By: Trisha Welstad on September 8, 2017
Reading How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind by Thomas Oden is eye opening. I am impressed with how the historic names (Augustine, Athanasius, Tertullian!), experiences and libraries that came out of North Africa, have influenced the world in significant ways. Classical Christianity has not owned the gems coming from this continent over the centuries. The…
By: Chip Stapleton on September 8, 2017
I first read Jim Collins seminal leadership book, Good to Great, as a seminary student over a decade ago in (of course) a pastoral leadership class. According to the copyright, the accompanying ‘Good to Great and the Social Sectors’ monograph was already released, but we didn’t read it at the same time. In hindsight that was…
By: Christal Jenkins Tanks on September 7, 2017
“Simple Truths Good-to-great leaders understand three simple truths: If you begin with the “who,” rather than the “what,” you can more easily adapt to a changing world. If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away. If you have the wrong…
By: Kristin Hamilton on September 7, 2017
When you tell a recovering perfectionist that “good is the enemy of great,”[1] you tend to create an existential crisis for said person. In fact, it may take that person a few days to remind herself that great does not necessarily mean perfect…or so I hear. Anyway, most times I read Jim Collins’ book, Good…
By: Jean Ollis on September 7, 2017
Thomas Oden conveys passion for historical accuracy and spiritual justice in his book How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity. “Ordinary African Christian believers deserve to have a much more accessible way of understanding early African Christianity: its faith, courage, tenacity and remarkable intellectual strength.[1] Oden’s intent is not…
By: Jason Turbeville on September 7, 2017
While reading How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind by Thomas C. Oden, one thing continually ran through my mind. I was angry I had never been taught about the African influence on Christianity, but I was even more upset at myself for not figuring it out on my own. I have always known Athanasius, Origen, and Augustine…
By: Mike on September 7, 2017
Africa and Christianity Thomas C. Oden, the author of How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind, successfully overcomes his Caucasian, American, United Methodist, and Wesleyan bias when he characterizes Africa as the geographic cradle and “seedbed” for historic Christianity.[1] Oden provides the reader with a chronological survey of an Afrocentric ancient world, early African Christian fathers,…
By: Mark Petersen on September 7, 2017
Thomas C. Oden’s brief work, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind, is a tantalizing, mouth-watering attempt to whet the appetite of the reader toward feasting on new ideas. His astonishing premise radically reshapes traditional Western concepts of the foundations of the Christian faith which I was educated under. Gone is a myopic, Eurocentric perspective on…
By: Kyle Chalko on September 7, 2017
Thomas C. Oden’s book, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity challenged me and how I have considered Christianity. It is true that many westerners and Europeans have viewed Africa Christianity with the same sort of mindset that the colonizers did. Many hold the attitude that every academic or…
By: Lynda Gittens on September 7, 2017
Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because of an excellent spirit [was] in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Daniel 6:3 KJV Let all things be done decently and in order. 1 Corinthians 14:40 KJV According to the website Know Jesus Know Peace, in…
By: Jennifer Williamson on September 7, 2017
There is no doubt that African influences and voices were paramount in shaping Christian thought and self-understanding. In How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity, Oden endeavours to “Set forth the basic vision for a renewed initiative in the theological and historical reassessment of early African Christianity” (Kindle loc…
By: Katy Drage Lines on September 7, 2017
Ubiquitous on office shelves across the business, social and religious sectors, Jim Collins’ book Good to Great and its companion, Good to Great and the Social Sectors are undoubtedly required reading for leaders and potential leaders, especially those who want their companies or organizations to be “great.” I believe Collins’ simple, straightforward explanation of what…
By: Jennifer Dean-Hill on September 6, 2017
Confession. My covetousness in reading Collins’ book, Good to Great was at an all-time high. I found myself coveting: the humility and skills of a Level 5 leader, the wisdom to take good businesses to great businesses by getting the right people on or off the bus, the ability to operate the Hedgehog concept, the…
By: Dan Kreiss on September 6, 2017
Thomas Oden in his book ‘How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind’ encourages readers to reconsider the foundations of Christian thought. He argues that much has been lost by the European ethnocentrism of Christian teaching. Neglecting the significant theological contributions of the early Christians based on the African continent negates the importance of their insights and…
By: Stu Cocanougher on September 6, 2017
I was first introduced to Jim Collins and his book Good to Great years ago at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. Our church, Southcliff, hosted the WCGLS several years via live webcast. Collins’s talk was memorable. The concept that “good was the enemy of great” certainly stuck with me. Having said that, it was…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on September 6, 2017
How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind by Thomas Oden was completely shocking to me. Every other chapter revealed another truth about Africa’s contribution to Christianity that has been kept hidden from me all these years. Like the author reiterates throughout the book, I have been brainwashed to believe that most everything Christian had European roots.…
By: Mary Walker on September 6, 2017
“To be successful, the first thing to do is to fall in love with your work.” Sister Mary Lauretta “You begin with passion, then you refine passion with a rigorous assessment of what you can best contribute to the communities you touch. Then you create a way to tie your resource engine directly…
By: Jim Sabella on September 5, 2017
Jim Collins’ books and franchise are very successful. Regrettably, my experience with the Good to Great “framework of ideas” has not been positive. That experience has informed this post. “Our five-year quest yielded many insights, a number of them surprising and quite contrary to conventional wisdom, but one giant conclusion stands above the others: We…
By: Kyle Chalko on September 3, 2017
Welcome. You found the potato.
By: Dave Watermulder on September 3, 2017
Happy Sunday morning!
