the development of Christianity
Conversion to Christianity was a voluntary act on behalf of the ruling class
Began with baptisms in 1491- chief of Soyo and Mbata
Joao
Adopted Christianity as a source of power
Towards the end of his reign he cooled into the adaptation to Christianity
Portugal had reinforced central power in Kongo and elements hostile to central administration critisised abandonment of local customs-
allowing Kongo to predict calamity
Development of Christianity as a tool to maintain relations with Europe.
Christianity can be seen as a foreign religion to Kongo as it was introduced by Europeans and prioritised their interests over Kongo's.
Christianity could be seen as undermining Kongo's sovereignty- historians began to view it as part of a semi-colonial relationship between Europe and Kongo
Christian influence is often measured by the amount of European clergy in the country- the church was strong when Afonso was in power with many portuguese priests, but this changed in C17 when priests abandoned for Angola.
Leads to argument that Christian influence wasn't that important as it began to deplete.
Diogo
Support of adoption of christianity for religious reasons- Diogo 1 only turned from christianity to support the national interests against Portugal as a result of the unsuccessful Jesuit mission to Kongo
Diogo also respected the Church and claimed to be obedient to it
Diogo's reign- support for religious reasons
Christianity seemed to fit into Kongo's conception of the universe- Kongo implemeted Catholic traditions into their relgious system
Included the development of baptisms
Religious reasons because Christianity was easily embedded into Kongo society: connection between the priests and the kimpari.
kimpari retracted the traditionalism in Catholic practices but priests did not eliminate this. This relationship between the two is what allowed relating baptism to Kongo's beliefs much easier
Kongo itself participated in creating the unique form of Christian religion
(kimpari and priests, only wanted baptism for Christian sacrament and priests taking role of Nganaga)
nationalised the religion and was what allowed it to be so successful.