Speaking about the Unspeakable

Abstract

Victor Ezigbo explores the theme of mediated divine action through a comparison of Barth’s interpretation of scriptural authority and Christopher Ejizu’s view of the nature and functions of ọfọ in the indigenous religion of the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria. In both cases, a human-made object can function as a means for people to encounter God, even as God remains free, never identified or confused with the object. Ezigbo attends carefully to the details of how objects mediate divine-human encounter in each case. Without minimizing the differences between Barth’s theology and the Igbo understanding of ọfọ, he concludes with attention to their shared conviction that God’s freedom to use fallible texts and objects to encounter humans should chasten every effort to restrict God or make the divine in our own image.