God in Oral African Theology: Exploring

the Spoken Theologies of Afua Kuma and

Tope Alabi
Joseph Ola and Harvey Kwiyani

JOSEPH OLA holds a Masters degree in Biblical and Pastoral

Theology from Liverpool Hope University where he currently studies
African Christianity. He is the author of Biblical Wisdom for Young
Adults and co-author of Young and Found. He founded and leads Alive
Mentorship Group, an online mentoring platform for young adults
with membership spanning across over 60 countries.
www.josephkolawole.org | [email protected].

HARVEY KWIYANI is a mission theologian from Malawi. He teaches

theology at Liverpool Hope University in Liverpool. His work, for
many years, has been to articulate a theology that persuades
denominations and congregations to embrace God’s multicultural
vision for the church.
www.harvmins.com | [email protected].

Abstract

In this essay, we explore the conceptualisations of God in African oral

theology (focusing on the traditions of the Akan people of Ghana and of the
8 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

Yoruba of Nigeria). We examine the spoken-word works—prayers and songs

—of two African women, Afua Kuma and Tope Alabi. 1 We hope to begin to
lay out an agenda for an intentional Africanisation of Christian Theology in
Africa and the African diaspora in ways that, on the one hand, honour the
spoken theologies of the many Christians in the continent who shape other
people’s thoughts about God in various ways while, on the other, highlights
the role of African women doing theology.

Introduction

A typical definition of theology says it is the knowledge of God.

The term “theology” comes from the Greek word, theologia
(θεολογία), which comes as a result of combining theos (Θεός, trans‐
lated ‘god’) and logia (λογία, ‘utterances, sayings, or oracles’). Logia
gives us the Greek word logos (λόγος, which is generally translated
‘word, discourse, account, or reasoning’). Its Latin root is theologia,
which got translated into French as théologie, and into German as
theology before eventually becoming ‘theology’ in English. In a
nutshell, theology is a subject about the knowledge (logos) of God
(theos). This knowledge is often said to be gained in the process of the
study of God (or, generally, God’s word) which is believed to take place
in classrooms, libraries, seminaries, and universities, with the help
numerous textbooks, some hundreds of years old and others being
currently written). We agree that this understanding of theology is
valid and is important for the development of the church. However,
because of its tendency to hide in books usually behind the red brick
walls of ivory towers of academic institutions and, therefore, its
dependence on the interpretation of well-read experts, (and histori‐
cally, a great number of these experts have been white and male), it
lends itself inaccessible to the majority of world Christians who do
not have a way to read or write theological books, most of whom are
women. As a result, we find Agbon Orobator’s definition of theology
as “talking sensibly about God” helpful and have made it the founda‐
tion of our propositions in this essay. 2
We have several convictions that serve as a base for the argument
God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of A… • 9

being made in this essay. First, we believe that all Christians do theol‐
ogy. Of course, all Christians have some thoughts (knowledge, reason)
about God but, surely, this does not make all Christians theologians
(in the professional sense of the world). We do believe that this
knowledge about God does not necessarily need a classroom, a
library, a seminary, or a professor, but it is nonetheless, knowledge
about God that is for the edifying of the Body of Christ. In a religious
context like sub-Saharan Africa, even people who do not identify as
Christians have their notions about God that can be said to be expres‐
sions of theological thought. Yes, we do talk about Muslim theolo‐
gians as well. Even the religiously unaffiliated 3—the nones—do
engage, directly or indirectly, with the God-question prior to
committing to either category. 4 This engagement with the God-ques‐
tion—or, to put it simply, ‘thinking and/or talking about God’—this
essay posits, is the basic unit of theology.
This first conviction leads to the second one; while we appreciate
the significance of written theology (and we are doing this in this
paper), we also believe that to understand a people’s theology, it is
often helpful to get to hear their God-talk in their most natural
context – in the stories they tell and the songs they sing. People
shaping that God-talk in communities, congregations, and denomina‐
tions function as their theologians even though many of them may
not have studied theology. It is in this sense that we consider both
Afua Kuma and Tope Alabi theologians. They ought to be considered
among the ranks of great African women theologians like Mercy
Oduyoye, Musa Dube, Esther Mombo and Isabel Phiri. They are the
same—African women theologians—but of a different kind—and
their kind is just as important. Of course, the same can be said of
other African women worship singers whose lyrics espouse and prop‐
agate theological nuggets that go on to live in people’s hearts, giving
them the words that they use to express their faith. We speak here of
the likes of Sinach, Ada Ehi, Mahalia Buchanan, and many others
helping Africans believe God fervently. Public theologians like Afua
Kuma and Tope Alabi remain only a footnote in the grand theological
discourse shaped in the ivory towers of European and North Amer‐
10 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

ican seminaries and universities. Thankfully, African theology is a

seeded ground. In spite of the gradual erosion of popular theology
that is infused into African culture and family life, 5 reservoirs of
authentic African theology—written, symbolic and especially, oral—still
abound. 6 As such, thinking and ‘talking sensibly about God’ 7 in Africa,
for the most part, occurs as oratory, usually in unacademic contexts.
Oral African theology, we therefore argue, should inform written and
symbolic African theology and this should go back to inform oral
theology. Both Mbiti and Bediako readily acknowledge that ‘acade‐
mics [are] not the only theologians’ and, as such, should draw their
attention to the ‘informal or … implicit theology’ 8 found among
people of little or no theological education as ‘song, sermon, teaching,
prayer, conversation, etc.’ 9
Our final conviction is that Africa is—or, at least, should be—the
principal domain of theology in today’s world. The reasons for this
are here for all to see. John Mbiti’s declaration back in the 1960s that
“Africans are notoriously religious” was right. 10 Religion permeates all
of African life, thus making thinking and talking about God ubiquitous
on the continent. 11 In spite of the immense variety that exists within
African cosmology and across African ethnicities, religion remains
the blood of the African life. Besides, to the astonishment of different
predictions, Africa is now the continent with the most Christians. 12
At the point of this writing, Africa mostly likely has 150 million more
Christians than Europe. We, therefore, share Andrew Walls’ concern
about the West’s continued dominance of theological discourse
around the world. We are further concerned that the influence of
Western theological thought shapes a great deal of the theology
coming out of Africa. 13 Yet, as the African proverb goes, ‘Until the
lions can tell their side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always
glorify the hunter.’ It is to this domain of African oral theology that
we now turn with the goal of exploring the act of theologising—
specifically regarding the conceptualisation of God—by critically
engaging with the oral works of these two notable non-academic
female African theologians across two generations: Afua Kuma (from
Ghana) and Tope Alabi (from Nigeria).
God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of A… • 11

