Has the Distinction between Primitive and Higher Religions Any Sociological
Significance?
Author(s): K. A. Busia
Source: Archives de sociologie des religions , Jul. - Dec., 1963, 8e Année, No. 16 (Jul. -
Dec., 1963), pp. 22-25
Published by: EHESS
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/30127534
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HAS THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN
PRIMITIVE AND HIGHER RELIGIONS
ANY SOCIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE ?
ONE could raise several questions of definition before tackling such a subject,
in order to make clear to oneself, as well as to others, the scope and limi-
tations of the subject under discussion. One could begin by asking, for example,
how one defines and distinguishes (( primitive ) from ( higher ) religions, or what
( sociological ) is intended to cover in this context. At meetings dealing with the
comparative sociology of religion, such questions are inevitable, and unavoidable,
and will no doubt frequently arise in the course of the discussions of this section.
But it would be stifling to attempt the definitions and distinctions at the
beginning, and in order to avoid a tardy take-off by undertaking what I do not
feel competent to do, I leave these questions for discussion at the Conference.
In what follows, I may state at the outset, that I write from a rather limited
experience, against the background of what I know of the ( primitive ) religions
of Africa, and of the invasion of Africa of two << higher a religions : Christianity
and Islam.
Our subject compels us to try to grasp, as far as possible, the relations between
religions and the social structures out of which they have grown or within which
they are practised.
African traditional religions are polytheistic and animistic; their world is
peopled with many gods and spirits. Islam and Christianity are on the other hand
monotheistic religions, and one may ask whether the difference has any sociolo-
gical significance.
The religions of Africa have grown among communities that were generally
small in size, more or less self-contained, and isolated from other communities.
It may be postulated that changes in a people's religious concepts, from poly-
theism to monotheism, follow changes in social organisation, from the growth,
by peaceful means or otherwise, of isolated tribes into nations. From the ancient
world of Africa, the history of Egyptian religion would support this hypothesis.
Egyptian religion was polytheistic; a particularly marked feature was the worship
of animals : the ape, the bull, the cat, the cobra, the cow, the crocodile, the dog,
the fish, the goat, the goose, the grasshoper, the hawk, the hippopotamus, the
lion, the pig, the scorpion, and the vulture, were all worshipped as gods. One
theory advanced for this is that each clan considered itself to have descended
in the remote past from the particular animal which its clan members worshipped.
So with the many tribes of the Egyptians were as many gods.
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PRIMITIVE AND HIGHER RELIGIONS
When later the tribes were consolidated into city-states, some of t
gods lost in importance, and one or other of the gods gained ascendanc
supreme god of the new political unit. When the city-states were unit
nation, a similar development took place. The gods of a city-state that was
conquered were subordinated to the gods of the victor. Thus a tendency towards
monotheism paralleled the development toward nationhood; and when Egypt
became an empire, the national gods, in order to be acceptable to the other
nations of the empire, became international.
One might venture to discern a similar development in the religion of the
ancient Hebrews from which chrisitianity sprang. During the patriarchal period,
from the days of Abraham to that of Moses, the unit of social organisation was
the clan; and each clan had its own god, whose interests were identical with
those of the clan. One of the tasks of Moses, when he led the tribes of Israel out
of bondage in Egypt to the borders of the ( promised ) land was to weld the tribes
into a nation. Yahweh not only required political unity among the tribes of
Israel, but also religious unity; they must all discard their tribal gods, and
worship only Yahweh. The Ark of Covenant was a symbol of the relation between
the One God and his people, who were one nation.
It was after the return of the Hebrews from the Babylonian Captivity of the
Sixth Century B.C., during the process of national reconstruction, that the sense
of mission to the Gentile became manifest. Yahweh was conceived as the God
of all peoples, and not only of the Hebrews. This internationalism owed somethin
to the experience of the Captivity, and the contact with other peoples. The
monotheism of the Hebrews can be said to have grown out of their historical
experience.
By contrast, Mohammedanism started off as a monotheistic religion, because
Mohammed borrowed much from the Jews and the early Christiarns ; but it i
noteworthy that he aroused the hostility of his own people because he did not
recognise their many gods; and after the Hejira of 622 A.D., he had to resort
to force to build a nation as well as establish a national, monotheistic religion
among his people.
In many parts of Africa, polytheistic religions still exist; they are essentially
tribal religions. Will these survive the nationbuilding that is going on in Afric
today, or will the (( emergent nations ) discover or evolve national religions, albei
rooted in African traditions ? That such a search is going on is discernible in
contemporary (( traditionalism the self-concious search for African Culture
Whether it will result in monotheism is a moot question, but political pressure
social change, and the impact of Christianity and Islam compel modifications to
religious practice and belief. Contemporary means of communication break down
isolationism, and make possible an enlargement which is a threat to tradi-
tional polytheism.
Traditional African religions strongly express a sense of dependence on, the
deities and spirits which are worshipped through many religious rites to propi
tiate the gods and spirits, or to avert evils, or bring blessings. Traditional religion
is primarily participation in ritual. The ritual is indeed an expression of belief,
but this is implicit rather than explicit, secondary rather than primary.
