Magical Realism and Miracles in the Bible ( “the word of God” )

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Dec 3, 2025, 7:42:36 PM (3 days ago) Dec 3
to USA Africa Dialogue Series

Magical Realism and Miracles in the Bible ( “the word of God” ) 


Amazing Grace 


Thanks to Trump’s manifest concern for his Christian Family in Nigeria ,the world now knows that although it is alleged that there’s genocide of Christians going on, minus Nigeria’s dearly departed Christian Martyrs there are circa 100 Million Christians in Nigeria, still alive and kicking,


walking and talking and hawking

And ooing, and cooing, and wooing

Loving, and tugging, and hugging

And a rubbing and sugging, and fugging

Laying, praying, swaying, letting

And fretting, and betting, begetting

Lying, and flying, and trying

And dying, and sighing  - (We Got By


It’s truly amazing when you realise that a few hundred years ago there were hardly any Christians in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa - OK , apart from the predatory slave traders and their cargo ships baptised with names such as “ The Jesus of Lübeck


Since the abolition of slavery, of course, the missionaries have been very busy


The rabbis on the talking serpent in Genesis


I have been trying to figure out why the Bible has had such a strong appeal in Missionary Nigeria since the days of Ajayi Crowther and come to the conclusion that the element of “magical realism” that we find in in e.g. the story of the talking serpent in Genesis, the first Book of the Hebrew Bible must have captured the imagination of the innocents and continues to hold such a strong fascination since it tallies with the folk beliefs in the supernatural ( and some of the superstitions) of Ajayi Crowther's Yoruba folk……I mean the venerable Ajayi Crowther's Yoruba folk……so that the whole issue of Talking Serpents : Magical Realism in the Hebrew Bible must have been a familiar motif and must not have taken them entirely by surprise , must not have taken Amos Tutuola’s folk completely by surprise, not to mention Babalawo Joseph who could interpret dreams, The Ten Plagues ,  and the miracle ( magical realism)  of Jesus turning water into wine ( palm wine?) must have impressed them no end and up to this very day must be impressing them no end ... .but the big one, the ultimate, and the only thing I know about it has been gleaned from Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites by J. Omosade Awolalu , but the really big one, the ultimate, must be the whole concept of 


The Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world


About all of the above there’s always the dissenting “ Sacred Logic” which obviously does not comprehend Divine Mathematics because Divine Mathematics such as 1+1+1=1  

is on another wavelength…





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