Yorùbá Indigenous Religion

Abstract

Yorùbá indigenous religion, now commonly referred to as Ìṣẹ̀ṣe or Òrìṣà religion, has evolved over the past two thousand years in tandem with Yorùbá political, economic, cultural, and social history. Yet, until now, this deep history has not been taken into consideration in the study of Yorùbá religion. Here, a framework is provided achieving this by focusing on three themes. The first theme is about Yorùbá ideas of divinity and the beliefs about an individual’s and community’s relationship to the divine phenomenon, especially through ancestor veneration. The second theme focuses on the emergent qualities of Yorùbá pantheon, emphasizing the consolidation of the pantheon at the beginning of the 1st millennium ce and some of the sociopolitical and political economy events that shaped the changes in the pantheon through the early 19th century. The third theme examines the intellectual and dialogical dimensions of Yorùbá indigenous religion as a quintessential civic spiritual practice.