Christ's Witchdoctor - Homer E Dowdy

Published by Hodder and Stoughton: Great Britain: 1970 (1963).

This book tells the true story of Elka, a witchdoctor from a 'primitive tribe' in South America, who becomes a Christian following the arrival of missionaries to his region of the Amazon. The unique aspect of the book is that it is told almost entirely from the (third-person) perspective of Elka himself, giving the reader an understanding of the tribal life and beliefs of the Wai Wai people before introducing the missionary element. Following Elka's conversion, we also get insight into the growing Christian understanding of his tribe. There is a fun 'innocence' to the way the Wai Wai people understand their faith, based partially on the newness of their faith, and also the very foreign culture that their understanding takes root in and develops from.

The idea of marriage, for example, in the pre-Christian tribal life is very loose - 'sharing' of spouses is common, and a 'wedding' is simply the woman hanging her hammock below that of her husband. When Elka performs the first Christian marriage, he stresses to the tribe that this (one man and one woman) is how God intends marriage to be, and tells the couple (his whole 'sermon'): "Talk to God together. Don't scold one another. Little Brother, when your wife is sick, don't scold her for being weak. Little Sister, when your husband does not bring back meat from the forest, don't scold him. Don't be concerned about anyone else. Little Brother, you cannot let her go even if she is bad...Both of you should learn to make God's Paper talk to you clearly. Later on, God will give you children. When you see them, say 'God is good to us!' That's all I'm saying to you." (page 221).

The book is fairly straight-forward, nothing spectacular. But it is interesting. Interesting getting an insight into a very foreign culture and belief system. Interesting seeing God at work in the lives of others. Interesting pondering our own faith as we think about the transformation in Elka and his tribe.

Interesting enough to spend a little time reading.

Completed 24 December 2020.

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