What if the most widely read book in the world could be told in a different way?
What if, instead of a rigid and distant narrative, the story of creation were retold with the colors, rhythms, and symbols of the Orishas?
That was the question that gave birth to The Bible Inspired by the Orishas. A project born out of listening to a deep pain: that of a young Deaf boy who longed to read the Word without depending on interpreters, without mediators, in his own language. He wanted to feel close to god directly, without filters. His words struck me like lightning: “I don’t want to be a slave to interpreters. I want to know what god really said.”
From that liberating shock, my spiritual journey was marked by encounters and experiences that broadened my perspective. From the old wise man who showed me the Hebrew text to theologians who revealed the richness of African-based rituals, I began to see the Bible as a space that could be re-read, reimagined, and recreated in dialogue with other traditions.
Thus came the idea of revisiting Genesis through the lens of the Orishas. Not as forced syncretism or a call for religious fusion, but as an invitation to reflect on how myths, symbols, and cultures weave together in the construction of identities.
Instead of a single monolithic god, we find the divine attributes personified in the Orishas: Olódùmarè, Obàtálá, Nànà Bùlùkù, Èṣù… Each passage gains a new layer of meaning, closer to African orality – more alive, more poetic.
Even geography was reimagined: instead of “Ur of the Chaldeans,” we read the Fertile Crescent, in the south of Iraq, near the city of Nasiriyah. The Bible becomes less of a frozen account from the past and more of a living dialogue with history, culture, and contemporary perspectives.
And to make the reading even more provocative, Genesis was divided into ten seasons, like a series full of drama, intrigue, and twists:
- The Big Brother of Creation
- Abraham Corporate
- Dark Secrets
- Zero Hunger Program
- and much more…
More than just a reinterpretation, this Bible Inspired by the Orishas is a manifesto for spiritual diversity. It invites us to see the wealth of connections between cultures, to realize that faith does not need to be rigid or exclusive.
It is a call to look with curiosity instead of fear. To celebrate the dialogue between the mythical and the mystical. To give space to what unsettles us and, precisely because it unsettles us, sparks transformation.
In the end, the message is simple: this is not about replacing one faith with another, but about opening new paths of reading, reflection, and wonder.
Download or Read more here:
BATISTA, D. J. (2025). The Bible inspired by the Orishas – Genesis בראשית – From monoriginal to transoriginality. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16609991