How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity
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How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
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Narrated by:
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Tom Parks
About this listen
Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe.
If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?
Theologian Thomas C. Oden offers a portrait that challenges prevailing notions of the intellectual development of Christianity from its early roots to its modern expressions. The pattern, he suggests, is not from north to south from Europe to Africa, but the other way around. He then makes an impassioned plea to uncover the hard data and study in depth the vital role that early African Christians played in developing the modern university, maturing Christian exegesis of Scripture, shaping early Christian dogma, modeling conciliar patterns of ecumenical decision-making, stimulating early monasticism, developing Neoplatonism, and refining rhetorical and dialectical skills.
©2007 Thomas C. Oden (P)2019 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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- Marcas Ó Conghaile Muirthemne
- 18-03-24
African and Universal
Thomas Oden's book is an excellent overview of the origins and continued growth of the universal Christian faith in the continent of Africa.
He calls for a rediscovery of a lost intellectual and Spiritual heritage, drawing from the traditions of Egypt, Ethiopia, and others.
This is most welcome and he goes beyond a dry thesis, by offering real world advice, giving concrete examples, and sharing a bit of himself.
As a reader drawn to the pentecostal flavour of Methodism and the ancient riches of Coptic Christian traditions, Oden's book was music to my ears. This is the right kind of ecumenical Spirit - what Oden calls 'Classic Christianity'. By drawing on this varied tradition, he avoids the pitfalls of ideology. One portion of the book, where he contrasts the long faith of the martyrs with materialist Marxist hermeneutics was extraordinary.
This could be supplemented by work done by folks like Alice Linsey, John Binns, John Mbiti, and others who speak to the rich African Christian tradition.
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