USA Africa Dialogue Series - Multilingual Praise-worship as Pentecostal Triumph over Babel

"A Christian group meeting in our neighbourhood appears particularly
sensitive to its multilingual and multicultural membership this
afternoon, as these "children" of God sing every one of their songs in
two or more languages at the same time – that is, assuming their songs
are meant for the ears of members. But if the songs are indirectly
addressed to Almighty God (as I suppose they are, pragmatically
speaking), then they either assume God needs to be confronted with the
confusion he caused at Babel or needs to be entertained with the
beauty of that confusion. The myth of Babel, which traces
multilingualism back to divine action, remains part of Christian
explanation on the role of God in human affairs. But it also serves as
a means of re-uniting worshipers and postponing their cultural and
linguistic differences."

To read the full version of "Multilingual Praise-worship as
Pentecostal Triumph over Babel," please visit:

http://x-pensiverrors.blogspot.com/2012/01/multilingual-praise-worship-as.html

--
*Obododimma Oha*
http://udude.wordpress.com/

(*Associate Professor of Cultural Semiotics & Stylistics*)
Dept. of English
University of Ibadan
Nigeria

&

*Fellow*, Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies
University of Ibadan

Phone: +234 803 333 1330;
+234 802 220 8008;
+234 818 639 5001.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com