Author Andrew Boyd
Publisher Monarch £12.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780857218438
This is the biography of Archbishop Ben Kwashi of Nigeria, told by Andrew Boyd, but written in the first person, like an autobiography. It is the story of an exceptionally brave and uncompromising evangelical Christian, a man of utter and transparent faith, who lives on the ‘frontline’ – for his home is in Jos, central Nigeria, where Boko Haram militants are fighting to create a hard-line Islamic state. Since 2001, thousands of Nigerians have lost their lives and millions have lost their homes. The climax of the book describes a bloody assault on Kwashi’s home, while he was abroad. His wife, Gloria, was beaten and tortured within an inch of her life; she survived, just. But the family has forgiven and moved on. Their home is now an orphanage for the children of murdered Christians. The reader may marvel and applaud Kwashi’s courage and Christian dedication, but it is less easy to accept all his theology. He was elected General Secretary of GAFCON in January 2019, and he will be boycotting the 2020 Lambeth Conference. His uncompromising courage is matched by his uncompromising condemnation of western liberal Anglicanism and his unswerving attachment to a highly conservative theology. Nonetheless, there is great value in this very readable biography, for by reading and absorbing this book ‘liberal’ Christians can recognise the terrible issues that Nigeria (and other parts of the African Church) face, and why this is, indeed, ‘the frontline of faith.’
MALCOLM DAWSON
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