Book excerpt: Before his conversion to Christianity, A E Orobator was raised in the practice of traditional African religion - animism. This repository of African religion, he maintains - at its heart a deep belief in the livingness of creation - is the soil in which Christianity and Islam have taken root. Drawn from his "Duffy Lectures" delivered at Boston College, Orobator examines the living interplay between African religion, Christianity, and Islam in Africa, and argues that the religious experience and spiritual imagination of Africa offers a genius capable of renewing the global community of believers. Among these gifts: a deep conscience of transcendence in day-to-day living; reverence towards human and natural ecologies; and a holistic understanding of creation and shared responsibility of stewardship for the universe.