“Ogbonnaya’s study is provocative. He has forced more serious rethinking about long held assumptions about the whole range of issues involved in the study of religion and Culture.”–Vincent L. Wimbush, Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Union Theological Seminary
“A ground-breaking piece of African theology.”–Joseph Mante, Process and Faith
“A communitarian understanding of the Trinitarian doctrine of God has been overdue. Dr. Ogbonnaya breaks the ground for us is his interpretation of the doctrine from an African perspective.”–Peter Mwiti Rukungah, author of Towards Becoming Muntu: Personhood, Life Transition, and Therapy
“Ogbonnaya has written an exciting new chapter in the history of theology. His vision of a ‘communitarian’ concept of God, rooted in the African notion of community has much to offer our own fragmented society. Here are some fresh insights into the Trinitrian nature of God that do not depend on the hierarchical and monarchical paradigms prevalent in much of Western theology”–Karen Jo Torjesen, author of When Women Were Priests
“A no-holds-barred intellectual assault on traditional Eurocentric Christian views of divine absoluteness, solitariness, and despotism.”–Garth Baker-Fletcher, author of Somebodyness: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Theory of Dignity
The Trinity has long been considered an enigma within Western Christendom because the worldviews from which it has been apprehended have not been compatible with the worldview of the persons who developed the doctrine. This book presents the case for looking at the concept of God–specifically, the doctrine of the Trinity–from an African perspective. Ogbormaya’s provocative views will compel the reader to rethink what is meant by reference to the complex and loaded concepts “African,” ‘Christian,” and “Trinity.”
On Communitarian Divinity displaces traditionally authorized
versions of the doctrine of Trinity rooted in the Graeco-Roman philosophical
schools of Plato and Aristotle with a resolute and passionate African-centric
gaze. This gaze traverses the continent of Africa, from ancient Egypt in
the northeast to the Igbo, Yoruba in WestAfrica. Utilizing a cross-cultural
African perspective enables Ogbonnaya to persuade and convince any reasonably
open-minded reader that the Christian idea of a God who is One-and-Many,
or Three-in-One, was organically related to the African community and family
understanding of early church “Fathers” such as Tertullian living in North
Africa. One is invited to embrace a provocatively “communitarian” concept
of the Divine inner life and its social implications. On Communitarian
Divinity offers us a new pluriform way of becoming Christian in an
increasingly conflictual pluralist world.
DR. A. OKECHUKWU OGBONNAYA holds a BA from Hillcrest Christian College in Alberta, Canada, an MA from Western Evangelical Seminary and an MA and Ph.D. from Claremont School of Theology. Dr. Ogbonnaya is a leading lecturer on African world views and their contributions to Christian thought and practices. He is currently the Vice President of Editorial for UMI, The African American Christian Publishing and Communication Co. in Chicago and editor of Precepts for Living–The UMI Sunday School Commentary.