Great Idea; Not A Bad Book

Professor Oden has had a terrific idea: undermine the destructive assumptions that equate Christianity with white European colonialism and racism by digging deep into the African roots of early Christianity. He's done a wonderful job of sketching the broad outlines of how this case might be made. Sure, there's Augustine; sure, there's Origen. But there's a great deal more as well that is little known outside some very small circles. He also tackles head on the curious treatment of so much of North African civilization as not authentically "African".

Regrettably, however, Professor Oden wrote a whole book to argue for why someone should write a book exploring his thesis. I kept going from chapter to chapter saying to myself, "OK, he's explained his thesis; now I'm ready to read some detailed exploration and analysis." Unfortunately, each chapter was just another, slightly different restatement of his thesis. To be fair to the author, he was probably just trying to stimulate research and discussion. But it felt a little bait and switchy to me as a reader.

It's a great thesis, but it's just Not A Bad Book.