15 Feb A Story Worth Telling

As you may know, February in the United States is Black History Month, a moment where we take time to collectively acknowledge the contributions of black Americans throughout the generations of our history.

One of the reasons we do this, and I am glad we do, is to be able to especially highlight people and stories that have enriched us all, but that may have gone unnoticed or untaught through neglect or bias, and to lift them up in a way that reminds us of what is good and true.

If it is true, as the Apostle John tells us in Revelation, that one day the “kings of the earth will bring their splendor into” the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city of God on earth, then one thing I am convinced of that people of African descent will bring into that future, perfect, reconciled state is the splendor of their theological heritage.

What do I mean?

A few years ago a deeply respected systematic theologian named Thomas Oden wrote a little book called How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity.

In it, he makes the convincing case that the body of Christ owes far more than it knows, or has acknowledged, to Africa and its theological minds, and outlines a number of key contributions African thinkers have made that I think are both fascinating and empowering to us all. For the sake of space (and time), I’d like to highlight five of them that you may not know, but should!

Oden makes the case that:

1.) The Western Idea of the University was born in the Crucible of Africa

You may have heard of the world class library that existed in Alexandria, but you may not know that there was a vast, surrounding learning community of philosophers, scientists, artists and educators there in Alexandria that formed what Oden calls the “essential archetype” for the European University Model. Additionally, there were expansive libraries and similar intellectual communities in Cyrenaica (Libya), Carthage (Tunisia) and Hippo (Algeria). The point being, Christian scholarship, in many ways, was conceived in Africa.

2.) Christian Exegesis (rules for Bible interpretation) first matured in Africa

The rules and methods for interpreting Scripture, which have shaped generations of Christians to come (including us) were deeply shaped by names like Origen, Didymus the Blind, Tyconius, and a gentleman you may have heard of, Augustine. One of the most interesting discoveries made in recent years of the investigation of what are called “patristic texts” (early Church writings) was how much later generations leaned on specifically African views (if you like reading 28-volume Bible commentaries–and I know you do– the “Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture” from Drew University highlights these).

3.) African thinkers laid the foundation for the defeat of later heresies

You don’t have to be a history major to know that early Christianity wrestled for centuries with a number of different heresies, particularly around the person of who Jesus is. One of the earliest heresies, called Gnosticism (you can see the apostle John fighting the seeds of this in 1 John), was largely argued through by African sources such as Valentinus and Basilides.

And,a little later, in arguably the greatest heresy the early church faced—something called Arianism—that challenge was defeated by Athanasius, a short, dark-skinned Egyptian, who earned the nickname: Athanasius contra mundo, or Athanasius versus the world, for his stand for truth. How would you like to have that for a nickname?

4.) Early Ecumenical Councils Followed African Patterns of Decision Making

Those early councils, whose influence in our lives today cannot be overstated, drew on African patterns of leadership, dialogue, and decision making. Names like Cyprian, and bishops from Numidia, and the African-born Pope Victor worked out communal, consensus-driven ways of theological decision-making that were able to stand against the cultural idolatries of their own day, and would hold the Church together in the years to come. We should all say, thank you!

5.) African Preaching Skills Served to Train later European Leaders

Preachers like Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobius and Lactantius, and of course, the towering preacher that was Augustine, all introduced “African subtleties of communication talents, literary passion and dialectical skills to the north Mediterranean” (Oden, 56).

…and I could go on.

Why am I writing this?

One of the things that I (thankfully, and somewhat discouragingly) learned in seminary was the degree to which, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, theologically liberal European scholars sought to diminish African contributions to Christendom. Thankfully, it seems, their theories have fallen out of fashion (how many of us can name names like Adolph Harnack or Friedrich Schleiermacher?), but for many years there was a lingering bias against acknowledging and honoring African contributions to Christian theology, and actually, a movement to discredit those contributions. The liberal, European intellectual bias sort of went like this: If there was something good in African theology, it was only because of European influence. 

Now, of course there have been innumerable contributions Eurpoeans (and Latinos and Asians and Native Americans and Indians and many other people groups) have made to Christian theology– we are part, after all, a part of the most worldwide, inclusive, culture and language spanning faith in the history of the world!– but bias is still bias, and sometimes bias lingers even after it has been disproven, and so I think it’s important to talk about this to help us recover a more truthful story about the origins of the beautiful multiethnic faith to which we belong.

Ok Morgan, thanks…but that was a lot. What am I taking away from all of this?

a.) The Christian Bible says to “Give honor where honor is due”. 

That was part of my goal in writing this! I hope we can all rejoice in our common, deeply African-shaped, tapestry of orthodox Christian theology.

b.) Our Christian Bible also says (Ephesians 5:11) to expose “deeds of darkness”.

Bias and prejudice against people groups based on ethnic superiority, I would say, is pretty much a “deed of darkness”. Exposing that, to the degree I could, was also part of my goal in writing this! Talking about this like this also helps guard against it in the future.

c.) To prove, once more, that we are all better together. 

I am (as we all are) indebted to all my brothers and sisters in Christ of all backgrounds in this church, around the world, and in history. The long and rich tradition of Christian leadership, scholarship and the arts from people of African descent have flowed into this church and have made us all better followers of Jesus as a result.

To that, I hope, we would all say, Amen.

Morgan