Madam Afua Kuma

Afua Kuma 14 (1900-1987) came from the Akan tribe in Ghana. She
joined the Church of Pentecost in her later years where, as a 70-year-
old traditional midwife, she began to ‘sing the praises of Christ in the
exalted language of praise songs to traditional rulers’ 15—a form of
Akan poetry called Apae 16—and this she continued to do till her death
seventeen years later. Some of her praise-language prayers were
translated and compiled by John Kirby into Jesus of the Deep Forest. 17

Tope Alabi

Tope Alabi 18 (born in 1970), 19 is a contemporary Nigerian gospel

singer, 20 actress and film music composer 21 from the Yoruba. Unlike
Kuma, Alabi is well-educated and is still alive. In 2019, she was
crowned as ‘Queen of Yoruba language’ 22 and celebrated for her ‘vast
knowledge in [Yoruba] language as well as her ability to capture the
attention of non-Yoruba speaking Nigerians.’ 23 Except for brief
mentions in journal articles, 24 not much had been written of her work
in academic contexts in spite of her significant influence both in the
world of Yoruba movies 25 and in the Christian Oriki music genre
specifically. This essay will make a novel contribution towards the
latter and critically consider the works of these two women with a
view to unpacking an African conceptualisation of the Christian God.

Conceptualising God

Sticking with Orobator’s definition of theology as ‘talking sensibly

about God’, what people like Kuma or Alabi do through their oratory
is nothing short of theology. One could not read Kuma’s apae in Jesus
of the Deep Forest or listen to Alabi’s oriki of God in War, 26 Kabi O Osi
(The Unquestionable One) 27 or Oba Aseda (The Creator-King), 28
without being led to imagine the images being painted and what they
tell us about God. They communicate, through a very pictorial
language, an invitation on a journey which lead their listeners to think
12 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

about God—to conceptualise what God is like. Before proceeding to

highlight and analyse some excerpts from their works, it needs to be
mentioned that both the Akan and the Yoruba generally, besides
Kuma and Alabi specifically, share many things in common in terms
of cosmology, geography and identity.
First, both among the Akan and the Yoruba, as among most
Africans, not only is belief in God predominant, so is also the belief
‘that God and other invisible beings are actively engaged in the world
of men…[and that] the universe is created and sustained by God.’ 29
Besides, both the Akan and Yoruba have a similar traditional political
structures where, as Anyidoho submits, ‘authority [is] vested in the
traditional political rulers, the royals, who also occupied the top posi‐
tion in the social hierarchy.’ 30 Among the Yoruba, Salami writes, the
traditional ruler (usually a king or high chief) is viewed as ‘iku baba
yeye’ which literally means ‘death, father-mother’ (often interpreted as
‘the awesome power that is the father and mother of death’). It is this
king/chief ideology that provides both Kuma and Alabi the frame‐
work for conceptualizing deity. 31
Second, the apae among the Akan and oriki among the Yoruba
serve similar purposes. Apaes, for the Akan, are a form of traditional
praise appellation performance used for eulogizing political rulers by
crediting them with unrivalled powers, obligations and competences
so that others may revere them. 32 This is done, Anyidoho adds,

by chronicling their royal ancestry, their military manoeuvres and

exploits, their unrelenting stand against their enemies, their
annihilation of non-conforming subjects, as well as their affluence and
magnanimity. 33

Likewise, for the Yoruba, orikis are both attributive names or

appellatives expressing who a child is (or hoped to become) 34, and
praise-chants for kings, titled men and other people containing a
recitation of their feats recounted in order to amplify their self-image
and sense of identity in themselves or their groups. 35 These orikis,
Akiwowo adds, are supposed to incite the recipients to even greater
God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of A… • 13

accomplishments. 36 For Kuma and Alabi, therefore, these language

tools—the apae and oriki—become, as Salami puts it, ‘the crucible
where God is forged.’ 37
Third, specifically, both Kuma and Alabi share an identity complex
given the peculiarities of their contexts. Kuma lived two-thirds of her
life in the colonial era which, virtually everywhere in Africa, influ‐
enced the sociocultural make-up of different communities. This
undoubtedly necessitated, for Kuma, a negotiation between staying
true to her cultural identity with its practices on the one hand and
exposing herself to the influence of Western cultures and beliefs
(including, of course, embracing the Christian faith) on the other. 38
Alabi, however, grew up in post-colonial Nigeria, albeit in a tradi‐
tional Yoruba setting in the ancient city of Ibadan. 39 Her education,
transition from Catholicism to Pentecostalism, working at Nigerian
Television Authority (NTA) and being involved in Nollywood 40
equally demands similar identity negotiation to Kuma’s—more so in a
context of decolonisation. What Anyidoho says of Kuma, therefore,
could be said of both of them, that there is ‘a simultaneous existence
of multiple value system, beliefs, thoughts, and ways of life … (as
indeed can be said of almost all Africans).’ 41 This, no doubt, shaped
their theologising process.
A final point of similarity is their blurred distinction between the
Persons of the Godhead. Kuma’s emphasis is chiefly Christological; the
opening words of her book expresses this clearly:

We are going to praise the name of Jesus Christ.

