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Patriarchies, Prophets, and Procreation: Sources of Gender Practices in Three African Churches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Deidre Helen Crumbley
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Abstract

The Celestial Church of Christ, the Christ Apostolic Church, and the Church of the Lord (Aladura) are indigenous churches, which share the selective blending of Christian and Yoruba religious traditions; however, their gender practices, specifically female access to decision-making roles, vary dramatically. The Celestial Church's prohibition against the ordination of women is associated with ritual impurity. Christ Apostolic excludes women from ordination, but without an explicit ideology of impurity. The Church of the Lord (Aladura) ordains women but prohibits them from the sanctuary when they are menstruating. Do these institutionalised constraints derive from colonial or pre-colonial gender practices? What other factors might contribute to these gender patterns? This paper argues that these gender practices derive from intersecting ambiguities in Western and African gender practices, which both empower and disempower women. The paper also assesses the interplay of doctrine and institutional history on gender dynamics. Finally, it explores the interaction of cultural legacy and socio-environmental pressures on the ritualisation of the female body in this African setting.

Résumé

L'Église du Christianisme Céleste, l'Église Apostolique du Christ et l'Église du Seigneur (Aladura) sont des églises indigènes qui ont comme point commun de mêler sélectivement les traditions religieuses chrétiennes et yoruba; en revanche, leurs pratiques de genre, notamment l'accès des femmes aux rôles de décision, varient considérablement. L'opposition de l'Église Céleste à l'ordination des femmes est associée á l'impureté rituelle. L'Église Apostolique du Christ interdit l'ordination des femmes, mais sans idéologie d'impureté explicite. L'Église du Seigneur (Aladura) ordonne les femmes, mais leur interdit l'accès au sanctuaire en période de menstruation. Ces contraintes institutionnalisées sont-elles issues de pratiques de genre coloniales ou précoloniales? Quels autres facteurs peuvent contribuer áces schémas de genre? Cet article affirme que ces pratiques de genre proviennent d'ambiguïtés qui s'entrecroisent dans les pratiques occidentales et africaines, qui toutes deux donnent des droits aux femmes et leur en retirent. L'article examine également l'action conjuguée de la doctrine et de l'histoire institutionnelle sur la dynamique de genre. Enfin, il explore l'interaction de l'héritage culturel et des contraintes socio-environnementales sur la ritualisation du corps de la femme dans ce contexte africain.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 73 , Issue 4 , November 2003 , pp. 584 - 605
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2003

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