◆Date & Time: Friday, June 7, 2019 5:40 - 7:10 pm

◆Venue: Room322, Research and Lecture Building, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

◆Speaker: Prof. Paul Gifford (Emeritus Professor, SOAS, University of London)

◆Theme: African Religion in Comparison with Western

◆Report:

Professor Paul Gifford, Emeritus Professor, SOAS, University of London, on June 7, 2019, delivered a lecture at the 35th African Studies Center Seminar, Tokyo University of Foreign, on the theme: "African Religion in Comparison with Western."

Professor Paul Gifford informed the audience that, spiritual forces, or what he called an "enchanted religious imagination," has been pervasive in Africa. Particularly employing the context of Senegal, Professor Paul Gifford said, it has been widely used by many people, as well as believed by many of the denizens used for varied purposes in sport, politics, and courts. Furthermore, Professor Paul Gifford said, such "enchanted religious imagination," or Marabout, are also used as a means to covertly advance the quest for achievement of preponderance privileges above others, as well as influence love, money, restrict physical movement, cause sickness etc. In Senegal, he said that, "Marabout" is widely used to control these spiritual forces.

Professor Paul Gifford stated that, the west used to experience similar enchanted religious imagination, many decades ago, but, with the emergence of science and the associated benefits, the era experienced cognitive shift, which had influenced the way reality has been conceptualized, leading to the abandonment of other ideologies that existed in previous past. He also stated that, with the cognitive shift in thinking and understanding of reality, has resulted into an incremental decline in the Christian numeracy, in the West, and instead of extreme focus on religiosity by many Christian clerics, as was the vogue in many years ago, ecological and other social phenomena issues, have emerged as among some of the main discourses invariably advanced.

In conclusion, Professor Paul Gifford specified that, the comparison between the two, was not projected to make any argument for moral superiority of one over the other, but, as a contribution on how reality have come to be understood from different fronts.