The Millennarian Meridian and Cultural-Religious Conflict in Timothy Mofolorunso Aluko's Kinsman and Foreman

Abstract

AbstractIn this novel of 1966, the critical Nigerian author T. M. Aluko examines the irrelevance of an indigenous Christian movement among his Yoruba ethnic fellows during the final decade of British imperial rule. He, like Chinua Achebe and other literary contemporaries, highlights the corruption rampant in colonial Nigeria and attributes much of the responsibility for this social ill to the colonised themselves. Aluko takes to task both leaders and adherents of the Alasotele religious community for failing to perceive and address the social sin around them. In his portrayal, they fix their gaze on the anticipated return of Jesus Christ rather than raising a prophetic voice against the evils of the present world, shouldering public responsibility and contributing to the transformtion of society. Despite his scathing indictment of their religious escapism and purported moral poverty, Aluko sheds light on the Alasoteles' relationship to the colonial Church of England, their indigenous African style of worship and the individual spirituality they evince within the context of their fellowhsip.