"Writing" and "Reference" in Ifá Divination Chants
2010; Center for Studies in Oral Tradition; Volume: 25; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/ort.2010.0022
ISSN1542-4308
Autores Tópico(s)Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies
Resumo"Writing" and "Reference" in Ifá Divination Chants Adélékè Adéẹ̀kọ́ (bio) In July 1897, Bishop C. Phillips, a leading member of the Yorùbá-speaking clergy of the Anglican Church in Nigeria, praised Rev. E. M. Lijadu's commentaries on Ifá divination stories as a bold first step towards understanding the basis of the disappointing result of evangelization in the Yorùbá missionary field. Thinking of conversion work in warfare terms, Bishop Phillips believed Lijadu's collection and commentary to be a brilliant reconnaissance (Lijadu 1898:4): Bí a kò bá rí ìdí ibi tí agbára tà gbé wà, a kò lè ṣẹgun wọn. Bí àwa Kristian kò bá mọ ìdí ìsìn àwọn Kèfèrí àti àwọn Ìmàle, a kì yóò lè gbé ìhìnrere Kristi síwájú wọn lí nà tí yóò fiká wọn lára. If we do not locate the source of our enemies' strength, we cannot defeat them. If we Christians do not fathom the foundation of pagan and Islamic devotion, we will not be able to present Christ's gospel to them in its most appealing form. The bishop also decried the unfortunate attitude that misled Christian missionaries in Yorùbá-speaking regions to forget how the mastery of pre-Christian practices helped conversion in biblical places and times.1 For not acting early enough on pre-Christian Yorùbá religion, Bishop Phillips rebukes fellow soldiers for their intellectual arrogance and judges unconscionable their belief that they could effectively preach and convert without understanding the thought basis among the people whom they are charged with persuading about the Gospel (idem): Sùgbn àwa ńja ogun àti-fi ìhìnrere Kristi múl ni il wa láì wá ìdí ìsìn àtọwdw àwọn bàbá wa tí ó ní agbára tób lórí àwọn Kèfèrí. Nítorí náà ni ìwàásù wa kò ní agbára tó b lórí wọn. Òmíràn nínú wọn rò pé àìm ni ó j kí àwa máa sọ ìsọkúsọ sí ìsìn wọn. We strive to plant Christ's gospel in our country without researching the very strong, albeit pagan, ancient beliefs of our fathers. For that reason our preaching produces little impact. Unknown numbers among them believe that we deride their religions because we know nothing about them. Perhaps the most important observation Bishop Phillips made in that short preface concerns the effect that publishing Ifá divination stories in book form would have on unbelievers (idem): Nígbà tí àwọn tí ó ńk Ifá sórí bá m pé wn lè ka Odù Ifá nínú ìwé, mo rò pé yóò ṣí wọn lórí láti k ìwé kíkà, àti láti fi r inú Bíbélì wé ti Odù Ifá. Wọn yóò sì rí èyí tí ó sàn jù fún ara wọn. I believe that when rote learners of Ifá stories discover that they can read the Odù in a book, they will seek literacy eagerly, gain the capacity to compare the Bible with Ifá stories, and discover on their own the merit of the superior text. By casting Ifá stories in a relatively permanent medium, Christian missionaries would be creating a self-reflection apparatus for the literate nonbeliever with which to critically examine the spheres of thought hitherto controlled by the guild of divination priests, the babaláwo. Taking divination stories to be Ifá's main tool of mind control, Bishop Phillips recommended print dissemination of these narratives as a means of freeing the critical faculty of non-Christians from the shroud of secrecy (awo) with which Ifá priests deceived Yorùbá people through the ages. Print technology, he thought, would separate mystery (awo) from its curators (babaláwo). For Bishop Phillips, the deep secret of pre-Christian Yorùbá worship lay not in sculptured icons but in the reasoning that inspired divination stories. If the stories were converted to portable packages comparable to the Bible, the only book authored by the true God, then the theological errors of Yorùbá religion could be easily...
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