Thank you, Africa
If Africa was the significant yet unrecognized influence on the origins of Christianity as promoted by the author, I couldn’t help feeling like I just discovered I was adopted and “my parents” were not my biological parents. I felt a bit duped by the misrepresentation of Christianity in my younger years of Christian teachings, for the origins and beliefs are rarely if ever attributed to African history. Albeit some of the author’s concepts are theories, it stands to reason the African influence on Christianity has been understated.
The following statements were fresh concepts and provoked new thinking for me:
“Western Christian dogma was formed with precision in Africa before it became ecumenically received worldwide” (Kindle, 357). If factual, this statement would suggest Christianity was birthed and developed in Africa and was the primary influencer for the Western world. If so, it is confusing to me why the Western world hasn’t given more credit to Africa for Christian formation? It is a tragic and unfair representation of Christianity if credit is not given to where credit is due.
Oden repeatedly references this discriminatory thinking with: “There is a prejudice at work here: suspect anything of intellectual value that comes from the African continent as having some sort of secret European origin” (Kindle, 543). This concept continues to be emphasized, “…if good ideas appeared in Africa, they must be attributed to Europeans” (Kindle, 463). It appears he is trying to make the reader aware of covert cultural values and overt teachings where the African philosophers and theologians were marginalized and considered inferior in Christian formation. I could not help but wonder how much of this set the stage and influenced the derogatory thinking for Christians to justify the horrors of African slavery in the United States.
Admittedly, I struggled to find much interest in the book’s concepts. But the part of the book that distracted and engaged me the most was the strong emotional undertones throughout. Oden’s intensity and passion on the subject repeatedly caught me off guard when reading his book. His strong statements, detailed research, and call for actions throughout the book caused me to look deeper to discover the reason for the emotional undertones behind his writing. I was rewarded with the segment entitled his “Personal Challenge” (Kindle, 1203). His heart for Africa to be recognized, and protected from the ravages of war, diseases, HIV and starvation, political upheaval and ending with his challenge for the reader to pray for Africa was deeply moving. His profound compassion for the African people and their plight was intensified through his congestive heart disease he was afflicted with as he confessed his passion was so immense he would spend the rest of his life on this topic (Kindle, 1203). I reasoned if he felt so strongly about this topic, it certainly was worth my time and consideration, and I found myself responding to his challenge to pray for a people suffering imaginable horrors who are also my brothers and sisters in Christ.
The authors’ statement: “African Christianity is entering into a maturing stage. It hungers for the strong meat of ancient African Christianity at this decisive stage” (Kindle, 874-875) is a hopeful one that once again challenges a response. How are we as fellow Christians called to respond to a country who appears unfairly ravaged and how do we help correct history that reinstates the truth and their dignity in Christian history? As a Christian, I feel a responsibility to help right a wrong and reinstate African Christianity into Western Christianity. I find myself pondering how this would be an effective way to do it.
Again, I am rewarded with an answer: emulate admirable aspects of the African church and reference them. The African church sets a beautiful precedence with their prayer for unity among Christians. “The vast African church today still prays that the uniting work of the Spirit may reenergize African Christian unity in both the north and south, and remold them into a new whole.” (Kindle Locations 403-404). If only we could experience this among our denominations, genders, and people groups, locally and abroad. By focusing on our similarities and de-emphasizing our differences and praying for a spirit of unity and wholeness would be a good start. A simple expression of gratitude also feels appropriate. Thank you, Africa, for your quiet and humble influence on my Christian faith.
About the Author
Jennifer Dean-Hill
7 responses to “Thank you, Africa”
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“By focusing on our similarities and de-emphasizing our differences and praying for a spirit of unity and wholeness would be a good start.”
Thank you, Jen. I think that was one of my take aways from the book, too. It’s a huge world out there. I imagine that in your profession you can speak to just how alike we are as people. The ways we are alike are the meat and our differences are the spices that make it all interesting!
Warm and thoughtful post, Jen, thank you.
Jen appreciated your post this week. You engaged in this weeks reading on so many different levels. Which I would also enjoy engaging with you on each of your points. For the sake of brevity I will reflect on one:
– “I could not help but wonder how much of this set the stage and influenced the derogatory thinking for Christians to justify the horrors of African slavery in the United States.”
Yes indeed! Unfortunately, the marginalization of the people and the rewriting of history to exclude their value only made the Europeans in control of the narrative that was retold to the people. This narrative was written and permeated throughout the continent. This made the written history superior to the oral tradition which impacted the way even the African people began to view themselves in the narrative.
https://www.amazon.com/Comic-Art-Propaganda-Graphic-History/dp/0312596790
I have the above book and find it fascinating. You see, in WW2 (and beyond) it was easier to get our troops excited about killing the enemy (Germans and Japanese) if they were seen as sub-human monsters.
In the same way, during the early twentieth century, white supremacists utilized racist art in propaganda against African Americans to reinforce Jim Crow laws.
A side effect of dehumanizing (or at least marginalizing) African Americans is that Africa itself becomes marginalized.
Nice reflections, Jennifer. Oden said he was initially hesitant to put his convictions onto paper, “who am I to write this?” But a fellow (African) theologian, Tienou, challenged him, as one who’d spent his life studying patristics and early theologians, that he (Oden) DID have a platform to speak from. I believe part of Oden’s passion lies in his observation that young African churches & scholars don’t have a place to hang their hat: “Even for African scholars the ancient African intellectuals whose ideas were formed on African soil are still regarded as if they were essentially Greek or Roman, and hardly African at all. This is a from of self-deprivation, self-emulation and self-flagellation that African Christianity must at last get beyond” (30). He’s giving them a launching pad to research their own foundational identity.
Finally, please don’t take it personally, but this statement caught me off guard: “How are we as fellow Christians called to respond to a country who appears unfairly ravaged….” As someone who’s lived in Kenya, I’ve heard people time & again call Africa a “country” (even a radio commentator). It’s actually a continent filled with 54 countries, 1.2 billion people, and 2nd in size only to Asia. Wow.
Wow. Thanks for the info on Africa.
Enjoyed your post Jennifer. I see that Mary already mentioned this, but I wanted to chime in concerning the African church praying for unity among Christians. The present and historical circumstances make this prayer even more powerful and reveal the heart of the African church as one who longs for God.
“It appears he is trying to make the reader aware of covert cultural values and overt teachings where the African philosophers and theologians were marginalized and considered inferior in Christian formation.”
Haven’t we seen this over and over again? Sophisticated and superior teaching, art, music, literature, and science come from Western Europe while others are considered savage, crude, or at least unsophisticated. It doesn’t feel very covert to me, but rather an assumption that anything that doesn’t look like Western European culture is some how less than. I am so weary of that bias.