The Church We Want

By: A. E. Orobator

$40.00

Overview

"This volume is the fruit of a pioneering multiyear, multilevel theological research project in African theology during which theologians, exegetes, bishops, pastors, theologians, bishops, and exegetes from across the continent committed themselves to sustained, serious, and creative theological thinking, conversation, and listening. The global church of Christ is the beneficiary of their determination to comprehend the questions and needs of God's people on the African continent." --M. Shawn Copeland, author, Uncommon Faithfulness: The Black Catholic Experience

"Orobator has brilliantly gathered 19 essays from outstanding scholars with expertise in a variety of fields of African Catholic thought into a unified, yet diverse collection of essays that take readers into a critical dialogue about the past, present and future of the Catholic Church in Africa....The African Catholic church is not to be ignored any longer. The text, because of the powerful voices and great diversity of contributors, will be a welcome addition to readers seeking an increased knowledge of the pressing social, economic, moral and ecclesiological questions of the African context." --Randall Woodard, in Catholic Books Review

"Reading these essays is like listening-in on a conversation between African scholars. It is a privilege and an eye-opener.... The book deserves a place in theological libraries and on the bookshelves of anyone who would presume to minister in Africa or beyond their own cultural milieu." --Anthony J. Gittins in Missiology

Africa continues to experience great religious ferment, not only in the enormous growth of Christianity over the past century but also in the robust intellectual output of African theologians all over the continent. This volume brings together Africa’s theological elders with new and emerging voices to bring analysis and reflection on what John L. Allen Jr. has called “the most dynamic corner of the Christian map.”

The volume is a treasure for anyone with an interest in theological reflection from an African perspective, and a necessary resource for theologians and scholars working in a church that is steadily moving its center to the Global South.

Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator is dean and professor of theology at Santa Clara University, CA. He grew up in Benin City, Nigeria, practicing traditional African religion. After visiting the local Jesuit parish as a teen for Easter vigil Mass, he became enamored with Catholicism and the Jesuit Order. He saw the works of the American Jesuits as fully devoted to the service of others, resonant of an African anthropology of Ubuntu that teaches “a person is a person through other persons.” He joined the Jesuits in 1986 and was ordained in 1998.

Fluent in four languages, Dean Orobator received his Ph.D in theology and religious studies from the University of Leeds in England, his MBA from Georgetown University, and his licentiate in sacred theology from JST-SCU, from which he also received an honorary doctorate in 2012. He previously served as provincial superior of the Jesuits of the Eastern Africa Province, and has taught theology and religious studies at Hekima University College, St. Augustine College of South Africa in Johannesburg, and Marquette University in Milwaukee. He serves on the board of directors of Theological Studies and the editorial board o Marraige, Families, & Spirituality.

A member of the board of directors of Georgetown University, Dean Orobator is author of Theology Brewed in an African Pot; Religion and Faith in Africa: Confessions of an Animist based on Duffy Lectures he delivered at Boston College, and The Pope and the Pandemic: Lessons in Leadership in a Time of Crisis, a Catholic Media Association award winner. He is also editor of The Church We Want: African Catholics Look to Vatican III and co-editor of Feminist Catholic Theological Ethics: Conversations in the World Church,” and a member of the editorial board of the journal Marriage, Families & Spirituality.