Abstract
Religion is one of the defining tropes and corner stones of Mngadi's novels yet literary scholars have paid little attention to this aspect of his literature. The scant literary scholarship on Mngadi's exploration of religion has inspired this researcher to undertake the current study. In his novels, religion takes various forms, including traditional belief system and Christianity. This paper contends that Mngadi looks at different forms of religion, particularly Christianity and traditional African belief, with a critical eye. As a postcolonial novelist, Mngadi neither fully accepts one religion nor completely rejects the other form. Instead, he advocates for a mutual mingling of the two supposedly contrasting forms of religion. The paper argues that the novelist depicts religious forms at cross roads, in conflict with each other and in future harmony. The paper illustrates that by referring to Mngadi's two novels, namely, Imiyalezo (1978) and Yiza Mntanami (2007).