AMAMIHE Journal of Applied Philosophy

Religious change is ongoing phenomenon in any human society, and it varies from society to society. There are many reasons or factors that are responsible for religious change in any society or culture. And its interpretation by different models differs greatly depending on the theory employed to investigate the nature of change. Factors of religious change keep changing with time, and there is no single factor that can be seen that is responsible for religious change. Horton?s intellectualist theory of religious change focuses more on the development of the traditional African cosmology in response to the world cosmology precipitated by the two world religions (Christianity and Islam). Through this way, the features of traditional cosmology keeps crumbling in the face of world religions and non religious factors, hence religious change from traditional religion to Christianity or Islam. Religious change has taken different dimension in this age of scientific discoveries. Missionaries are not seen in great numbers as it used to be but religious change keeps taking place rapidly. Intellectualist theory of Horton forms as a base for explanation of religious change not on efforts of missionaries or other religious factors.

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