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The letter and the spirit: literacy and religious authority in the history of the Aladura movement in western Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Peter Probst
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Extract

The Yoruba word aladura, meaning ‘one who prays’, generally refers to a set of churches that formed a powerful religious movement among the Yoruba in western Nigeria during the first decades of this century. To date, there have been three main lines of interpretation which received general recognition: first, in form of a theological analysis (Turner, 1967); second, in a discussion of social protest (Mitchell, 1970); and finally, through the sociology of religion (Peel, 1968). In this article I propose to introduce another aspect of interpretation. Following the many passing remarks made by these authors in respect to the use of writing within the Aladura churches, I will read their accounts in terms of how people perceived and experienced the written word in the specific context of the Christian–colonial order and consider whether and how this experience has influenced people's actions and religious behaviour. In doing so, I am going to take up a theme which has become widely popular in the anthropological field under the heading ‘the consequences of literacy’.

Résumé

La lettre et l'esprit: alphabétisation et autorité religieuse dans l'histoire du mouvement Aladura au Nigéria occidental

Avec en toile de fond le débat actuel sur les ‘conséquences de l'alphabétisation’ dans la religion africaine, cet article discute la signification de l'écriture dans l'histoire de mouvement Aladura parmi les Yoruba du Nigéria occidental. Il affirme que l'alphabétisation a favorisé l'institutionnalisation du mouvement et a contribué à banaliser l'autorité religieuse des chefs du mouvement, entraînant de violents conflits entre les pasteurs alphabétisés et les prophètes analphabètes. Cependant, malgrè l'empiètement de l'alphabétisation au sein du mouvement, l'éclectisme de la religion indigène a permis d'utiliser sélectivement le canon introduit. L'alphabétisation n'a pas conduit à une fixation de la doctrine religieuse. Il existe encore de la place pour la foi dans les paroles non écrites de Dieu, comme le prouve l'existence persistente des prophètes dans la société contemporaine Yoruba.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 59 , Issue 4 , October 1989 , pp. 478 - 495
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1989

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