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Book Review: The Church in Africa: 1450–1950

trine of the Trinity, rooted in the GrecoRoman philosophical schools of Plato and Aristotle, from an African perspective. Ogbonnaya writes as an African theologian who is driven by an innate proclivity to make Christian theological paradigms relevant to the African context. This book grows out of an effort to make Christian theology meaningful and contextual. Ogbonnaya suggests a trinitarian nature of God that is different from the static and hierarchical paradigms dominant in Western theology. On Communitarian Divinity opens with an informed discussion of the meaning of community in the African perspective. Communality is the basis of the African worldview. The second chapter is a communal definition ofAfrican divinity. Ogbonnaya concludes that "the concept ofthe One is present in African religions, but so also is the concept of the Many" (27). He believes that the word communotheism (a community of gods) best describes the African conceptions of God. The next chapter deals with the Egyptian example of African communal divinity. Chapter four is an examination of Tertullian's historical formulation of the Trinity. Ogbonnaya argues that the Carthageborn theologian was greatly influenced by African sensibilities that understood divinity in a communitarian way-as a community of gods. In chapter five the author examines the social cultural images used by Tertullian in his treatise on the divine nature. On Communitarian Divinity concludes with an epilogue that summarizes the essential arguments of the book. All these chapters are thoughtful, lucid, and well-written. The Trinitarian unity as mutual self-giving and complete sharing of love and life, accomplished through the mutual dwelling of each person in the others (perichoresis), is the ultimate way of explaining the Trinity and the foundation of church unity (John 17:21-23). What Ogbonnaya has successfully shown in this book is that African people understand this inner dwelling in communitarian terms. On Communitarian Divinity elucidates a new way of being a Christian in a radically pluralBook Reviews 539