Some people get excited about going to a rave or a party; some about a hockey or football game; still others about the latest clothing fad…me – I get excited by books. I love books. I cannot say enough about books. It is not simply the knowledge and new worlds they contain but the feel of a book. Simply by picking up a book I can tell you whether it was printed on quality, acid-free paper or stuff thats one step from being tree bark and will degrade in two years. I love the feel of a book. I love turning the pages and I love the smell of old books that have weathered the storm of ages. Anyhow – you get the idea.

 

What brings on this gushing love letter to the cultural phenomenon that is "the book"? Well – I finally got a book I have been waiting on for quite a while now – it is the Africa Bible Commentary, edited by Tokunboh Adeyemo. A comprehensive commentary on the Bible written entirely by African theologians. All credit to Johnathan Snowball, esteemed missionary to Africa, who enlightened me to its existence.

 

For obvious reasons we in North America receive pretty much 100 percent of our theological content from North American (primarily US) and European sources (scholars, pastors, theologians). While I was in seminary the only non-North American/European content I was exposed to was the following:

 

– Early church writings which were almost exclusively African or Middle-eastern in origin (Desert Fathers, Augustine etc.)

– Justo Gonzalez’s History of Christianity (He’s Cuban but living and writing from the US)

– The Bible

 

Of course many people forget that the Bible is a God-inspired work written by middle-eastern men. It was amazing that through three years of seminary any exposure to non-North American, non-European content was largely up to the student.

 

God is doing significant things in what some call "the global south" (Africa, Asia, Latin/South America). If one were to look at the body of Christ from a demographic perspective one would find that the vast majority of it is made up of people from the global south. The growth of the church is happening primarily in the global south as well. The largest Christian church in the world is in Seoul, South Korea.

 

I am excited about hearing what my godly brothers and sisters in Christ from the global south are saying about God and more importantly, what God is saying to them about Himself.

 

Along with the Africa Bible Commentary I also received The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South by Philip Jenkins.

 

Very exciting!