Thomas C. Oden (1931–2016)

I loved this book and I am frustrated by it.

Overall, the book is a very repetitive persuasive essay that Africans should study the illustrious history of Christianity on their continent because it does exist. There are many documents in Amharic, Arabic, and other languages that document that history, but they are buried in dusty archives and haven't been translated into more widely known languages or had scholarly study of them in modern times. It frustrated me because I know that this long show more history exists already!

What I loved is that he makes the argument that we should not classify the Mahgreb & Egypt as "not African." He argues that much of the scholarly work done in Egypt and Algeria during ancient/early medieval times was based upon or inspired by the work being done in Ethiopia and southern Sudan. The flow of wisdom was going from the south to the north. I do know that the Christian history of Ethiopia is certain, and the Christian history of Sudan quite old along with Egypt. Also, we modern people have no idea what "race" (a scientifically untenable concept) most of these African scholars of any location were. The Romans had no concept of race, just citizen and non-citizen--and citizenship could be purchased.

The absolute best part of the book is the Appendix, which lists every known Christian historical event in Africa up to 1000 AD/CE. This is many, many, many pages long! Completely worth the cost of the book for sure!!!

I rate this book a 5-star book just because of the appendix. If it weren't for the appendix, I'd give it a 2 or 2.5 because the main body is mostly a call to action with a few interesting history tidbits thrown in, most of which I already knew, but I've studied this subject as much as I can. But that appendix!!!

I'm hoping that more research will be done to study old forgotten documents in Africa to shed more light on this subject. Much of this has been left in storage for centuries in churches, mosques, synagogues, and other libraries. show less

It's hard for me to resist a theological memoir, and Oden had an impact on me during the heady days of 2006-2007 when I read [b: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy|87671|The Rebirth of Orthodoxy Signs of New Life in Christianity|Thomas C. Oden|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348753533s/87671.jpg|84635] and felt that my world had been rocked. This is the story of how he got there from campus radicalism and liberation theologies in the '50s and '60s. It's worth a read for anyone wanting to understand the show more trajectories of the theological academy in the U.S. through the better part of the past century--Oden's been at the center of much of the action. He's impressively gracious to his younger self and to old colleagues.

I am no longer where I was in my earlier 20s, either, and I'm not a great fan of terms like paleo-orthodoxy and "consensual Christianity." It may suffice to say that if I still thought about catholicity in the way he does, I would likely have been Catholic by now. However, I appreciate him, perhaps especially for his more recent work on early African Christianity.

This book was difficult for me to read; but that might have more to do with the way I currently relate to ambitious, prolific academic males in general. Perhaps the less said about that the better. What I can say about Oden, though, is that his ambition seems to have been fueled by love for the Church, from one end of his career to the other. It's refreshing to see that. show less

This is not a badly crafted book, I just don't buy Oden's project. I think he is a lot more neo-orthodox than he cares to admit. But because he insists on not facing his neo-orthodoxy he ends up promoting a sort of romantic view of the past. I'm right with him for the need to read early Church writings, but it is modernity that allows us to read those things intelligently. As MacIntyre has shown us, there is not neutral place where we read these texts. So reading Augustine does not make you show more Augustinian. It does not give access to Augustine's formative world. What compounds the problem of romanticism is that scholarship since it is unavoidable to bring with us our world, our very modern world, into our interpretive action with the ancient text. To assume otherwise places these texts, in my opinion, at the same level as a devotional reading of scripture. show less

While How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind started and ended with some interesting ideas the middle really dragged. I think Oden could have done just as well by writing an essay or journal article. The fact that many of the early church fathers lived and wrote in North Africa was not a surprising new idea. Oden's attempt to link North African church fathers such as Origen, Clement and Augustine with the rest of Africa just wasn't convincing. North Africa was part of the Mediterranean world show more in the early centuries of the Christian era. It was more linked to the rest of the Mediterranean world than to Sub-saharan Africa. The author takes many digs at the progressive kind of Christianity that I subscribe to, saying that the enlightenment view had failed. There may have been some dog whistle comments in here for people who think along the same lines as Oden. Do the thinkers and writers of the early Christian era in North Africa get less attention today than they deserve. Origen, Clement, Augustine and others are still read today. Perhaps Oden is trying to make a case that has already been made about something that is really don't there. show less