The Africa Factor
How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of
Western Christianity
By Thomas C. Oden
IVP Books, 2008
(204 pages, $19.00, hardcover)
reviewed by L. P. Fairfield
The thesis of this book can be stated simply: Africa played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture. For the past fifteen years, Thomas Oden has presided over the publication of The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, presenting the best of Christian exegesis from the Church’s first thousand years.
In the course of his labor, he began to notice the preponderance of North African sources in Christian theology, from the third through the sixth centuries . . .
This article is only available to subscribers.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe
to Touchstone today for full online access. Over 30 years of content!
Options Below:
personal subscriptions
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives including pdf downloads for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
Purchase Print &
Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
gift subscriptions
Give a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives including pdf downloads for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
GIVE Print &
Online Subscription
Give six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Transactions will be processed on the secure server of The Fellowship of St. James website, the publisher of Touchstone.
kindle subscription
OR get a subscription to Touchstone to read on your Kindle for only $1.99 per month! (This option is KINDLE ONLY and does not include either print or online.)
Your subscription goes a long way to ensure that Touchstone is able to continue its mission of publishing quality Christian articles and commentary.
more from the online archives
22.5—June 2009
C. S. Lewis on Civilization & the Natural Order by Timothy L. Hall
24.1—January/February 2011
Ruminations on the Monstrous Envy of the Soul-Devouring State by Anthony Esolen
18.3—April 2005
on Being a Free Narnian & the Joy of Subordination by Donald T. Williams
Touchstone is a Christian journal, conservative in doctrine and eclectic in content, with editors and readers from each of the three great divisions of Christendom—Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox.
The mission of the journal and its publisher, The Fellowship of St. James, is to provide a place where Christians of various backgrounds can speak with one another on the basis of shared belief in the fundamental doctrines of the faith as revealed in Holy Scripture and summarized in the ancient creeds of the Church.
Touchstone is published by
All content The Fellowship of St. James — 2018. All rights reserved.
Returns, refunds, and privacy policy.