{"id":13090,"date":"2017-06-02T00:51:50","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T07:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13090"},"modified":"2017-06-02T00:51:50","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T07:51:50","slug":"why-do-we-act-like-origen-and-augustine-spoke-german","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/why-do-we-act-like-origen-and-augustine-spoke-german\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do we act like Origen and Augustine spoke German?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may not have been his intent, but Thomas C. Oden\u2019s How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind<\/em> left me \"\"<\/a>wondering why non-Western cultures are generally viewed as less intellectual and intuitive than those from the West. I\u2019ve noticed this bias in myself when reading works by Origen and Augustine (and other early Christian scholars), in that I never picture them as African. In my mind they are maybe Greek, but they somehow speak with a bit of a German accent. Sort of as if Plato were melded together with Bonhoeffer. A quick Google Images search tells me I\u2019m not alone in this. Most paintings and drawings of Augustine and Origen portray distinctly European features rather than African. Of course, the same thing happens when I Google Jesus, but I guess that\u2019s a discussion for another day.<\/p>\n

Maybe the most striking difference between Oden\u2019s observations about scholarly ignorance (or denial) of Christianity\u2019s deep African roots and those who simply rail against the lack of non-Western voices in theology, is that Oden has a plan to change it \u2013 teach the stories of early African Christianity to African children. (11) Rather than argue about oral vs. written traditions, Oden \"\"<\/a>suggests these magnificent stories be told to African children, written down, and shared from continent to continent. Oden\u2019s contention is that even African scholars have ignored Africa\u2019s early Christian contributions and this has led to a self-perception among African\u2019s that their intellect is somehow lacking and that their oral traditions are sub-par to Western written traditions. (26-27) Oden claims that putting the vibrant stories of African martyrs and saints into the hands and hearts of African children will begin the process of restoring confidence in African contributions to theology and the roots of Christianity.<\/p>\n

Going back to my earlier comment about the biases held against non-Western cultures, I realized while reading Oden\u2019s book that the subtle lack in self-esteem and deference to Western academia is a refrain I heard in Brazil and Argentina, and even in Galilee. How odd it seems to me that the people who walk where Jesus walked feel they need to study Western systematic theology in order to understand Jesus better. How uncomfortable it was to have women and men 20 and 30 years my senior in South America defer to my understanding of the Bible simply because (at that time) I had received an undergraduate degree in ministry and theology. Most of them had Bible college degrees themselves and had been pastoring for decades, yet there was a subtle deference to my Western mindset. The only exception was when one pastor (a German ex-pat) found out I had not studied German. Geez did I fall in his estimation!<\/p>\n

I think what I love most about the way Oden lays out the trail leading back to what he calls the \u201cAfrican seedbed\u201d of Western Christianity, is the invitation to explore this history and then to share it far and wide. As a history lover, I am captivated by the idea that Africa was part of the womb of our faith. \"\"<\/a>Somehow it adds color and richness to a tapestry that had, for me, grown faded with time. What stories and traditions will we find when we excavate and look at the past with an African lens? I am determined to remain open to the possibilities the Spirit will offer in the exploration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may not have been his intent, but Thomas C. Oden\u2019s How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind left me wondering why non-Western cultures are generally viewed as less intellectual and intuitive than those from the West. I\u2019ve noticed this bias in myself when reading works by Origen and Augustine (and other early Christian scholars), in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[986,990,953,989],"class_list":["post-13090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-african-christian-history","tag-augustine","tag-oden","tag-origen","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13094,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13090\/revisions\/13094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}