“The promise with respect to Ethiopia cannot fail”

This study investigates biblical allusion in Joseph Jenkins Roberts’ inaugural addresses through the Entrenchment-and-Conventionalization Model. In accordance with this model, allusion is considered as a phenomenon that emerges out of the interaction of the intentional activation on the part of the speaker — through linguistic markers of any length — of a network of entrenched associations and regularities of linguistic behavior assumed to be shared with the audience. This definition is applied to the corpus of inaugural speeches delivered by Roberts during his first and second tenure as the President of Liberia. The findings show that Roberts utilizes entrenched associations and conventionalized conformity profiles that, together, make biblical allusions accessible and recognizable to his audience. These allusions plot a narrative that becomes an organizing principle for the self-understanding of a people, from the foundation to the fiery trial of exile, from deliverance to the eschatological fulfilment of Ethiopia.