We shall announce his many titles:
they are true and they suit him well,
so it is fitting that we do this. 42

In the book there is no specific mention of ‘God the Father’ or

‘God the Holy Spirit’ except for few references to God as ‘Jehovah’
(Onyankopcn), hence Young’s assertion that Kuma seemed to have ‘col‐
lapsed the Trinity into an Akan variant of Oneness Pentecostalism’
which her robust appellations of Jesus extol. 43 The same could be said
14 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

of Alabi. While she appears somewhat trinitarian in her songs, 44 she

makes overlapping allusions and descriptions such that there is no
distinction between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. For both
Kuma and Alabi, therefore, their conceptualisation of God, on one
hand, transcends the trinitarian models of systematic theology while,
on the other hand, acknowledges the oneness and unity of the three
Persons of the trinity. Given the abundant materials that had been
written based on Kuma’s prayer compilation and Alabi’s large discog‐
raphy, a lot could be said about their conceptualisation of God,
however, due to volume of writing, only two thoughts are hereby
presented.

1. Everything Points to God

D.O. Fagunwa’s classic, A Forest of a Thousand Daemons, 45 gives an

inkling into the pre-Islamic, pre-Christian and pre-colonial religious
worldview of people who live in such contexts as Kuma’s and Alabi’s 46
—that their farms, forests, water bodies and air space, while being the
domain of farming, hunting or fishing, are also the domain of spirit-
beings and that God can be seen, metaphorically, figuratively,
emblematically or otherwise in everyday items, sceneries and occur‐
rences. Hence, Salami writes,

The Yoruba, like many other people with similar worldview [including
the Akan], seek to see and create an invisible world wherein lives God
in the structures of the visible in which they live. In other words, the
conception of their relation to God is underlain by their concrete
material relations in the visible world (as below, so above). 47

Such worldview supports the idea that everything—persons,

animals, places or things—can, and should, point humans to God.
Bearing this in mind highlights a central theme to the theology of
these African voices, viz: God is the ultimate being who finds ultimate
expression through anyone and/or anything that had ever
commanded man’s attention in creation.
God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of A… • 15

Thus, Kuma says of Jesus:

The great Rock we hide behind

the great forest canopy that gives cool shade
the Big Tree which lifts its vines to peep at the heavens,
the magnificent Tree whose dripping leaves
encourage the luxuriant growth below. 48

She uses word-pictures from her everyday sceneries—rocks,

forest, trees, heavens and fertile forests 49—and descriptors that reveal
that people find their occupation (kente weavers, 50 farmers, hunters
and, by inference, everyone), security (‘the great rock we hide behind’),
help (lifted vines…encouraged to grow) and enjoyment (‘the great
forest canopy that gives cool shade’) in the Jesus that she is praising
just as subjects of a ruler find their satisfaction in the security of their
ruler’s commands. In one of Alabi’s eulogies, too, 51 the same imagery
appears:

The rain of heaven that truly satisfies

The brilliant sun keeping everything in its time 52

Or in another where she visualises God as a highly intoxicating

and expensive wine:

You excite me and You lift up my spirit

You intoxicate me and I stagger
like one drunk with expensive wine
You rock me back and forth in excitement
In You I find joyful pleasures, Kabiesi! 53
My Chief and Bridegroom. 54

The fascination of the Yorubas with intoxicating drinks and their

high alcohol-tolerance is not unknown in literature. 55 What is,
however, noteworthy is why Alabi chose ‘expensive wine’ over ‘palm
wine’ (which could be fermented to varying degrees of alcoholic
16 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

content). For her, likening the influence of God to palm wine would
not be superlative enough because there are far more intoxicating
(and more expensive) wines out there.

2. God as Ultimate Power

The second and most significant point to make about the concep‐
tualisation of God by these African women is the power-dimension.
The African worldview readily acknowledges that cosmic powers—
both good and evil—are involved in regulating the experiences and
behaviour of humans. 56 It is, therefore, typical of apaes and orikis to
engage the use of metonyms, metaphors, and similes that describe the
recipient (in this case, God) as being the embodiment of superior
power—superior in royalty, majesty, reliability, dependability, protec‐
tive ability, justice, mystery and relatability. In fact, for the Yoruba,
Salami notes, ‘God is seen not only as powerful, but God is also
conceived as power itself.’ 57 A close examination of the works of Alabi
and Kuma will reveal that this, in fact, is their motif—to identify God
as the ultimate ‘powers that be’ in their trado-cultural understanding
and amplify God as being transcendent beyond any powers ever
known on earth. This feeds into their conception of God as King,
Healer, Deliverer, Liberator, Friend, Diviner, to mention but a few.
This conception of God is achieved in a number of ways, only a
few of which are highlighted below. First, by comparing praise-
worthy earthly figures, ancestors or divinities (as in the case of Yoruba
orikis) to God and distinguishing the latter as being incomparable. For
example, Kuma says,

Mere chiefs and kings are not his equals,

though filled with glory and power,
wealth and blessings, and royalty
in the greatest abundance.
But of them all, he is the leader,
and the chiefs with all their glory follow after him.
God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of A… • 17

He is the one for whom

women lay down their cloths on the path,
and pour sweet-smelling oil on his feet.
They run to and fro amidst shouts of praise before him.
It is true: Jesus is a Chief! 58

In this preceding excerpt, not only does Kuma call Jesus ‘a Chief’,
she made it clear that he surpasses all human chiefs in glory and
power—and this she does without belittling the fact that human chiefs
—in her context—are, indeed, very glorious and powerful. In Ka Bi O
Osi, 59 Alabi recreates a Yoruba coronation event to show that God is
far greater than any earthly king.

You weren’t rushed home

Where they placed the crowning leaves on Your head
No one had to conspire to crown You King
Who were those who stood to cast their votes
Deciding it was Your turn to reign?
Who are Your King Makers?
Let them stand to be counted.
Who is Your forerunner that brought You into heaven?
Who is that person who suggested
That You should come [and] create the earth?
Can someone please show us Your Father or Mother?
Impossible!
You are God unquestionable!
‘The Ancient of Days’,
‘The Ageless God’ is His Name
You are God unquestionable! 60

Another way these African theologians deify God in their chosen

instruments of eulogy is to describe him in very colourful terms as the
one capable of ‘astonishing reversals of so-called natural laws and
unexpected outcomes of simple actions.’ 61 For Kuma, for instance,
Jesus is a hunter whose trap is capable of catching more than mere
18 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

visible animals; it "catches the wind", which he then bundles up "with

lightening and ties the load with the rainbow"—an ordinary rope will
not do. 62 Rather than catch fishes from the ocean, he catches them
from tree tops and rather than hunt for birds on tree tops, he catches
birds from the ocean. 63 With these and many other allegories, she
credits Jesus with supreme power capable of conquering natural
forces. Alabi’s work is replete with this approach as well. In War, she
conceptualises God as a mighty warrior who is capable of illogical
feats of power:

Our powerful warrior!

