"This is an ambitious book, a big book. The scholarship is sound and the author engages a range of authors and their views. Odozor takes seriously the critical and moral demands of Christian theology as well as those of African indigenous religions and their cultures. There is perhaps nothing so thoroughgoing on this topic since Bénézet Bujo’s Foundations of an African Ethic: Beyond the Universal Claims of Western Morality." —M. Shawn Copeland, Boston College
"There are very few in theological ethics who can draw people into conversation through their combination of insightful argument and their gracious welcome to those in other academic fields. In Morality Truly Christian, Truly African, Paulinus Odozor succeeds on both counts, speaking boldly but charitably across ecclesial, cultural, and academic divides. By articulating an ethical methodology drawn from the moral reasoning of the African Christian churches, taking seriously the challenges of cultural particularity but also moral realism, and also giving the reader a sense of the complex pursuit of the truth about God and the human in history, Odozor has dared (and delivered) what few would attempt but many need—a genuinely comparative theological ethics." —David A. Clairmont, Tisch Family Associate Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
"This work is truly astounding in its breadth and depth, and is bound to become a standard textbook in African moral theology. New is the accent on received Christian tradition as a principal source of such moral theology. Odozor engages in dialogue with various moral theologians (Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Paul Knitter, and James Gustafson) and theologians of African morality (John Mbiti, Laurenti Magesa, and Elochukwu Uzukwu). The seven guidelines for theological inculturation in Africa are particularly illuminating and may be a good entry point into this work for the nonspecialist." —James Chukwuma Okoye, C.S.Sp., Duquesne University
"Odozor has produced a definitive study that will determine the future of theological conversations about the place of African moral theology in world Christianity. His triple dialogue with African Christian theologies, Catholic fundamental moral theologies, and African traditional religious ethics is comprehensive in scope, rich in depth, systematic in analysis, and encyclopedic in presentation. This is Odozor at his best as he displays the traits of an ethical reasoning which is both Christian and African, addresses contextual questions without being parochial, and engages with moral issues which will help navigate the shifting landscape of World Catholicism." —Stan Chu Ilo, DePaul University
“Odozor attempts to branch away from the Eurocentric nature of the Catholic Church’s history of moral theology in his book Morality Truly Christian, Truly African. Focusing on ethical foundations, he discusses the relationship between Christianity and the traditions of Africa. The continent’s rich traditions are powerful sources of meaning and identity in Christian evangelization.” —U.S. Catholic
"Odozor has written an outstanding work on African Christian moral theology. He places great emphasis on theological enculturation, a continual process of dialogue between theology and culture. For Odozor, the enculturation process involves a triple dialogue involving African Christian theologies, Catholic fundamental moral theologies, and African traditional religious ethics." —Choice
“Odozor’s analyses of the meaning and function of tradition and culture, the encounter of African traditional religion and Christianity, the post-Vatican II encouragement to inculturate the faith, the relation of ‘new’ theologies to historical Catholic theology, and the impact of political divisiveness in a changing global political situation are comprehensive and complex. The African Church has much to teach us, and this text marks a paradigm shift in the study of Catholic moral theology.” —Catholic Library World
“Odozer analyzes African Christian theological ethics by simultaneously taking into account both the whole Christian moral tradition and African moral traditions. . . . I recommend this book to readers interested in becoming acquainted with the present status of African Christian theology and ethics; and moral theologians who want to engage with the growing contributions of current African Christian theological ethics will find this volume a valuable resource.” —Theological Studies
"In Morality Truly Christian, Truly African, Father Odozor examines issues, some of them neuralgic, arising from the enculturation of Catholic moral discourse in a religiously pluralistic African situation. 'My hope,' he writes, 'is that theologizing in such an open way, as I try to do here in this book, will help to bring the church and the entire theological community into conversation about Christian ethics (moral theology) in the African context so that what goes on in that part of the Christian community will be of interest to all as a ‘Christian theological thing,’ and not just as an ‘African thing.’ I believe that what goes on in the current African church and theology should be of great interest to the theological community elsewhere, given the potential of this emerging church and its current and growing impact on the rest of the church.'" —Spiritan
“The landscape of global Christianity has changed significantly in recent decades. This notion is the foundational premise of Odozor’s book . . . and he draws upon scholarship that suggests that the centre of global Christianity is shifting from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia and Latin America. . . . This shift in the epicenter of Church membership has consequences not only for the kind of theology that is required to answer questions faced in those particular contexts, but also for the theological project in its entirety as new contributions emerge from these places that shape how we understand our faith in its entirety.” —Studies in Christian Ethics
