For more than a century, African-based religions in the Americas have been dismissed as mere superstition or titillating witchcraft. The racism that feeds such caricatures has endured into the twenty-first century even though these religions are now neither rare nor out of reach. Palo Monte, Santería, Vodou, and Rastafarianism are likely to be found in every sizeable city in Europe and the United States—as are the variety of contemporary religious practices known as Yoruba revival. Traditions such as Umbanda, Candomblé, and Shango may be scarcer, but they also have some international presence.

African-based religions are eclectic by default and in ways that emphasize both their developmental history and their innate flexibility, which has made it possible for them to survive. Broad African perspectives dominate in the diverse group of religions born from chattel slavery...