Oden states what How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind is about in the introduction. "This is what this book is about: to state the African seedbed hypothesis in a measured way and being to sort out the facts that support it." Oden splits the books up into nine chapters that cover topics from defining Africa to the reconciliation of Christianity and Islam Through Historical Insight. The book was informative but repetitive. I was about 30-40% into the book when I realized that Oden was sounding like a student that needs to make their essay longer so they repeat the same thing ten different ways. I did appreciative Oden's love for the subject and the fact that he kept advocating for African historians/theologians to be leading the way for this topic and the research that comes with it (Oden is a white American).

I think the thing that I appreciated the most from How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind was how Oden clearly shows that how Christianity was shaped by Africa because most of the early church was African. As one Goodreads reviewer put it - "Summary: Much of the early church was African. The west has largely forgotten its African character and misremembered the importance and reach of the African church." To say the modern western church has forgotten its roots and switched up is about right. As Oden says there's much to be still studied on the topic and I would love to see it come to pass. I won't lie and say some of what Oden was talking about didn't pass over my head, so I may re-read this in the future (or at least some parts of it) but it is an interesting read about a serious topic.