Abstract
In his book, African Traditional Religion: A Definition, Professor E. B. Idowu delineates three distinct stages in the history of the study of
African Traditional Religion. These stages are what he calls the “period of ignorance and false certainty,” the “period of doubt and resisted
illumination” and the “period of intellectual dilemma.1” Each of these periods is characterized by a definite attitude on the part of the Western scholar towards the African Traditional Religion.2