__________________________________ "They appear to view Africa as only two or three centuries deep, not two or three millennia." __________________________________ A brief description of the book What is the book about? This book aims to persuade the reader with evidence that Africa is a place of early development for global Christianity as we know it today, especially the West. The book touches on the fact that ancient African thought was pivotal in impelling the early church to what it is today. The unique understanding and perspective of early African Christian theologians and interpreters of biblical scriptures has led to global consensual church practices, philosophy and general beliefs. This is barely reflected in western academic endeavors, which tend to be systematically biased and short-sighted. African contributions have been grossly neglected by western scholars, writers and interpreters of scriptures, as shown by the number of ancient African theologians and writers being referenced in their work. That means Western interpreters of biblical scriptures do not only reject an African perspective but they miss an opportunity to broaden their insights, interpretations and perspectives. In response to this neglect and short-sightedness, Oden’s ultimate goal is to question precisely how the African thought and consciousness shaped the Christian mind in the dawn of Christianity. How does the book go about answering the question above? The book bears an academic style and tone, and might certainly be unappealing for the layman and the ordinary reader who is only interested in the general essence of the book. Having said that, the contents of the book are still worth knowing and engaging with, and our hope is that this summary review will inspire the reader to start probing for themselves elsewhere. To show how African thought shaped the Christian mind, Oden dedicates his time to only giving an overview of what he considers the main points. These include summaries of how the early African church guided early Christian dogma, interpretations of scripture, and religious disciplines, as well as how it contributed to and developed intellectual discourse. As conveyed by the spirit of the book, he is careful to not steal the agency of ‘the young African scholar’, by providing directives for future work that still needs to be done. Who is the book for? The contents of this book are for Africans, especially young Africans, seeking the truth about their history in the context of Christianity. It is for the young African who is trying to forge their Christian identity despite a displacement of culture brought about by colonialism. It is for the unsettled African wanderer who has believed that Christianity is a bitter gift offered by the West in the 17th century and therefore a colonial legacy. It is for African scholars, theologians, archeologists, linguists and paleographers. It is for the pan-African Christian who is concerned about the form and future of the African church. It is for a pastor of a church who is trying to serve their multicultural congregation that includes Africans and a teacher of the word of God that values diversity of thought, as contributed by all people of God. The contents of this book can also benefit a non-believing inquisitor, interested in early-centuries’ African church development and affairs. Who is the author? Thomas C. Oden was an American theologian and religious author. His career spans 30 years where he spent most of his time studying the early church and its implications on how we do church today. He has left behind him a long resume of books, articles and essays over the years and is esteemed by his colleagues. The elephant in the room: Why is a white American man writing on this? Who should? Oden commences his discussions by briefly addressing the elephant in the room, the fact that he is a white American man telling an African story. He addresses this directly - that he happens to be among a few scholars with a reputable voice that has stumbled on this evidence. But more importantly, this sentiment is reinforced by the general tone of the book. Throughout the book, he does not miss an opportunity to emphasize that the book is just an the inception of the work that needs to be done, and that further, more in-depth analysis needs to be done by young African scholars - he passes on the baton so to say. He doesn’t strip the young African scholar of agency to take the lead in the pursuit of the truth, but rather serves as a catalyst for the work that needs to be done. Oden also shares his introspections of deciding whether to author this book or not. In his own words, Oden mindfully states that, “The only advantage to hearing it in a Western accent is that it saves African accents from the accusation that they are exaggerating” A brief history of African geography The inception of Christianity in Africa takes form in the first century in Northern Africa. In those early days, the Medjerda and Nile river systems (see map) made trade and the transmission of ideas possible via river and sea from inland Africa to European countries that included Spain, France, Italy and Greece. It is in the surrounding lands of the Medjerda and Nile rivers, that include modern-day Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa; and modern-day Sudan down the Nile River to Uganda in sub-Saharan Africa, where pre-Western Christian ideas and practices were being developed and disseminated. It is through the necessity of trade and communication with the West that early Africans who resided in these lands spoke and wrote different languages, including Latin and Greek. This is consistent with the fact that early translations of the Hebrew bible to Greek and Latin were products of Africa. The New Testament also locates African characters, such as Simon of Cyrene (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21, see map for location of Cyrene) who helped Jesus carry the cross and later converted to Christianity; Libyans and Egyptians that were present among many other nationals at the day of Pentecost (Acts 2); and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:27-39) who converted to Christianity in Jerusalem on his way home. Further, the author of the Gospel of Mark was a Libyan who also founded one of the early Christian churches in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. Notable takers 1. Africa is the seedbed of Christianity - it did not only influence religion but also scholarship, philosophy and debate Oden discusses how early African writers and interpreters of scripture influenced early Christian thinking and how the contribution of African contemplatives was not limited to the religious contributions, but it extended to the academic model. He supports this by mentioning that the Western idea of a university was conceived in Africa as modelled by the Alexandrian library in Egypt founded in 280 B.C. The library then became an important resource for philosophers, scientists, writers, artists and educators of the third century. In his own words: “...the Alexandrian library of the third century provided the essential archetype of the university for all of medieval Europe. The history of medieval universities such as Padua (Italy), Paris (France), Salamanca (Spain) and Oxford (England) followed methods of text examination, curricular patterns and philosophical imperatives...”