Over the last two weeks me and Shady Anis, the president of the Alexandrian School of Theology, had the privilege of hosting a cohort of students for our latest program, the DMin.  Under the auspices of Bishops Ashley in North Africa and Samy in Egypt, we brought in a cohort of bishops and priests from Chad, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Sudan, Nigeria, South Africa, and Ethiopia.   The goal was to deepen the connection between our understanding of the African patristic heritage, our appropriation of that heritage as Anglicans, and the living experience of the growing churches in Africa.   To that end we invited Michele Sigg, the director of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography.  This project collects oral traditions about important figures in the history of African Christianity.  Our students, therefore, will be contributing their own traditions to this already-large collection of open-access information. 

I was given the task of offering a sweeping theological overview of eight centuries of patristic theology, with a special emphasis on St Augustine (of course!), Athanasius of Nicene-Creed-fame, and Cyril of Alexandria, whose contested legacy was claimed by the Chalcedonian churches on the one hand (Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans) and, on the other, by the Coptic Church.  One of the interesting areas of reflection was how recent ecumenical dialogues between us Chalcedonians and the Non-Chalcedonians (Armenians, Syrians, Copts) has resulted in unanimity over doctrinal disagreements.  It would seem that our differences were never that significant.  I don’t know what’s more troubling: when Christian division results from real theological disagreement or when it is mostly driven by political issues.   If it’s the latter, it makes sense why ecumenical agreements don’t automatically result in reunion. 

Just as interesting to me, however, were the theological issues raised by the students about violence and peacemaking, polygamy, and the viability (or lack thereof) of vocational celibacy – monks and nuns.  All-in-all I thank God for the opportunity to teach, and to learn from, these African leaders.  I left the group feeling encouraged but also sobered by the pastoral problems they face.  Not least civil war in Sudan and terrorism in Nigeria.  Please pray for wisdom.