Introduction

From the preface to the previous chapter I was like an artist walking on a tightrope, trying to juggle three balls at a time. I have juggled history, political theory, and social ethics—more precisely, tossing up and down the balls of political theory and history to give particular impressions of the social ethics and identity of the Nigerian people. The tightrope on which I walked precariously to perform my act was African traditional religion (ATR).

To use a philosophically pedigreed metaphor, I will say that ATR is like the hunchback in that famous thesis of Walter Benjamin on the relationship between historical materialism and theology.

In the Judeo-Islamic-Christian-dominated worlds of present-day Africa, the concealed hunchback is theology of African traditional religion and the puppet is “critical theory.” In this book, ATR's philosophical theology has been used to guide the hands of “critical theory” by means of strings within it. Many forms of Islam and Christianity in Africa have also enlisted the services of ATR, which today is wizened enough to keep out of sight.

Whether you prefer the metaphor of the hunchback or tightrope artist, the critical role of philosophical theology of African traditional religion in framing the socio-ethical thought of this book might not be obvious to you.