Rereading Ruth 1:15-16 in the Light of Loss of Faith Among Married Women in Yorubaland

Résumé

Marriage is an institution carefully regulated by many cultures and religions. Sometimes when conflict arise, cultural practices tend to supplant religious prescriptions though once in a while religious prescriptions hold sway. This article examines the practice of mixed marriage among the Yoruba of Western Nigeria and the tendency for female spouses to take up the religions of their husbands, leaving behind their cradle faith. This practice is often justified by citing Ruth 1:15-18, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” The article calls for a rereading of this passage from Ruth and insists that Ruth’s position, while not negating the practice of marriage, ranks adherence to God higher than the choice of one’s husband as is sometimes the case among Yoruba women. The paper argues that the practice of the faith should be a joyful and liberating experience, not a slave mentality and a life-sentence to a husband’s dungeon of capricious wills and desires.