INCULTURATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN YORUBA LAND: A STRATEGY FOR CULTURAL PRESERVATION AND RESISTANCE

Abstract

The Western missionaries of the nineteenth Century tried to preserve Christianity by restricting the introduction of the culture and traditions of Africans to prevent syncretism. The Europeanised Christianity presented to the Yoruba obliterated Yoruba culture and social norms. Alienation of African culture and political subjugation of Africans in the church and the larger society by the missionaries and the colonialists propelled a sense of activism and resistance by African Christians. This paper makes a historical appraisal of the raison d’être of Aladura Churches in Yoruba land to showcase how their emergence helped to integrate the Christian faith with Yoruba cultural values and traditions. Historical analysis and review of relevant literature were the tools for gathering data for this study. Resting on cultural preservation theory, this paper argues that for Christianity to remain ubiquitous with sound theology that resonates with the yearnings of Yoruba people of the present age, inculturation is inevitable. African rituals, symbols and customs, adoption of Yoruba language, music and traditional musical instruments are practices borrowed from African indigenous religion. They served as tools for the preservation of Yoruba cultural heritage and social identity. The zeal to preserve African heritage strengthened the resilience of African cultures and socio-political emancipation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On the religious landscape, it led to the establishment of African Pentecostalism with a distinct Christian theology that expresses African spirituality. The paper canvases for a continued purging of neo-imperialism to ensure Yoruba cultural heritage thrives in the face of globalization.