Africa Study Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 89
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THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA
A
frica is one of the most dynamic centres of
Christianity in the world. Africa has a significant share of the world’s 2.2 billion Christians.
It has about 30 percent of the world’s evangelicals, 20 percent of the world’s Pentecostals and
charismatics, and about 15 percent of the world’s
Roman Catholics. In addition, Africa has significant Orthodox groups such as the Ethiopian and
Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches and the
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
Christianity was well established in North
Africa in the first few centuries after Christ. From
a solid foundation in North Africa, Christianity
moved deeper into the heart of the continent.
The challenge by Islam and African traditional
religions deepened the faith of believers. The
fifteenth century was a turning point when Catholicism from Portugal circled the continent.
The modern missionary movement and indigenous Christian movements in Africa of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries built upon
these earlier foundations. Contemporary Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity has brought
a renewal to the church in Africa. And now the
churches of Africa in the twenty-first century are
missionary-sending churches that are spreading
the gospel around the world. This story can be
told in four overlapping waves.
Wave One: Early Christianity in North Africa
and Ethiopia
Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses, telling
people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem . . .
and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). One of
the first places that the story of Jesus went was to
Sudan when “the treasurer of Ethiopia” (probably
Meroe in modern Sudan) believed the good news
that Philip told him, was baptised, and took the
message to Africa.
The Coptic church of Egypt has long claimed
that the apostle Thomas and the evangelist Mark
played important roles in the formation of the
Church in Alexandria, Egypt. But the key moment
in early Christianity in North Africa was in the
late third century when there was rapid growth,
in part due to the conversion of many people
in large Jewish communities. But perhaps the
most surprising thing that helped Christianity
grow was persecution. Persecution deepened
the commitment of believers in Africa and gave
them courage to witness to an increasingly sympathetic African audience.
Christian growth was also encouraged by
Pantaenus, Origen, and Clement, all teachers
at the catechetical school in Alexandria. They attempted to define Christianity in terms of Greek
philosophy that well-educated people in North
Africa could understand. However, this created
a backlash, and sometimes violent debates
erupted over the nature of Christ and the Trinity.
Constantine, emperor of Rome in the fourth
century, had a dramatic conversion to Chris-
tianity, and that had a direct impact on the early
Coptic (Egyptian) church, especially in urban
Africa. At the council of Nicaea in 325, Constantine
attempted to have church leaders agree on how to
understand the deity of Christ. But his efforts were
only partly successful. Theological orthodoxy became identified with political loyalty and caused
splits that would mark the church for centuries.
Egyptian Christianity grew and spread. The
Bible was translated into several variations of
the Coptic language, and monasticism, which
originated in Egypt, spread to the Latin-speaking
church of western North Africa. Monasticism is
a religious way of life in which priests renounce
living in the world and instead live in monasteries—and sometimes by themselves as hermits.
By the fourth century, monasticism became a
powerful force in evangelism and discipleship,
although at times it was disruptive. A part of the
church around Carthage (in modern Tunisia)
protested against the strong ties other parts of the
church had with Rome. Movements such as Do
natism in the fourth century considered imperial
Christianity, which owed its allegiance to Rome,
as exploitative and compromising. Such movements developed their own clergy and churches. However, great Africans who helped shape
Roman Christianity included Bishop Cyprian of
Carthage and Augustine, bishop of Hippo, both of
whom were inspired by the second-century firebrand and theologian, Tertullian from Carthage.
While Christianity in North Africa and Egypt
flourished and North African Christians strongly
influenced the church in Rome, Christianity was
also growing in the powerful kingdoms of Nubia
(ancient Sudan) and Ethiopia. Nubia is one of the
two countries that claims to be the world’s oldest
Christian nation (the other is Armenia). In both
Nubia and Ethiopia, the king or emperor determined the religion of his people. Frumentius, a
fourth-century Syrian missionary, tutored Ezana,
the young prince of the kingdom of Axum, which