The narratives and analyses in this volume will enable scholars of global Christianity to discern how the shifting center of gravity in Christianity is being played out in Africa. Kalu in these essays do not simple record demographic shift, numerical growth, and vitality of African churches, but also and importantly shows how the expressions of Christianity are filtered through African cultures.

The narratives are intellectually compelling and emotionally engaging. They primarily focus on concrete lives and efforts of people engaged in the missionary endeavor. The essays do not simply tell the story of how African Christians are engaged in the practices of sharing their faith. They also describe how African Christians are shaping the world through the power of the Christian gospel and the ethic of love expressed in the life of Jesus Christ.

Kalu makes the significant point that it is unnecessary for missiologists studying the recent blooming of Christianity in Africa to search for its founding missionaries, originative centers or influences outside the continent. Foreign connections are more useful in explaining the character of the movement than in tracing its genealogy.

ABOUT THE EDITORS
Wilhelmina J. Kalu (Nee Dowuona-Hammond) has a PhD in Educational Psychology with interest in Special Education. She was President of the African Association for Pastoral Studies and Counseling for several years until 2005. More recently she has taught as Adjunct Faculty at McCormick Theological Seminary and Center for African American Theological Studies in Chicago as well as other courses at the Progressive Bible Institute, Chicago. She is engaged in finding non-traditional ways of teaching and mentoring Women and Youth in relationship. She has over 65 publications. She is the widow of late Prof. Ogbu U. Kalu and has four children.

Nimi Wariboko is the Katherine B. Stuart Professor of Christian Ethics at Andover Newton Theological School, Massachusetts. He is the author of ten books, including The Depth and Destiny of Work: An African Theological Interpretation (2008), God and Money: A Theology of Money in a Globalizing World (2008), and The Principle of Excellence: A framework for Social Ethics (2009).

Toyin Falola is the University Teaching Distinguished Professor, University of Texas at Austin and the Mwalimu Nyerere Chair of Modern African History, Benue State University. He has authored and edited over a hundred books, many of which are published by the Africa World Press.

CATEGORY
History, Religious Studies/AFRICA