Spirit, Structure and Flesh: Gendered Experiences in African Instituted Churches among the Yoruba of Nigeria (review)

At a time when scholarly focus is gradually shifting to new religious movements in Africa, Deidre Helen Crumbley has revisited the Aladura in a refreshing manner, drawing our attention to the intricacies of their gender practices. A unique feature of Spirit, Structure and Flesh is the comparative lens through which it views three case studies—the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), the Church of the Lord-Aladura (CLA), and the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC). As noted in the prologue, these case studies do not constitute a homogenous block. For instance, although the CAC had its origin in the Aladura revival of the 1920s and 1930s, it no longer identifies itself with other Aladura groups. Crumbley's main concern is how women have been able to negotiate and contest the institutional processes, structures, and rituals that appear to limit them in each of these churches. And despite her personal experience of being raised in an African American "holy-sanctified" church similar in many of its practices to the Aladura, she addresses the contradictions, ambivalence, and shifting meanings in the latter objectively.

Much is packed into the three chapters of the book. The first chapter underscores the contributions of women to the early history of the churches and the roots of their gender practices. In a thick description of Aladura worship and rituals in the second chapter, Crumbley shows how the female body is constituted as an obstacle, limiting the advancement of women in very remarkable ways. In analyzing these constraints, Crumbley notes that sexual/menstrual rituals do not necessarily exclude women from formal political authority, as is also true in the case of the CLA. They only limit their ceremonial authority. But can women really possess full control in administrative matters if they have to cede their seats one week every month to a male assistant until they are postmenopausal? No doubt ordination has placed CLA women several steps ahead of their CAC and CCC counterparts, but when compared with the men within the CLA, women still have a long way to go in terms of gender equity.

As shown in chapter 3, there is no uniformity in the interplay of power, gender, and ritual in the three case studies. Women's ritual power is limited on the basis of biblical authority or revealed knowledge transmitted through the leader. What is common to these Aladura churches is what Crumbley calls "engendered discomfort" of the religious authorities with the female body. This can be addressed only when church leaders overcome their fear of change. While some women leaders have left their churches in protest of what they consider unjust gender practices, others have chosen to remain, largely because of the benefits (protection, healing, etc.) that they derive from the church. However, there is another constraint on women's response to which Crumbley paid scant attention, namely, their marital commitment. It is difficult for a married woman to leave a church or protest its limiting rituals if her husband is of a different opinion. What Crumbley does not emphasize in the breakaway cases she cites in the CAC is that those women left the church not as married, but as single, women (either widowed or separated).

It is also a bit disappointing that Crumbley does not include any photographs, especially to illustrate situations in which differences in church dress and regalia are used as markers of hierarchy. One would have loved to visually compare the attires of the prophet/founders, particularly on public occasions. Nevertheless, she has successfully contributed to the gender debate by laying out the various ways in which women have continued to exercise their agency to enhance their status within the Aladura churches, just as their counterparts are doing in the wider society. I recommend this book to all interested not only in...