. Furthermore, rules of engagement for academia, such as debating and philosophizing, were refined in Africa. 2. Early biblical manuscripts were written in Greek and Latin languages by Africans Of the evidence presented in the book, the linguistic evidence addresses the significance of the early manuscripts being written in Greek and Latin. There is evidence to show that there was Greek and Latin influence that existed in the Medjerda and Nile regions, consistent with the multilingualism (which was birthed as a necessity for trade) of these regions and their surrounding areas. This explains how the authors of the early Greek and Latin biblical texts were African, and not European nationals, as some scholars like to suggest. 3. Oral vs textual traditions Oden discusses how African oral traditions, notably in the sub-Saharan Africa, of passing down knowledge have not been given a fair trial against western scrutiny. He makes the point that textual tradition of knowledge transmission is undoubtedly not superior to oral traditions. This claim is made to highlight oral traditions and interpretations of the text that are valuable to the Christian faith but neglected because they are considered invaluable and/or unreliable. Ironically, the gospels in the New Testament relied on eyewitnesses and therefore the oral transmission of information. 4. The definition of traditional African religion Historical and current definitions of a traditional African religion (by both the West and unfortunately most of Africa), has excluded Christianity from the list. This is surprising according to Oden, given that Africa acted as the fertile soil of Christianity (i.e. moved immediately into Africa from Israel), and has remained there for the entire two millennia of its existence. He makes this same point by considering a different angle, how old testament Christianity has a number of parallels to traditional pre-Christian African religions. An additional angle to this same argument is made by considering the language, metaphors and style of writing in the early Christian manuscripts, and their affinity to African cultures. 5. The exclusion of early African thought by many Western theologians, included African theologians The one sobering point Oden makes is that the negligence of African wisdom and its contributions to the early church is not only perpetuated by European and American scholars, but by some African scholars and interpreters of scripture who were either also educated in the west or they ignorantly rely on Western sources. 6. The issue of who gets to be called African Oden addresses the fallacy that Northern Africa is not technically African, leaning into evidence of how interwoven Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa is culturally, even in the early days. Oden points out how Western scholars and theologians have prejudicially neglected this fact and how they have tended to pay more detailed attention to African history for the sole purpose of re-enforcing their existing biases. For example, their discussions tend to heavily lean on elucidating the ethnicity and the educational backgrounds of those African characters who have brilliantly contributed in the early days, and even suggesting that they were just Europeans in disguise. Oden says, according to Western scholars, "the African intellectual tradition cannot even claim its own sons and daughters, especially if they happened to have been articulate, or if they were sufficiently astute to speak in the common international, academic, commercial and political languages of the day." What to keep in mind What the reader should keep in mind is that Oden does not provide extensive explanations on his main points, instead he offers directives to the ‘young African scholar’ on crucial work that is still required. He mentions that textual and archeological evidence is there but needs to be further explored and convincingly presented. As such, his book is presented as a catalyst for future research. As mentioned before, the book is heavily academic, and assumes the reader is familiar with the jargon used in theology and biblical history. For example, Oden makes reference to a number of historical figures that are considered crucial to the history of the early church and its dogma, without mentioning the reasons they are notable, and therefore assuming the reader is aware of their contribution. Lastly, Oden barely (not even broadly) refers to the southern African context. He briefly mentions the relations between the south and the north but does not discuss the scope of Christianity in the south and how those early days of the African church in the north influenced Christianity in the south. Some of his suggestions for future work Oden does not only emphasize the necessity for the story to be told, but for further research to be done as well on the unexamined texts and artifacts. He presses that the research should take into consideration the economic, sociological, political and demographic features of the evidence. Here are some of his recommendations for future research and direction:
Some criticism We imagine that the scholarly reader would appraise this book better than we can. Having said that, the only qualm we had about the book was Oden's warnings on the temptations of Afrocentrism. Oden rightly warns against “a narrow Afrocentrism” and how it can lead to “ideological bias” and thus weaken any strong evidence presented. However, his suggestions to present any evidence or argument carefully and convincingly, void of any “exuberant Afrocentrism” can be mistaken for or read as respectability politics. From one angle, he is suggesting that a young African scholar should treat any presentation of evidence as solely an academic exercise. This evades the fact that an academic endeavor of this nature is not only scholarly but deeply personal for the African scholar. Further, who is to say that a perfectly convincing presentation of those early textual and archaeological evidence is the solution to undoing hundreds of years of deliberate prejudice? Even Oden himself admits that it could be met with great reluctance. Sometimes it is not productive for the oppressed group to abide by the rules of an oppressive system to dismantle the very system, and suggesting that one does is precisely an issue of respectability politics. Moreover, for the oppressed and the neglected, warnings against temptations of chauvinism can be read as pacification, since chauvinism is what got them oppressed in the first place.
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