Going ahead of us yet shielding our back from the enemy…
The powerful shadow that turns away the day of death.
Your dew softens the enemy’s bullet and makes it of no effect
Your rain beats every mountain till they crumble
Yet, you are the everlasting mountain! 64

It makes no logical sense for one warrior to shield his army both
from their front and behind nor for dew to turn bullets into soft
harmless balls, nor for rain to beat mountains into crumbles momen‐
tarily. All of these allegories paint a picture, in Yoruba imagery, of
power at its peak.
Another way both Kuma and Alabi conceptualise God as being
‘ultimate power’ in their use of apae and oriki is to often employ (self-
coined) praise names for Jesus (or God) in the dialect of their everyday
reality using complex noun formations to create fascinating inter‐
esting imageries. For example, Kuma uses words like:

Ôkatakyi – Hero, brave one! 65

Akyerâkyerâkwan – You-who-show-the-way 66
Adubasapôn – Strong-armed One 67
Okuruakwaban – Source-of-great-strength 68
Owesekramo – the untiring Porter 69
Ôdôkôtôbonnuare – Hard-working Farmer 70
Okokurokohene – powerful Chief 71
 God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of … • 19

Okwatayi-mu-agyabenaa – one who is not limited to a single

place 72
Woyâ saremusâe – Lion of the grasslands 73

while Alabi uses words like:

Olodumare, Ekun Oko Oke 74 – Olodumare, 75 The Indomitable

Tiger
Arugbo-ojo 76 – Ancient of days
Ad'agba-ma-tepa 77 – the old one who needs no walking stick
Alagbada-ina 78 – one who wears fire as his agbada 79
Alawotele-oorun 80 – one who wears the sun as his underwear
Ari-iro-ala 81 – one who needs not know your dream before
offering an interpretation

It needs to be said, however, that these self-coined praise names

sometimes have no literal meaning but brilliant sound mimetics.
Their utterance, in spite of their literal meaninglessness, naturally
commands a sense of awe and wonder in the listener, appealing to
their ‘auditory and visual sensibilities’ in the hope that it will ‘appeal
to the emotion of their God.’ 82 In revisiting his English translation of
Kuma’s prayers three decades later, Jon P. Kirby SVD describes the
experience as being transported back into the world where he first
heard those words and relived ‘its thrilling staccato beat, […] asso‐
nance and lingual gymnastics’. 83 He notes,

The Twi is courtly language and often archaic, so readers don’t always
know exactly what the words mean but their hair stands on end,
nonetheless. For them it is not the past; it is their hidden soul. 84

This is a tool Alabi also uses frequently in her eulogies of God. She
is known to have used words like:

Gbengbeleku-tin-da-nibi-owu
Atabatubu
20 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

Arabata ribiti aribitirabata

akaba karabata gbaa
Porimapopo-babanlaku-babami-iparekete

While bits and syllables of such compound names mean one thing
or the other, the name as a whole is meaningless, but the gesticulation
of the performing artiste and the rhythm of the words often describe
immense greatness and mystery.
Sometimes, these praise names or eulogies are directly imported
from the invocations, incantations and praise-prayer songs originally
intended for historically known ancestors and/or divinities, 85 albeit
amplified and Christianised. For example, in Eru Re To Ba, 86 Tope
Alabi sings,

You are to be dreaded

The king who speaks and fire emerges
You are to be dreaded

A Yoruba listener will readily identify the imagery here being that
of Sango, one of the orisas (divinities) in Yoruba cosmology 87 who was
a monarch—the fourth Alaafin of Oyo 88—who, in various myths, is
described as Onina-l'enu (One who could eject fire from his mouth
and kill his enemies with lightning). 89 To make the distinction,
however, Alabi goes on to use biblical imagery to put this ‘Sango-like’
God she’s praising in a class of his own—a superlative class that will
make the Sango of history only of infinitesimal fraction in power.

The God who speaks fire…

You who spoke and the red sea dried…
You who fed a whole king to maggots…
You who made Esther queen suddenly…
You brought water from a rock
Who is like you? 90

By that rhetorical question, she makes her point: Sango may be

 God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of … • 21

powerful, but he is no match for the ‘King of kings’. 91 It makes sense

for Alabi—and other Yoruba Christians—to conceptualise God as
being both like and much more powerful than ancestors. In conceptual‐
ising God as such, Kuma and Alabi are making the point that, whereas
they would have worshipped these ancestors and/or divinities in their
pre-Christian past, now they know that all power truly belongs to
God. Their listeners are therefore admonished, inconspicuously, not
to mistake God for anything less, and not to settle for the worship of
anything less; God alone is deserving of worship. An example of this is
found in Alabi’s War:

…You go so far fighting the battle of your children

that people mistake it for witchcraft…
The door! The key! The inner chamber! You are the access!
You are the access to come out and to go into everything.
You are the way! 92

In this short excerpt, not only is she making the point that witch‐
craft is a lesser power to God’s, but she’s also painting the image that
everything a witch would do—enter into an ‘inner chamber’ from
where s/he could have spiritual access to someone else’s life—find
their truest and purest reality in God.

