The influence of Mercy Amba Oduyoye on the African theological landscape is quite significant, and this warrants more reflection on her thoughts and works. Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein has responded to this call with The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice, a helpful monograph that espouses and briefly critiques the life and theology of Oduyoye. In doing so, this book also extends the conversations in African theology in general, and African women’s theology in particular. In the introduction, Oredein highlights the problem of silencing and disregarding African women’s voices in the theological task. Unfortunately, this act of keeping African women’s voices on the margins comes not only from Western actors, but also from African culture and Christianity. This is the context in which Oduyoye emerged and theologized.
The book traces Oduyoye’s story from her birth, upbringing, and education, all the way to her work in academic and ecumenical spaces. In all these, Oredein pays careful attention to the contextual realities that formed Oduyoye—some distinctly paternal and maternal influences, as well as the cultural and political climates she grew up in. These impacted her person and understanding of life. In addition, Oredein discusses Oduyoye’s theological formation and her emergence as an African Christian feminist. Sandwiched between her Akan cultural upbringing on the one hand and what Oredein refers to as colonial Christianity on the other, Oduyoye found herself and her voice. “An Akan woman who is also Christian and keenly attentive to issues of gender equality, Oduyoye developed a perspective that is distinguishably African feminist,” Oredein observes (43). She drew from both Christianity and Akan culture not only to criticize the gender inequalities inherent in both of them, but also to construct a theology of inclusion, community, and equality.
Oredein then outlines the variety of spheres in which Oduyoye exerted her academic and practical influences. Highlights of these include her academic career at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and Trinity Theological Seminary in Legon, Ghana. Her practical work has mostly been on Christian ecumenism. Oredein says that Oduyoye has left her most indelible mark in these three ecumenical spaces: the World Council of Churches (WCC, especially her initiative with the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women), the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT), and the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (the Circle) (56).
Close to two-thirds of the book is dedicated to Oduyoye’s treatment of four key Christian doctrines, namely God, Christology, anthropology, and ecclesiology. Oduyoye’s doctrine of God emphasizes the fact that God is not gendered but instead possesses both male and female attributes or father and mother functions. For Oduyoye, “God as father is also God as mother. African worldviews think gender together. ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’ are thought together, found within one another . . . as ‘the African mind contains an image of a motherly Father or a fatherly Mother as the Source of Being’” (81). On Christology, Oduyoye focuses on Jesus’ marginal existence while on earth, a point that resonates with African women. Like Jesus, African women are acquainted with the pain and sorrow of being suspected, silenced, and oppressed. Therefore, African women have a sense of being understood and included in Christ. Furthermore, the concept of Christ as Victor for African women not only dismantles the structures of colonial Christianity, but also those of gender inequality in African culture and church.
Theological anthropology is a touchstone doctrine in Oduyoye’s theological framework, given her emphasis on human existence and narrative in culture and community. Oredein notes that Oduyoye’s “African women’s theological anthropology seeks to wrestle the story-telling power out of the hands of a few and return it to the entire community” (118). This is necessary because, “Women’s silencing and invisibility leads to their inaccurate depiction. They are not treated on a par with men, but literally are positioned as antagonists in humanity’s story” (118). What Oduyoye constructs instead is an inclusive theological anthropology that is attentive to the Akan cultural value of living in community, as well as the Christian idea of living in relation to God as Creator.
Finally, Oduyoye’s ecclesiology is also liberationist in its orientation and seeks to redress the hierarchical nature of the church. Such power dynamics hinder the ecclesial flourishing of African women who have a “double marginal status of being African and women” (141). African women’s ecclesiology emphasizes the idea of biblical solidarity, which allows every member of the church to be heard equally as a part of the body. In the closing parts of the book, Oredein charitably critiques Oduyoye’s theological framework by identifying some limitations in it owing to the time and context in which she theologized. One key example is Oduyoye’s limited analysis and understanding of gender, falling short of the nuances that have developed in contemporary discourse of the subject.
This book is highly recommended for everyone who is interested in the rich and diverse theological constructions coming out of the African continent and will serve as an excellent resource. The book is even more significant because it focuses on one of the key contributors to the emergence and blossoming of a distinctly African Christian theology, and one who has not gotten the kind of attention in the literature that her work deserves. Oredein writes in a style that is clear and analytically rigorous but still accessible to a wider readership. However, future work on Oduyoye could provide a more robust critique of her theological ideas, which (understandably) was not part of the author’s primary goals in this book.
Isuwa Atsen is an assistant professor of theology at Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, Illinois.
Isuwa Atsen
Date Of Review:
August 20, 2024
