Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering caused by slavery. Several critical works recognize that Morrison incorporates aspects of traditional African religions and Christianity to depict the anguish of slavery imposed not only on his characters, but also on other enslaved African Americans. This literature review will explore three different scholarly articles that exemplify how Morrison successfully uses African religions and Christianity to describe the story of how slavery affected the lives of the characters in the novel, even after their emancipation from slavery. The novel, Beloved, centers on the life of Sethe, a former slave, who kills her newborn daughter to save her from a life of slavery. Eighteen years later, Sethe's daughter Beloved returns from the grave as a young woman. In Arlene Keizer's article, Beloved: Ideologies in Conflict, Improvised Topics, Keiser states that Beloved's return to the flesh is itself an extended evocation of certain African belief systems (120). By portraying the Beloved as a human being and not a spirit, Morrison demonstrated the beliefs of two African religious traditions, one taken from the Yoruba and Igbo and the other taken from the Akamba people of Kenya (120). Keizer quotes Dr. Carole B. Davies as stating that children of Yoruba cosmology or Igbo culture, who die and are reborn repeatedly to afflict their mothers, are marked so that they can be identified upon their return (qt in Keizer 121). In the novel, the reincarnated Beloved returns with a scar on her neck where Sethe slit her throat. Keiser then quotes John Mibiti who explains that among the Akamba people of Kenya, a child who dies before being named is st......middle of paper......ba (112). Throughout the novel, Sethe is as dedicated to finding her husband as Solomon's beloved wife. Although Sethe is never reunited with her husband because he was killed by slave owners, Morrison creates a replacement in the character Paul D, another former slave. Paul D fulfills the biblical description of Sethe's husband's beloved: "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me" (7:10), thus fulfilling the promise of requited love that is pictured in the union of Solomon and Sheba (120) .Examining these three articles, it is clear that Morrison effectively incorporates African religions and Christianity to navigate the plot of Beloved. Although some scholars may differ in their opinion on how Morrison incorporates religion into his novel, it is proven that religion was a vital part in Morrison's approach to writing the novel, Beloved..