Abraham Our Father: Paul and the Ancestors in Postcolonial Africa

Father Abraham had many sons . . . So goes the chorus that the Shona people learned from European missionaries as part of the broader experience of colonization that they share with other African peoples. Urged to abandon their ancestors and embrace Christianity, the Shona instead engaged in a complex and ambiguous negotiation of ancestral myths, culture, and power.

Israel Kamudzandu explores this legacy, showing how the Shona found in the figure of Abraham himself a potent resource for cult...