The Resilience and Challenges of Yoruba Religions Worship in Modern Context
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Date
2017
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Langaa Research & Publishing CIG.
Abstract
This chapter gives attention to worship, as the essence and rhythm of life of the Yoruba people in all spheres of life. By worship, we do not mean the limited area of rituals and liturgies alone, but also the totality of the people’s relation to the supernatural order of the deities, Chief of who is Olodumare (the Supreme God). The Yoruba people of homeland in Nigeria and of the Diaspora in foreign countries such as Brazil, Cuba, Republic of Benin, Togo, United Kingdom, France, India, Japan, and United States of America continue to practice their indigenous religious faith despite the challenges of modernity and foreign religions, especially Christianity and Islam. Hence, this chapter demonstrates the resilience and adaptation of Yoruba Religious Worship for relevance in the global context. It also shows that instead of being overwhelmed by Christianity, Islam and Modernity she is getting stronger. Methodology for this chapter includes the phenomenological, descriptive and historical approaches, with interviews as tools of research. It must be accepted that the challenges from Christianity and Islam have helped Yoruba Religion to deploy some of the modern media of propagation to enhance her reputation and population growth.
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Keywords
Yoruba Religion, Worship, Developmental Experience, Historical Experience, Cultural Experience