Over 685 million people in Africa are associated with Christianity in some way. Today, Africa is home to over 600 million Christians, making about a quarter of the world’s Christian population. According to a 2019 report by evangelical church group The Gospel Coalition (TGC), Africa had about 30% of the world’s evangelicals, 20% of the world’s Pentecostals and charismatics and 15% of the world’s Roman Catholics.
While many attribute the spread of Christianity in Africa to colonialism, the origins of the religion on the continent actually date much further back. It’s inaccurate to call it a white man’s religion. Christianity is a religion that started in the Near East and traveled to both Africa and Europe at the same time. It’s not even a white man’s religion. Christianity is a religion of the world.
Christianity has been active in Africa since the 1st century. For Christianity was present in Africa 1000 years before the first European Colonialists arrived on African shores. Were you aware of that?
Sadly missing from many people’s understanding of Christianity is that a significant number of the Church Fathers were African. Along with other theologians who lived in Africa-such as Athanasius, Clement, Ambrose, Pachomius, Cyprian, etc.-these giants of Church history fought off heresies such as Gnosticism, Arianism, Montanism, Marcionism, Pelagianism, and Manichaeism. They also helped elucidate our view of the Trinity and taught us how to exegete correctly.
In the Beginning…Looking into the Bible’s historical accounts, it was found that Africans were part of the early church and the continent was one of the first world regions to receive the Gospel-the basis of the Christian faith. An account of the encounter between Phillip, an apostle, and an Ethiopian eunuch who was said to be the treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, was recorded in Acts 8:26-39.
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Simon, who was recorded to have helped Jesus carry his cross to the crucifixion ground in Luke 23:26, was from a Greek city called Cyrene in the province of Cyrenaica in modern Libya. The region had a large Jewish community as 100,000 Jews from Judaea had been forced to settle there during the reign of Macedonian Greek emperor Ptolemy Soter in 323-285 BC. The large Jewish population would later form the bedrock of the spread of Christianity in the region.
The Christian religion was founded in what is today Israel and Palestine 2000 years ago at the beginning of the Common Era. Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, a Jewish teacher and prophet. Early Christians (followers of Christ) believed that Jesus was divine in that he was the son of God. This is a major difference between Christianity and Judaism and Islam, the two other major monotheistic religions.
Notice how close Africa is to Palestine where Christianity started. Given this proximity, it is not surprising that Christianity spread to Egypt and North Africa in the first century C.E. Indeed, Egypt, particularly the city of Alexandria, became an important center of this new religion. Unfortunately, Christians today don't know much about the rich tradition of Christianity in Egypt and North Africa.
Early Centers of Christianity in Africa
You may be familiar with the strong base for Christianity established in Alexandria, Egypt, in the 1st century. Eusebius even wrote that the Gospel writer, Mark, came to Alexandria as early as 43 AD. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt attributes the spread of Christianity in Africa to Mark the apostle, who reportedly went to evangelise in Alexandria in 60 AD.
Alexandria, the second largest city in modern Egypt, became a hub for the continental development of Christianity, spearheaded by Mark who served as a bishop. Systems, structures and schools were established to foster the growth of the religion. Alexandria produced many notable Christian scholars like Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, who is widely regarded as the Father of Western Theology.
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From Alexandria, Christianity spread to another North African city called Carthage in modern Tunisia. In fact, Carthage, which was the centre of the Roman province in Africa, is widely regarded as a centre of early Christianity. Tertullian, who was from Carthage, even came up with the term “Trinity”, a fundamental Christian tenet which asserts that the single Godhead is made up of three distinct persons, God the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.
Going further back, we have Irenaeus of Lyons, writing in 180 AD. He wrote that a ‘Simon Backos’ preached ‘the coming in the flesh of God’ in his homeland of Ethiopia (Adversus Haereses, 3.12.8). And going back further still, Luke writes of the 1st century conversion of an Ethiopian high official (Acts 8:26-40). Could this official have started the first church in Ethiopia? Many of the Colonists were not aware of this heritage.
While Christianity was flourishing in North Africa, the religion was also growing in the kingdoms of Nubia, in modern Sudan, and Ethiopia. Nubia is one of the two countries that claim to be the world’s oldest Christian nation-the second being Europe’s Armenia.
In the 4th century, King Ezana of Aksum, a land in ancient Ethiopia and Eritrea, made Christianity the official religion of his kingdom. King Ezana had been taught about Christianity by a Syrian missionary called Frumentius. Other Syrian monastic missionaries, most notably “The Nine Saints”, also influenced the spread of Christianity in the region and spurred some important popular Christian movements.
The Spread and Evolution of Christianity
Take Western European art as an example. Jesus is often painted as a blue-eyed, pale-skinned, European. In contrast, Jesus and his original disciples were 1st century, Levantine Jews, most likely brown-eyed, black-haired, and olive-skinned.
