The Nigerian diaspora is now world-wide, and when Yoruba travel, they take with them their religious organizations. As a member of the Cherubim and Seraphim church in London for over thirty years, anthropologist Hermione Harris explores a world of prayer, spirit possession, and divination through dreams and visions.Introduction 'Stars of the World': Yoruba Worker-Students in Britain 'The Cherubim and Seraphim Church, United Kingdom' From Ase to Agbara: the Concept of Spiritual Power in the Cherubim and Seraphim 'Electrical Energy': Dynamic Metaphors of Spiritual Power Experiencing Power: Possession by the Holy Spirit Revelation as Divinatory Practice 'Practical Christianity': Revelation and the Power of Prayer Epilogue: Empowerment and Yoruba Christianity
The Yoruba community in London was one of the largest African groups, already substantial when Harris began her fieldwork in 1969, and is now an established and significant ethnic minority. Her account is based on extensive participant observation, interviews, and written records kept by the church members at her request. The narrative is lively, and enriched with a number of fascinating descriptions ofAl?d??r? services, and illuminating testimonies, reminiscences, and comments by the worshippers. It is clear that Harris was an excellent field worker, endowed with both resilience and empathy, and the material she presents is full and detailed. As a study of religious change, this book is important for its documentation of a substantial but neglected topic: the nature of Al?d??r? churches in Britain. Extensive and important work has been done on the Al?d??r? churches in Nigeria by Harold Turner, J. D. Y. Peel, and others, but very little on the variants found among Yoruba communities in Britain. It explores the interaction of traditional and Christian spiritual repertoires in commendable depth. As a study of the religious dimension of a particular community - Yoruba labor/educational migrants in late-twentiló: