Until very recently, the field of African philosophy of religion, narrowly understood as a research niche in African philosophy, was inexplicably neglected by African philosophers. The publication of African Religions in Western Scholarship by Okot p’Bitek (1971) and similar works (see, for example, Arinze 1970; Kato 1975; Zahan 1979; Wiredu 1992) laid the foundation for the emergence of African philosophy of religion as a distinct field of African philosophy unencumbered by the worldview narratives of African Traditional Religion (ATR) and the assumptions of the prevailing religious scholarship of early ATR scholars like Joseph B. Danquah (1944), Edward G. Parrinder (1951), E. Bolaji Idowu (1962), Edward E. Evans-Pritchard (1965), John S. Mbiti (1969), J. Omosade Awolalu and P. Adelumo Dopamu (1979), and Emefie Ikenga-Metuh (1981). However, the early interest quickly fizzled out and the field stagnated.