“A quick, easy read, and an important one. It's a rather forceful invitation to consider Christianity's deep roots in Africa and to understand how Africa has been far more significant through the centuries in shaping Christianity than has been acknowledged. The recent clarity of Africa's voice in calling for an adherence to apostolic orthodoxy sounds not from a post-colonial era but from the earliest days of the Gospel. Africa needs to reclaim this heritage, the world needs to recognize it, and both need to work together to uncover it.
Oden is heavy-handed, quite repetitive, and rather argumentative in his treatment of this issue. He sets forth a large number of hypotheses, then challenges "the next generation" of scholars to investigate them. Nevertheless, he provides enough material to cause the reader to consider carefully the idea that many of the seminal understandings of Christianity have actually flowed from South to North.”
Travis H wrote this review Tuesday, March 4 2008.
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