Africa is a continent crucified by famine and war, pestilence and poverty. For Christianity, however, it is a continent of resurrection. Even as older churches in Europe and the U.S. are emptying, faith is thriving in the sprawling lands south of the Sahara. As is so often the case, spiritual strength is inspiring -- and being inspired by -- an outpouring of artistic creation. "We are on the verge of a golden age in African Christian art," proclaims Jesuit Father Engelbert Mveng of Cameroon. "The movement cannot be stopped, and it is bursting out in flower all over Africa."
Not since Europe's Renaissance has such a large and varied body of living Christian art been produced. In inaccessible rural workshops, thatched-roof villages and teeming urban slums, a firmament of fine artists inspired by Christian themes is emerging from within a much larger community of folk artisans. The movement is thriving in spite of serious obstacles. Most artists lack patrons, lucrative markets and substantial schooling. With tools, paint and canvas in chronically short supply, Africans work with whatever materials are handy. Wood is thus the most popular medium. If stained glass is too costly, colored resin is applied to windowpanes. If sculptors lack marble, they mix cheap pebbles and concrete. If budgets keep church buildings modest, they are brightened with imaginative decorations and vibrant vestments.
+ Styles range from garishly colored representational paintings to serene abstracts. The themes are the same ones that inspired a thousand Renaissance masterpieces: the Nativity, Madonna and Child, and gripping Bible stories. The most frequent subject is Christ's agony on the Cross, a visual testament to the Africans' own suffering. But Zairian Catholic sculptor Ndombasi Wuma, like many Protestants, refuses to depict the Crucifixion. Says he: "I believe in the risen Christ. Why should Christ be anguished?"
African art is created not for museums or living rooms but for the community. Its function is fourfold, says Elimo Njau, a Tanzanian Lutheran painter. Art "makes Christianity African," provides a new context for worship, stimulates devotion and teaches the meaning of the Bible through imagery. Many works are signed collectively; others are anonymous. At Sims Chapel, Zaire's oldest Baptist church, even Sunday school children played their part: their rude drawings provided the basis for the chapel's stained- glass windows.
Before the missionary era, the only Christianized black nation was Ethiopia, whose austere art style remained largely unchanged since the Middle Ages. When the first missionaries arrived in other parts of Africa in the 15th century, they sought to stamp out tribal religions and with them idols, ceremonial masks and ancestral images. The artistic tug-of-war intensified during the 19th century as the number of Christian missions mushroomed.