Baba Ifa Karade

People who are familiar with me personally know that I'm a skeptic, that I favor a epistemic model that prioritizes evidence as the barometer for what we define as "real" or what is known. As a result I struggle with spirituality because it largely operates outside of our ability to test as a matter of course. This limits my engagement largely to ethical and anthropological investigations. Given all of this I'm sure there are things in Karade's writing that I'm simply not appreciating. The Handbook of Yoruba Religious concepts is a basic introduction into the cosmology and religious practices of the Yoruba which form the basis of religious practice of Ifa, Lucumi, Candomblé and Santeria. Karade covers a wide variety of materials that including rituals, traditions, and other basics of the practice. However, the breadth far exceeds the depth of specificity. Perhaps this is purposeful given that these traditions are all initiation based and formerly oral only. Especially when on considers that these traditions are all community based. There are no solitary practitioners. So the level of specificity I would have liked may not be appropriate from Karade's perspective. In some places I did find the text to somewhat pretentious in some places. As though to artificially give the sense of it being deep and insightful. If found it annoying. Luckily it was contained to small parts of the 1st and 2nd chapters. All in all its a useful introductory text.… (mais)