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Monasticism started in Egypt, before being spread to the Latin-speaking church of Northwest Africa. Since North Africa was largely under Roman rule, Latin was the language used to spread Christianity in the region.
While the Roman empire essentially acted as a catalyst for Christianity’s spread in the subcontinent, the Roman leaders were actually opposed to it as they saw it as a religion of dissent to their rule. Ironically, this persecution bolstered the spread of the religion even more. Consequently, they opposed the religion, forcing the people to practice it covertly.
Christianity thrived in North Africa for centuries, but took a backseat in the 7th century when Islam was introduced from the neighbouring Arabian Peninsula. Still, there is sizeable Christian population in the region. In 698 AD, the Muslim Umayyad army from Egypt destroyed Carthage and effectively ended Roman and Christian rule in Northwest Africa.
On the other hand, the spread of the religion in Nubia was spurred by Jewish converts, but didn’t see as much growth as it did in Ethiopia. Between 1200-1500, Ethiopia’s Zagwe dynasty-a family of Christian kings-revived Christian art, literature and the expansion of the church.
However, in 1270, a new Solomonic dynasty replaced the Zagwe dynasty. The former dynasty was inaugurated by Melenik I, who was said to be the first emperor of Ethiopia, and was the son of the biblical King Solomon and Makeda, the Queen of Sheba. In the 15th century, the dynasty reached its peak with Zara Yaqob at its helm. Yaqob convened church councils for theological debates and even purged Ethiopia of African traditional religion.
Concurrently, Christianity was being snuffed out in Nubia as the territory’s indigenous forces were defeated in a battle led by a sultan of Cairo called Babyars 1. Following the defeat, Nubia came under the control of the Muslim Egyptians and by 1500, Christianity in the country was virtually non-existent.
While we have established that Christianity was not planted in Africa by the “White Man”, it would be ignorant and disingenuous to downplay the influence of colonialism and slavery in its continental spread. From 1420 until 1800, Portuguese politics and Christian missionaries dominated much of Africa’s 38 coastal countries.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, West African trade associations with Europeans opened them up to religious influence, alongside their commercial exchange. Additionally, in the 18thcentury, the rest of Africa saw a major influx of Christian missionaries from the western world whose evangelical work was more successful.
But the real gamechanger happened with the colonisation of the continent. Colonisers demonised indigenous African cultures and practices and presented their version of Christianity as the only path to follow, regardless of how oppressive it was. Eventually, African Christians were able to break free from such oppression and reform the local church, forming African Independent Churches.
The topic of Christianity in Africa is one of nuance, having in many ways been tainted by the White man’s abhorrent actions, but having also brought education, literacy and development through European missionaries.
With the coming of colonial rule, a mutualistic relationship developed between colonial rulers and Christian missions. Colonial rule provided a politically peaceful and supportive environment for the work of Christian missionaries. At the same time, colonial governments saw Christian missionaries as important allies. Colonial officials believed that Christianity would provide support for colonial rule.
However, as you will remember from Module Seven B: History of Africa, this was not always the case. The symbiotic relationship between colonial governments and Christian missionaries was strongest in colonies that did not have large Muslim populations.
Beginning in the early nineteenth century until African colonies became independent more than a hundred years later, many thousands of Christian missionaries from Europe, North America, and the West Indies worked throughout the African continent. European and North American missionary endeavors were directly tied to a Christian revivalist movement that occurred in the nineteenth century.
A central message of the nineteenth century Christian revival was a call for proselytization. Christian missions in Africa were established by a variety of Christian denominations. Moreover, missionaries did not only come from predominantly White churches.
To facilitate meeting this goal, missionaries concentrated their efforts on teaching and preaching about Christianity. To reach the vast majority of African people, missionaries had to learn their languages. However to read the newly translated Bible, people needed to learn how to read. Consequently, education and schooling became important additional goals of Christian missionaries. All over Africa, wherever missionaries went, they opened schools.
Theological and Cultural Adaptations
African Christianity is considerably older than the English, French, Portuguese, and German languages. African Christianity had been established as an authentic African expression of the faith for centuries before the rise of Islam.
Indigenous African churches, such as the Coptic Church in Egypt, the Aksumite Church in what is now Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, and the Nubian Church in what is now Sudan, had the Scripture in their own languages and well-developed liturgies when my Celtic ancestors were still painting themselves blue and practicing human sacrifice.
Authentically African Kongolese Christianity not only thrived but had a discernible impact on the course of the Christian story in North America. We should know, and celebrate, the stories of African Christianity.