Conclusion: Their Legacy

Through the aforementioned language tools and many others, both

Kuma and Alabi are leaving African Christians a legacy of a robust
and dynamic African identity such that Africans don't have to stop
being African to be Christian; they can be both. Though unschooled
in theology, they uphold a reality which must inform the scholarship
of writing African theologians—and this is already happening. Bedi‐
ako’s position, for example, that ‘Christianity in Africa [is] a historical
reality in African life’ 93 aligns with and celebrates the pioneering
work of such oral theologians like Kuma. And together with the cloud
of witnesses of African theologians in the land of the living dead—
22 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

Afua Kuma, Lamin Sanneh, John Mbiti, Kwame Bediako, Ogbu Kalu,
to mention but a few—the likes of Tope Alabi invite other African
Christians to begin to think and talk sensibly about God consistently
with our Africanness so that we may continue to speak about the
Africanisation of Christianity in the same breath as we speak of the
Christianisation of Africa. May this be so.

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———. "Eru Re to Ba (Spontaneous Song) - Video." YouTube,
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———. "Iwo Lawa O Ma Bo (Spontaneous Song) - Video."
YouTube, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=mra_dVAj7lQ.
God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of … • 23

———, "'Iwo Lawa O Ma Bo' (Lyrics and Translation)." T Videos,

2019, https://tweb.live/videos/watch/1vOByu0Ujdc.
———. "Kabi O Osi (Spontaneous Song) - Video." YouTube,
2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp864FzGBEE.
———. "War (Spontaneous Song)." YouTube, 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGzDvEDOuZY.
Anyidoho, Akosua. "Techniques of Akan Praise Poetry in
Christian Worship: Madam Afua Kuma." In Multiculturalism
& Hybridity in African Literatures, edited by H. Wylie and B.
Lindfors: Africa World Press, 2000.
Babarinde, Damilola Mayowa. "Emergent Issues in the
Hybridisation of Christian Gospel Music in South-West
Nigeria." Calabar Journal of Liberal Studies 21, no. 1 (2019):
81-88.
Bediako, Kwame. "The Roots of African Theology." International
Bulletin of Missionary Research 13, no. 2 (1989): 58-65.
Center, Pew Research. "Global Christianity: A Report on the
Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population."
The Pew Forum on Religious and Public life (2011).
https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.5098.1761.
Channels Television. "Artiste of the Week: Singer Tope Alabi
Talks on Her Inspiration." YouTube, 2012.
https://youtu.be/zSlbU5gXAAQ.
———. "Artiste of the Week: Singer Tope Alabi Talks on Her
Inspiration Part 2." YouTube, 2012.
https://youtu.be/h6osdNNVLvc.
Emielu, Austin, and Grace Takyi Donkor. "Highlife Music
without Alcohol? Interrogating the Concept of Gospel
Highlife in Ghana and Nigeria." Journal of the Musical Arts in
Africa 16, no. 1-2 (2019): 29-44.
Endong, Floribert Patrick Calvain. "Religiosity Versus
Spirituality in the Contemporary Nigerian Gospel Music."
Human and Social Studies 5, no. 2 (2016): 116-32.
Fagunwa, D. O. The Forest of a Thousand Daemons. Translated by
Wole Soyinka. London: Thomas Nelson Ltd, 1968.
24 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

Fisher, Robert B. West African Religious Traditions: Focus on the

Akan of Ghana. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998.
Johnson, Samuel. The History of the Yorubas. London: Routledge,
1921.
Johnson, Todd M., Gina A. Zurlo, Albert W. Hickman, and
Peter F. Crossing. "Christianity 2018: More African
Christians and Counting Martyrs." International Bulletin of
Mission Research 42, no. 1 (2018): 20-28.
"Afua Kuma: Praying in Her Own Words | T I C C S Newsletter
#33." SVD Curia, 2006, accessed May 17, 2020,
https://www.svdcuria.org/public/formatio/newsl/ticcs/ticcs0633.htm.
Koyi, S. Joseph Bankola Ola. "Creativity, Film and Democratic
Practice in Nigeria." In Theatre, Creativity and Democratic
Practice in Nigeria, edited by Ameh Dennis Akoh,
AbdulRasheed Abiodun Adeoye and Osita C. Ezenwanebe,
326-39. Maiduguri, Nigeria: Society of Nigeria Theatre
Artists, 2014.
Kuma, Afua. Jesus of the Deep Forest: Prayers and Praises of Afua
Kuma. Translated by Jon Kirby. Accra: Asempa Publishers,
1981.
Kwakye, Joseph, and Jon P Kirby. The Prayers and Praises of Afua
Kuma Ii.
Lucas, Jonathan Olumide. The Religion of the Yorubas: Being an
Account of the Religious Beliefs and Practices of the Yoruba
Peoples of Southern Nigeria, Especially in Relation to the Religion
of Ancient Egypt. Lagos: CMS Bookshop, 1948.
Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. 2nd rev. and enl.
ed. Oxford: Heinemann, 1990.
———. "African Views of the Universe." In African History and
Culture, edited by R. Olaniyan. Ibadan: Longman, 1982.
———. "The Biblical Basis for Present Trends in African
Theology." International Bulletin of Mission Research 4, no. 3
(1980): 119-24.
Neill, Stephen. Colonialism and Christian Missions. Lutterworth
Press, 1966.
God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of … • 25

