Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-288) and index.

History, culture and the comparative method: a West African puzzle - - Two pastors and their histories: Samuel Johnson and C.C. Reindorf -- A comparative analysis of Ogun in pre-colonial Yorubaland -- Modes of r eligiosity in West Africa -- Post-socialism, post-colonialism, Pentecos talism -- Context, tradition and the anthropology of world religions -- Conversion and community among the Yoruba -- Yoruba ethnogenesis and t he trajectory of Islam -- A century of interplay between Christianity a nd Islam -- Pentecostalism and Salafism in Nigeria: mirror-images? -- T he three circles of Yoruba religion.

"The Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria are exceptional for the copresen ce among them of three religious traditions: Islam, Christianity, and t he indigenous orisa-religion. In this strongly comparative study, at on ce historical and anthropological, Peel explores the intertwined charac ter of the three religions and the dense imbrication of religion in all other aspects of Yoruba history up to the present. For over 400 years, the Yoruba have straddled two geocultural spheres: one reaching north over the Sahara to the world of Islam, the other linking them to the Eu ro-American world via the Atlantic. These two external spheres were the source of contrasting cultural influences, notably those emanating fro m the world religions. Moreover, the Yoruba not only imported Islam and Christianity; they exported their own orisa-religion to the New World. Before the voluntary modern diaspora that has brought many Yoruba to E uro-America, tens of thousands had been sold as slaves to the New World , bringing with them the worship of the orisa. Along the way, Peel not only offers deep insight into such important contemporary themes as rel igious conversion, new religious movements, relations between world rel igions, the conditions of religious violence, the transnational flows o f contemporary religion, and the interplay between tradition and the de mands of an ever-changing present but also makes a major theoretical co ntribution to the anthropology of world religions"--Provided by publish er.