The recent announcement that Pope Benedict, a friend to our recently completed Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture project, has turned speculation towards who might succeed Benedict. Many are wondering if the cardinals gathered in conclave in the Sistine chapel might select someone from Asia, Latin America, or, perhaps, Africa. One headline even reads "Africa: Pontifex Africanus: Could the Next Pope be African?" (By Luke Lythgoe, 11 February 2013, All Africa.com).

For those who have studied early African Christianity, we know this, of course, would not be the first time an African was named pope. We read in the Liber Pontificalis of

The Society of Biblical Literature, through the ICI project, offers free online PDF files to scholars and students who would not otherwise have access to these resources. Most scholars and students in sub-Saharan Africa qualify for this program. The link below is a list of the publications available. If interested please email sblservices@sbl-site.org for more info.
http://www.sbl-site.org/publications/Books_ICIbooks.aspx

When the CEAC was first organized, one of the first issues we struggled with was whether or not we were needed or not. We knew that that were very talented scholars and church leaders in Africa who would be capable of carrying on the work we were proposing.

We decided to hold a consultation in 2008 to consult with these scholars and church leaders. We invited key leaders from all different parts of Africa and from many different denominations, including Coptic, Ethiopian, Catholics, Evangelicals, etc., both scholars and church leaders. Thomas Oden, the Director of the Center, presented the following core