How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind

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.Market/AudienceProfessorsStudentsAfrican AmericansGeneral readersFeatures and BenefitsSurveys seven ways Africa shaped the Christian mindSuggests means and challenges of bridge-building between Northern and sub-Saharan AfricaSuggests concrete research projects for recovering the lost heritageCalls for reshaping the relationship between Christianity and Islam through historical insightOffers a timeline of early African ChristianityIncludes a bibliography for further study.