Within different geographical areas, Africans searched for aspects of Christianity that could more closely resemble their religious and personal practices. Adaptations of Protestantism, such as the Kimbanguist church emerged. Within the Kimbanguist church, Simon Kimbangu questioned the order of religious deliverance- would God send a white man to preach?
Also, according to Mazrui, Kimbanguists respected the roles of women in church more than orthodox churches; they gave women the roles of priests and preachers. Members within these churches looked for practices in the Bible that were not overtly condemned, such as polygamy. They also incorporated in their own practices relationships with objects and actions like dancing and chanting.
When Africans were able to read in the vernacular, they were able to interpret the Bible in their own light. Polygamy was a topic of debate- many literate Africans interpreted it as acceptable because of information contained in the Old Testament- while it was condemned by European Christianity.
European missionaries were faced with what they considered an issue in maintaining Victorian values, while still promoting the vernacular and literacy. Missionaries largely condemned the controversial African views and worked against leaders branching out.
Within African communities, there were clashes brought on by Christianization. As a religion meant to "colonize the conscience and consciousness of the colonized"[70] Christianity caused disputes even amongst hereditary leaders, such as between Khama III and his father Sekgoma in nineteenth-century Botswana.
David Adamo, a Nigerian within the Aladura church chose portions of the Bible that closely resembled what his church found important. They read portions of Psalms because of the idea that missionaries were not sharing the power of their faith.
The influenza pandemic of 1918 accelerated the Africanization of Christianity and hence its growth in twentieth century Africa.[72] This contributed to growth of independent and prophetic Christian mass movements with prophecy, healings, and nationalist church restructuring.
Christian missionaries were compelled to spread an understanding of their gospel in the native language of the indigenous people they sought to convert. The Bible was then translated and communicated in these native languages. Christian schools did teach English, as well as mathematics, philosophy, and values inherent to Western culture and civilization.
In 1900, there were only nine million Christians in Africa, but by the year 2000, there were an estimated 380 million Christians. There has been tremendous growth in the number of Christians in Africa - coupled by a relative decline in adherence to traditional African religions.
How Western Theology Hid Africa’s Fingerprints on Faith
Key Figures and Their Contributions
Amongst these mighty men, Augustine stands head and shoulders above the rest. He was a prolific writer, leaving behind 113 books, 218 letters, and over 500 sermons. Two of his books, Confessions and City of God are considered classics and shaped theological thinking for many centuries to come.
Oden cogently and correctly situates theologians such as Antony, Athanasius, Augustine, Clement, Cyprian, Cyril, Donatus, Origen, Pachomius, and Tertullian as African. This book reveals that Christianity is authentically an African Traditional Religion (ATR), and arguably has been so longer than Bantu ATRs in many parts of Africa.
The African Memory of Mark (2011a) explores the African-Jewish - authentically Jewish yet authentically African - identity of John Mark, the apostle and evangelist from the African city of Cyrene (Libya). Early Libyan Christianity (2011b), which is freely accessible here, shows that there were vibrant African centres of Christianity in what are now Libya and Tunisia when the Christian community in Rome was primarily composed of Greek-speaking immigrants.
These three texts illuminate the ways in which “the classic mind of world Christian orthodoxy is significantly shaped by the North African imagination spawned indigenously of North African soil. The thought worlds following the genius of Origen, Augustine, Athanasius and Cyril bear the imprint of philosophical analyses, moral insights, discipline and scriptural interpretations that bloomed first in Egypt, Libya, Proconsular Africa and Numidia before they were consensually grasped elsewhere”.
Prof. Isichei is equally an excellent historian and an excellent narrator. She successfully emphasizes the crucial importance of African agency and initiative in the growth of Christianity in Africa, deliberately building on the work of Nigerian historians J. F. Ade Ajayi and E. A. Ayandele, while still acknowledging the role of Euro-American missionaries. Her coverage of different regions and different Christian movements is thorough, and her writing is engaging.
As Andrew F. Walls observed on more than one occasion, a stereotypical contemporary Christian today is a Nigerian woman. If we don’t know the story of Christianity in Nigeria, we don’t know the state of Christianity in the world today. Thus, Abodunde’s magisterial work is most welcome.
Sundkler recognized that church history needed to be interpreted specifically “from a distinct African perspective,” not least because across the continent “the Christian message” has always been “largely transmitted by African initiative”.
Werner, William Anderson, and Andrew Wheeler explain that we know from Luke of a Nubian convert to Christ in the first century: the “Ethiopian Eunuch” of Acts was a government official of the ruling queen of the Nubian kingdom of Meroë. But as this kingdom collapsed around 300, we don’t know how Christianity may or may not have fared there.
Contemporary Significance
As of 2024, there are an estimated 734 million Christians from all denominations in Africa. In a relatively short time, Africa has gone from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians and Muslims, even though there is a significant and sustained syncretism with traditional beliefs and practices.