This is in sharp contrast with Christianity, and to a less degree with Islam
where the creed, or the affirmation of belief, is primary, and ritual is secondary
The emphasis on belief is historical and significant. It stems from the Western
tradition where the Greeks long ago introduced the principle of reason int
religion. The Greeks sought a religion that satisfied the intellect, and originated
a tradition which had something to do with the doctrinal disputes of the early
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ARCHIVES DE SOCIOLOGIE DBS RELIGIONS
church. Christianity originating in the Near East, spread to the Western
of the Roman Empire. The two parts of the empire were different in many
and disputes arose in religion and politics alike. The West developed the Chu
law and organisation; the speculative East busied itself with doctrine
first of the ecumenical councils, that of Nicaea (A.D. 325), exemplifies the di
which gave emphasis to belief and doctrine. Fundamentally, the schism w
to the division between the Western and Eastern parts of the Roman Emp
to racial and linguistic differences, as well as to different habits of though
plurality of religions, interpretations, doctrines, and heresies that ensued c
emphasis to be placed on doctrine and belief. The disputations, much of w
was in writing, point to another important difference between the Primi
religions of Africa, and Islam or Christianity. The latter are (( Religions o
Book s. They have the tradition of writing and written disputation; and w
is of sociological significance. It makes it possible to reach an audience bey
the tribe, clan or even a nation, and consequently to take account of other p
It is noteworthy that the higher religions are universal in their scope, an
sionary in their vision, each considering it its duty to gather all humanit
its fold. It is perhaps not stretching the point too far to see in the strugg
between Church and State in the Middle Ages, the medieval Church strug
to become the religious counterpart of the Empire. Thus historical experie
gave the principle of universality a meaningful, realizable vision. Not havin
such historical experiences, traditional African religions have remained lim
in scope and vision. They meet the needs and yearnings of the groups to w
they belong.
It used to be held that only the higher religions were specially concern
with morality and that primitive religions had no such concerns. This has
challenged by students of primitive religions. In traditional African socie
religion supports the laws and customs and the accepted rules of conduct.
is noteworthy, however, is that the morality sanctioned by primitive reli
enjoins good behaviour within the family, tribe, or nation with which the
or spirits are particularly identified; whereas Christianity or Islam and the
world religions, in line with the principle of universality, each arrives at
of conduct which is universal in scope. They all teach universal kindliness
goodwill such as cc What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow creat
(Hebrew: Hillel, Sab. 319), or cc Always treat others as you would like them
treat you a (Christian, Matthew 7, 12).
Not that such universalism is imcompatible with the morality of prim
religions; but that religion on the one side, and the other institutions of so
on the other, are so closely united and interdependent that the at-
tention of the gods and spirits are thought to centre almost wholly on the parti-
cular tribe or nation they protect. Self-contained, isolated tribes 'conceive the
activities of their gods to be limited to their own needs and aspirations.
Religion concerns itself with the relations between the Deity and man,
between man and man, and with the relations of man with his universe. Behind
much of the ritual of primitive religions lie implicit assumptions of the nature
of the universe. The science, technology, and philosophy of a people influence
their religion and vice-versa; and it is in this sphere that the distinction between
primitive and the higher religions has the most arresting sociological signifi-
cance. The primitive religions of Africa envisage a world in which the spiritual
and the material, the living and the dead, all interact on one another and belong
to the same universe; it is largely a universe of spirits in which the rigid compart-
mentalisation into sacred and secular and the barrier between the living and the
dead are not erected. This is not because there is absolute ignorance of causality
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PRIMITIVE AND HIGHER RELIGIONS
in the realm of nature; within the limits of their own science and
they understand causality; but the more limited the scientific kn
people, the wider the events which are ascribed to deities and spir
greater the events which are covered by religious ritual.
In the sociology of religion, a great deal of research has still to
the cosmology of primitive religions; on their concepts of nature,
and the supernatural world, and of the place of man in Nature
Not being (( Religions of the Book n, we can only hope to arrive at
from empirical studies of rituals; but it seems to me distinctions
sociological significance between primitive and higher religions ca
through comparative studies of the cosmologies of primitive and hig
There are those who having studied some primitive religions hav
themselves with the conclusion that these religions perform a soc
but that the social function of a religion does not depend on its tru
but on the sentiments of solidarity it evokes or promotes amo
participate in its rituals.
The sociology of religion cannot stop at this conclusion, for co
must be given to the cosmology implied or expressed by ritual
International African Institute published African Worlds,a volume
the Cosmological Ideas and Social Values of African Peoples. Th
portray not only that concepts of the universe of the peoples concer
related to their social organisation, but also that their myths, ritua
postulate subtle metaphysical concepts.
Hence I would contend that truth and falsity are relevant to re
mitive or higher, for, as the Greeks taught through their enquiries
satisfy the intellect, if it is to survive. It must make sense of hum
and knowledge. This leads me to submit that the criteria for d
between primitive and higher religions must include rationality. Re
or rituals that knowledge or experience shows to be false or irratio
tually discarded. Hence it is that those higher religions that claim
the truth have increasingly had to emphasize creed and doctrine.
mitive religions make no claims to a monopoly of truth; polytheism
tance of the fact that other religions may be equally true, or even
is why polytheism is a hospitable religion prepared to embrace oth
creeds; nevertheless, primitive religions too must meet the challen
reason and experimental science, and face consequential adaptat
the threat of extinction from the encounter. For sociological theo
this could be of important significance. It would offer more ca
testing the hypothesis that there is continuous reciprocal adjustm
the religious beliefs, ethical standards, and social experience of
hence further illuminate the sociological significance of the distinc
primitive and higher religions which have developed in different so
On the basis of this hypothesis, we would answer the question posed
of this paper in the affirmative, as a tentative deduction from wh
already.
K. A. BUSTA,
The Selly Oak Colleges
Birmingham.
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