Nnaemedo, Bartholomew. "Philosophical Inquiry into God-

Definition Question: The Context of Mercy." Igwebuike: An
African Journal of Arts and Humanities 4, no. 3 (2019): 147-74.
OakTv, "Tope Alabi Crowned Luminary of Yoruba Artistry at
#Ubaat70," 2019,
https://oak.tv/newstrack/commentsection-tope-alabi-
ubaat70/.
Odusanya, Rachael, "Tope Alabi's Biography and
Achievements." Legit, 2018, https://www.legit.ng/1194921-
tope-alabis-biography-achievements.html.
Oduyoye, Mercy Amber. "Jesus Christ." In The Cambridge
Companion to Feminist Theology, edited by Susan Frank
Parsons. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Oikelome, A. O. ""Pop Goes the Gospel" - the Growth of Gospel
Music in Nigeria." International Journal of Multi-disciplinary
Research 3, no. 1-2 (2010): 66-70.
Orobator, Agbonkhianmeghe E. Theology Brewed in an African
Pot. Orbis Books, 2008.
Orobator, Agbonkhianmeghe E. Theology Brewed in an African
Pot. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008.
Parris, Matthew. "As an Atheist, I Truly Believe Africa Needs
God." The Sunday Times, 2008.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/as-an-atheist-i-truly-
believe-africa-needs-god-3xj9bm80h8m.
Salami, Oladipo. "Creating God in Our Image: The Attributes
of God in the Yoruba Sociocultural Environment." In
Explorations in the Sociology of Language and Religion,
Amsterdam: John Benjamins, edited by Tope Omoniyi and
Joshua A. Fishman, 97-118. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Publishing, 2006.
Shepherd, John, David Horn, Dave Laing, Paul Oliver, and
Peter Wicke. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the
World, Volume 1: Media, Industry, Society. A&C Black, 2003.
Uwakwe, Onyeka. "Students, Internet Use and Information
Dissemination in Nigeria: Towards the New Media."
26 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

Communication Panorama African and Global Perspectives 1,

no. 1 (2015): 1-13.
Walls, Andrew F. "Kwame Bediako and Christian Scholarship
in Africa." [In English]. In memoriam. International Bulletin of
Missionary Research 32 (2008): 188-93.
Young, Richard Fox. "Clearing a Path through Jesus of the Deep
Forest: Intercultural Perspectives on Christian Praise and
Public Witness in Afua Kuma’s Akan Oral Epic." Theology
Today 70, no. 1 (2013): 38-45.

1.  Afua Kuma was a Ghanaian Christian woman who made use of traditional Akan
poetry in public prayer. Tope Alabi is a Nigerian musician and Christian worship
leader of Yoruba heritage. More will be said about them in the course of the essay.
In this essay, we use ‘Africa’ to describe the continent as a whole and ‘African’ as an
all-inclusive way of describing people of the continent, whatever their ethnicity.
We do include the African diaspora in our use of Africa, but we do often spell it out
just for clarity’s sake. When we speak of African cultures, though, we have in mind
mostly the cultures of sub-Saharan Africa which is the part of Africa that has
become increasingly Christian in the past century.
2.  Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, Theology Brewed in an African Pot (Maryknoll, NY:
Orbis Books, 2008).
3.  This includes those who describe their religious identity as 'atheist', 'agnostic' or
'nothing in particular'. As of 2010, this group accounted for 16% of the religious
distribution of the world 2% of which was found in sub-Saharan Africa. See Pew
Research Center, "Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the
World's Christian Population," The Pew Forum on Religious and Public life (2011): 24-
25, https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.5098.1761.
4.  Hence, as Nnaemedo rightly posits, "the divergent voices concerning the nature of
God as represented by theists, atheists and agnostics" necessarily implies "thinking"
about God. See Bartholomew Nnaemedo, "Philosophical inquiry into God-defini‐
tion question: The context of mercy," Igwebuike: An African Journal of Arts and
Humanities 4, no. 3 (2019): 147-48.
5.  Culturally, it is an essential parental duty to pass on the ideas of worship and
culture to the children. Through their words and deeds, fathers mentor their sons
while mothers mentor their daughters in the trado-religious make-up of their soci‐
eties. The increasing rate of globalisation, however, is progressively eroding this
channel of theology on the continent—unfortunately so.
6.  John S. Mbiti, "The biblical basis for present trends in African theology,"
International Bulletin of Mission Research 4, no. 3 (1980): 119.
7.  Orobator, Theology Brewed in an African Pot, 3.
8.  Andrew F. Walls, "Kwame Bediako and Christian scholarship in Africa," In memo‐
riam, International Bulletin of Missionary Research 32 (2008): 192-93.
 God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of … • 27

9.  Unfortunately, as Mbiti rightly observed, such theology is ‘often unrecorded, often
heard only by small groups, and generally lost to libraries and seminaries.’ Mbiti,
"The biblical basis for present trends in African theology," 119.
10.  John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 2nd rev. and enl. ed. (Oxford: Heine‐
mann, 1990), 1.
11.  While it is not untrue that there are Africans who will self-identify as being a none,
it is nothing short of strange. See Matthew Parris, "As an atheist, I truly believe
Africa needs God," The Sunday Times 2008, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/as-
an-atheist-i-truly-believe-africa-needs-god-3xj9bm80h8m.
12.  Todd M. Johnson et al., "Christianity 2018: More African Christians and Counting
Martyrs," International Bulletin of Mission Research 42, no. 1 (2018): 21.
13.  The gravity of this reality dawned on me when, in a recent conversation with two
graduates from notable African seminaries, they both admitted to have never been
exposed to the works of African theologians in their studies at the seminary.
14.  Also known as ‘Christiana Gyan’ (also spelt 'Gyane'). For a detailed biography, see
Akosua Anyidoho, "Techniques of Akan Praise Poetry in Christian Worship:
Madam Afua Kuma," in Multiculturalism & Hybridity in African Literatures, ed. H.
Wylie and B. Lindfors (Africa World Press, 2000), 71-75.
15.  Walls, "Kwame Bediako and Christian scholarship in Africa," 193.
16.  Apae is courthouse praise poetry of the Akan folkloric tradition.
17.  Afua Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest: Prayers and Praises of Afua Kuma, trans. Jon
Kirby (Accra: Asempa Publishers, 1981). This was compiled originally in Twi
language through the help of a Roman Catholic priest, Father Kofi Ron Lange,
who knew Afua Kuma personally and recorded her prayers for posterity. A sequel
is currently being put together and titled The Prayers and Praises of Afua Kuma II,
the manuscript of which we were privileged to peruse; Jesus of the Deep Forest has
gone on to become a much-cited work especially in the area of what Oduyoye calls
‘Oral Christology’ in an African context. See Mercy Amber Oduyoye, "Jesus
Christ," in The Cambridge companion to feminist theology, ed. Susan Frank Parsons
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 154; See also Anyidoho, "Madam
Afua Kuma," 73; Joseph Kwakye and Jon P. Kirby, The Prayers and Praises of Afua
Kuma II.
18.  For a full biography, see Rachael Odusanya, "Tope Alabi's biography and achieve‐
ments," Legit, 2018, https://www.legit.ng/1194921-tope-alabis-biography-achieve‐
ments.html.
19.  The same year Afua Kuma discovered her gift of praising Jesus Apae style
20.  John Shepherd et al., Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 1:
Media, Industry, Society (A&C Black, 2003), 171.
21.  Odusanya “Tope Alabi's biography and achievements”.
22.  OakTv, "Tope Alabi crowned luminary of Yoruba artistry at #UBAat70," 2019,
https://oak.tv/newstrack/commentsection-tope-alabi-ubaat70/.
23.  OakTv Tope Alabi crowned luminary of Yoruba artistry; By her own admission,
her preference for singing in Yoruba, besides being versed in the language, is that
God speaks to her oftentimes through Yoruba adages and then unpacks the deep
meaning of the adage to her. See Channels Television, "Artiste of the week: Singer
Tope Alabi talks on her inspiration Part 2," (YouTube, 2012).
https://youtu.be/h6osdNNVLvc.
28 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

