The Center for Early African Christianity Moves to Eastern University

St. Davids, PA - Eastern University is proud to announce a new addition to the University family: the Center for Early African Christianity (CEAC) will be relocating to Eastern's St. Davids campus in September 2009.

Previously located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, The Center for Early African Christianity felt that Eastern's position as a premier Pennsylvania Christian University will be a good match. The Center will work alongside African Christian pastors, bishops, theologians, and biblical scholars, providing insights gleaned from ancient African sources, with the goal of helping the African church as it lives in a modern context - both similar to and different from the ancient Christian world.

CEAC is devoted to the study of early African exegesis and culture and will devote much of its attention to key early African leaders such as Athanasius, Cyprian and Tertullian. The Center's mission is to provide resources for African Christians, promote connection to the African American community and prove to be a resource unique among Christian colleges and universities.

"We are very excited to have CEAC as part of the Eastern community," said Dr. Christopher Hall, Eastern University Chancellor and a CEAC board member. "There is a lot of work that needs to be done, including sponsoring seminars, re-visiting ancient sites, re-reading and translating ancient texts … overall being a resource for the African scholars who will be studying this material. We will facilitate research concerning a fundamental thesis: ancient Christianity is much more deeply rooted in African sources than we had previously thought possible. That's the thesis to be investigated for the next 50 to 100 years."

The central thesis of the CEAC stems from the research of Dr. Thomas C. Oden, the center's director and general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (ACCS), as well as authorship of How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind, a book that investigates the thesis that Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Clearly, the addition of The Center for Early African Christianity would be considered quite an achievement among Pennsylvania Universities.

"As Tom Oden and the ACCS team were conducting research about the roots of Christianity, we were reading a lot of material with a strong African flavor that had not appeared yet in English and had not been studied carefully," Dr. Hall said. "There is much work to be done to put flesh and bones on the ideas presented in Oden's book, and the CEAC is devoted to shaping these documents and introducing them to today's readers."

The CEAC will bring scholars to Eastern's campus who wish to conduct research on early African Christianity and offer resources to African American church leaders and scholars. These theological studies match closely with existing fields of study at Eastern and CEAC scholars as well as university students will improve their understanding of Africa's contribution to the great Christian tradition of the early centuries of Christianity.

"We are convinced that the center's move to Eastern University marks a significant watershed in the work and mission of the Center for Early African Christianity," Dr. Oden said. "We are blessed with this location as a place to coordinate and integrate all the activities of the center. We hope to make a significant contribution to the spiritual and academic life of Eastern University. We are truly excited and encouraged by our move, and ready to go to work with new inspiration and energy."

"Having this center at Eastern University speaks volumes about what we value at Eastern," Dr. Hall said. "It communicates to the broader academic community that Eastern is a place that takes scholarship and research very seriously."

More information on The Center for Early African Christianity can be found on its website at: The Center for Early African Christianity's website.

About Eastern University

Eastern is a Christian University located at 1300 Eagle Road in St. Davids, PA. It currently enrolls about 4,000 students in its undergraduate, graduate, urban, Seminary, international and accelerated adult programs. As a Philadelphia Christian University, Eastern integrates faith, reason and justice into all of its undergraduate programs, graduate programs and courses of study.