The influence of Yorùbá command language on prayer, music and worship in African Christianity

Abstract

The quest for the inculturation of Christianity on the African continent has been the focus of several scholars within and outside Africa. The need for such study arises from the imperative desire of the African to relinquish the post of onlooker in worship and adopt that of participant. To effectively achieve this, certain aspects of African culture are synchronized with the redemptive message. One of the primary ways in which African culture influences Christianity is through the use of language, which itself has various forms. The purpose of this paper is to unearth the influence of some aspects of Yorùbá command language on prayers, music and worship in Christianity in Africa. An attempt will be made to analyse the components of Yorùbá command language, and compare them with the language of prayer, music and worship of African Christianity. For the purpose of this paper, African Christianity refers to the Christianity practised within the African milieu, characterized by the use of some aspects of African culture. African Christianity has a paradigm, the African Independent Churches, or Aládùúrà Churches. Sources include scholarly literature, songs on cassettes and prayers recorded during fieldwork.