24.  See Onyeka Uwakwe, "Students, Internet Use and Information Dissemination in
Nigeria: Towards the New Media," Communication Panorama African and Global
Perspectives 1, no. 1 (2015); Floribert Patrick Calvain Endong, "Religiosity versus
spirituality in the contemporary Nigerian gospel music," Human and Social Studies 5,
no. 2 (2016); A. O. Oikelome, ""Pop Goes the Gospel" - The Growth of Gospel
Music in Nigeria," International Journal of Multi-disciplinary Research 3, no. 1-2
(2010); J. O. Adeoye, "Patriotic Music: A tool for sustaining national security in
Nigeria," Journal of Science and Science Education, Ondo 4, no. 1 (2013); George
Olusola Ajibade, "New Wine in Old Cups: Postcolonial Performance of Christian
Music in Yorùbá Land," Studies in World Christianity 13, no. 2 (2007); Austin Emielu
and Grace Takyi Donkor, "Highlife music without alcohol? Interrogating the
concept of gospel highlife in Ghana and Nigeria," Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa
16, no. 1-2 (2019); Damilola Mayowa Babarinde, "Emergent Issues in the Hybridis‐
ation of Christian Gospel Music in South-West Nigeria," Calabar Journal of Liberal
Studies 21, no. 1 (2019); S. T. Adeyemi, "The culture specific application of sound in
Nigerian video movies," Nigerian Music Review 5, no. 1 (2004); S. Joseph Bankola
Ola Koyi, "Creativity, Film and Democratic Practice in Nigeria," in Theatre,
Creativity and Democratic Practice in Nigeria, ed. Ameh Dennis Akoh, AbdulRasheed
Abiodun Adeoye, and Osita C. Ezenwanebe (Maiduguri, Nigeria: Society of
Nigeria Theatre Artists, 2014).
25.  Prior to becoming a well-known artiste in Nigerian ‘Gospel Music’ genre, she had
been involved in composing soundtracks for Yoruba movies—by 2010, she had
composed soundtracks for more than 2,000 Nigerian movies. See Channels Televi‐
sion, "Artiste of the week: Singer Tope Alabi talks on her inspiration," (YouTube,
2012). https://youtu.be/zSlbU5gXAAQ; See also Adeyemi, "The culture specific
application of sound in Nigerian video movies," 51.
26.  Tope Alabi and T.Y. Bello, "WAR (Spontaneous Song)," (YouTube, 2019).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGzDvEDOuZY.
27.  Tope Alabi and T. Y. Bello, "Kabi O Osi (Spontaneous Song) - Video," (YouTube,
2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp864FzGBEE.
28.  Tope Alabi, "Oba Aseda," (YouTube, 2017). https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=lh1hvLEFm0w.
29.  John S. Mbiti, "African views of the universe," in African History and Culture, ed. R.
Olaniyan (Ibadan: Longman, 1982), 196.
30.  Anyidoho, "Madam Afua Kuma," 74.
31.  Oladipo Salami, "Creating God in our image: The attributes of God in the Yoruba
sociocultural environment," in Explorations in the Sociology of Language and Religion,
Amsterdam: John Benjamins, ed. Tope Omoniyi and Joshua A. Fishman (Amsterdam:
John Benjamins Publishing, 2006), 102.
32.  Anyidoho, "Madam Afua Kuma," 78.
33.  Anyidoho, "Madam Afua Kuma," 78.
34.  In this sense, in traditional Yoruba families, there is an oriki for every child born
into the family. Mothers and grandmothers tend to be versed in these poetic and
highly descriptive adulations which they recite to the child as he grows—some‐
times to placate him/her and other times, to remind him/her of his worth.
35.  Akinsola Akiwowo, "Understanding interpretative sociology in the light of oriki of
Orunmila," Journal of Cultures and ideas 1, no. 1 (1983): 144.
36.  Akiwowo, "Oriki of Orunmila," 144.
 God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of … • 29

