Jonathan Heaps

Under the Shade Tree

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Joseph Ogbonnaya’s Under the Shade Tree is an erudite and even-handed tour through the problems and promises, past and present, of African biblical hermeneutics. At once broadly ecumenical, but also recognizably Catholic in its approach, Under the Shade Tree evinces an unwavering commitment to the ‘autochthonicity’ of how Africans—scholars and ordinary people alike— alike—read Christian scripture. Ogbonnaya proves a trustworthy guide, subtly teasing out authentic developments in contextual, decolonial, liberative, and feminist approaches, while never shying away from naming missteps and dangers that have emerged in efforts to confront the continent’s history of colonization, dispossession, and impoverishment.”