37.  Salami, "Creating God in our image," 104.

38.  Anyidoho therefore posits, "Her two names, Afua Kuma (by which she was identi‐
fied in her community) and Christiana Gyan (acquired after her Christian baptism,
and which appeared mainly in the church records) are symbolic of the multiple
influences in her life." Anyidoho, "Madam Afua Kuma," 74-75.
39.  Odusanya “Tope Alabi's biography and achievements”.
40.  Odusanya “Tope Alabi's biography and achievements”.
41.  Anyidoho, "Madam Afua Kuma," 75.
42.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 5.
43.  Richard Fox Young, "Clearing a Path through Jesus of the Deep Forest: Intercul‐
tural Perspectives on Christian Praise and Public Witness in Afua Kuma’s Akan
Oral Epic," Theology Today 70, no. 1 (2013): 43; This is corroborated in the yet-to-
be-published sequel, ‘The Prayers and Praises of Afua Kuma II’, where she writes:
“The priests called the name of Jesus, / and the Holy Spirit drew near.” See Kwakye
and Kirby, The Prayers and Praises of Afua Kuma II, 26.
44.  For example, Iwo Lawa O Mabo (It is You We Shall Worship) seemed to have been
dedicated to God the Father; Logan Ti O De (Immediately He Arrived) to God the
Son and Emi Mimo (Holy Spirit) to the Holy Ghost.
45.  D. O. Fagunwa, The forest of a thousand daemons, trans. Wole Soyinka (London:
Thomas Nelson Ltd, 1968).
46.  Both in Ghana’s Eastern Region and South Western Nigeria, one will find lushly
vegetated forested hills with many different birds and animals and a similar
cosmology undergirding how people view these creatures and all of life.
47.  Salami, "Creating God in our image," 106. (Word in brackets ours.)
48.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 5.
49.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 39.
50.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 39. 'Kente' is a type of cloth intricately woven and
admiringly colourful. It is common among the royalty of the Ashanti people.
51.  Tope Alabi and T. Y. Bello, "Iwo Lawa O Ma Bo (Spontaneous Song) - Video," (You‐
Tube, 2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mra_dVAj7lQ.
52.  As translated in the subtitle of the music video. See Tope Alabi and T.Y. Bello, "Awa
Gbe O Ga (Spontaneous Song) - Video," (YouTube, May 17, 2020 2019).
https://youtu.be/9DaHRD2q1ek.
53.  A word used in saluting Yoruba kings. It literally means “The Unquestionable One”
albeit used in the same context as the English will use “Your Royal Majesty”.
54.  As translated in the subtitle of the music video. Tope Alabi and T. Y. Bello, "'Iwo
Lawa O Ma Bo' (Lyrics and Translation)," T Videos, 2019, https://twe‐
b.live/videos/watch/1vOByu0Ujdc.
55.  For example, see Stephen Neill, Colonialism and Christian Missions (Lutterworth
Press, 1966), 317-19. According to Neil, the missionaries that served in Southern
Nigeria historically had a major issue with the natives’ alcohol use and the very
high rate of importation of gins and liquors. This became a disturbing issue for
Western Missionaries working in the Southern part of Nigeria necessitating the
Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1905 and 1907 to raise a debate about this in the
House of Lords. (p. 318)
56.  See Robert B Fisher, West African religious traditions: Focus on the Akan of Ghana
(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998), 100-02.
57.  Salami, "Creating God in our image," 106.
30 • MISSIO AFRICANUS JOURNAL OF AFRICAN MISSIOLOGY

58.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 20.

59.  Alabi and Bello, "Kabi O Osi."
60.  Based on subtitle from the music video. Translated by Oreofe Williams. See Alabi
and Bello, "Kabi O Osi."
61.  Oduyoye, "Jesus Christ," 154.
62.  Anyidoho, "Madam Afua Kuma," 78.
63.  Anyidoho, "Madam Afua Kuma," 78.
64.  Alabi and Bello, "WAR."
65.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 5, 7, 10, 17, 39.
66.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 7.
67.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 7.
68.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 7.
69.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 9.
70.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 10.
71.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 11.
72.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 39.
73.  Kuma, Jesus of the Deep Forest, 46.
74.  Alabi and Bello, "Iwo Lawa O Ma Bo."
75.  While there is no consensus on the exact meaning of Olodumare, a suggested
etymology is Olodu Omo Are which, put together, could mean ‘an entity that is very
enormous, yet whose location cannot be ascertained. Odu means ‘a very big clay
pot’; Are means ‘location unknown’.
76.  Alabi and Bello, "Kabi O Osi."
77.  Alabi and Bello, "Kabi O Osi."
78.  Alabi and Bello, "Kabi O Osi."
79.  What kente is to the Asante people of Ghana, agbada is to the Yoruba males. It’s a
kind of clothing
80.  Alabi and Bello, "Kabi O Osi."
81.  Tope Alabi, "Eje Ka Gbadura Episode 13," (YouTube, 2019). https://www.youtube.‐
com/watch?v=6uDE56bQezE.
82.  Salami, "Creating God in our image," 115.
83.  "Afua Kuma: Praying in Her Own Words | T I C C S NEWSLETTER #33," SVD
Curia, 2006, accessed May 17, 2020, https://www.svdcuria.org/public/forma‐
tio/newsl/ticcs/ticcs0633.htm.
84.  Kirby (SVD), "Afua Kuma: Praying in Her Own Words."
85.  Yoruba traditional religion, for instance, have five fundamental beliefs including a
belief in God (Supreme Being), divinities, ancestors, spirits and mysterious powers. See J
Ọmọṣade Awolalu and P Adelumo Dopamu, West African Traditional Religion
(Ibadan: Onibonoje Press & Book Industries, 1979), pp. 34, 240. As such, the invo‐
cations, incantationns used n) and ayajo (charming), prayer songs which incorpo‐
rate praise (oriki) and petition.
86.  Tope Alabi and T. Y. Bello, "Eru Re To Ba (Spontaneous Song) - Video," (YouTube,
2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAp1i632qM8.
87.  Also known as ‘the deity of thunder and lightning’.
88.  Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas (London: Routledge, 1921), 34.
89.  Jonathan Olumide Lucas, The religion of the Yorubas: being an account of the religious
beliefs and practices of the Yoruba peoples of southern Nigeria, especially in relation to the
religion of ancient Egypt (Lagos: CMS Bookshop, 1948), 104.
God in Oral African Theology: Exploring the Spoken Theologies of A… • 31

90.  Alabi and Bello, "Eru Re To Ba."

91.  Another example of this will be Owo kembe rebi ija (the one who wears baggy
trousers to the war front)—a name Alabi frequently uses which, however, was the
oriki for Ogunmola, a Yoruba ancestral warrior. See Alabi, Lamidi Kolawole, 2017;
Alabi, "Eje Ka Gbadura Episode 13."
92.  Alabi and Bello, "WAR."
93.  Kwame Bediako, "The roots of African theology," International Bulletin of Missionary
Research 13, no. 2 (1989): 58.