Contrary to popular belief, Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture, intellectual development and innovation.
It is wrongly assumed that Christianity was first brought to Africa by European colonial missionaries and that the church in Africa is largely a Western import. Christianity in Africa existed long before modern European colonisation. Christianity also existed in Africa long before it did in many Western countries.
Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity originated in Africa before they were disseminated to Europe. The late Thomas C Oden, former Henry Anson Buttz professor of theology and ethics at Drew University, who was among the most influential theologians of the 20th century, convincingly shows the seminal intellectual contributions of Africa in the forging of Christianity from its early roots to its modern forms in his seminal book, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity.
Many North African countries were part of the Roman Empire, and when early Christianity spread it took root there also. Egypt had a strong, established Christian community based in Alexandria in the 1st century.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church was established in the fourth century. In 333AD, Ethiopia’s King Ezana, in the Aksumite empire, declared Christianity the state and national religion in Ethiopia and Eritrea, becoming only the second country after Armenia to do so.
Christianity also spread during the fifth century to Africa’s Nubia region, which starts south of modern day Khartoum in the Sudan where the Blue and White Nile join. Supported by archaeological finds, the first Nubian Christian churches were built in the 6th century.
At the end of the fifth century, Christianity spread to areas which correspond to today’s central and western Algeria and north-eastern Morocco.
By the third century Christianity was deeply established in Carthage and other towns in modern Tunisia.
The church of Carthage played a key role in the development of Christian theology, philosophy and texts. Quintus Tertullian (160-240 AD), from Carthage, was the first Christian theologian to write in Latin and has been called "the father of Latin Christianity", as well as "the founder of Western theology". Tertullian is most famous for being the first writer in Latin known to use the term "trinity", the Christian doctrine of the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead, one of the central Christian affirmations.
The Moroccan Church had a distinct division, the Donatist sect, named after the Berber Christian Bishop Donatus Magnus. Donatus argued for the rejection of any priest, who submitted to imperial authority, calling for martyrdom in defence of the Christian faith.
In 1490 the first Western missionaries came to sub-Saharan Africa at the request of King Nzinga of Kongo, in the north of modern Angola. They did not bring Christianity to Africa, but brought a new Christian wave
Origen of Alexandria (185-253 AD) was a prolific Christian writer who wrote roughly 2,000 treatises in multiple branches of theology. He was one of the most influential and controversial figures in early Christian theology and was described by John Anthony McGuckin, professor of church history at Oxford University, as "the greatest genius the early church ever produced".
Augustine of Hippo (354-430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius, now Annaba in Algeria. Augustine has been described as the most significant Christian thinker after St Paul. He adapted classical thought to Christian teaching, shaped the practice of biblical exegesis and helped lay the foundation for much medieval and modern Christian thought.
The Christian Church was almost destroyed in the Maghreb by Islamic conquests, which forced many Christians to convert to Islam by imposing heavy taxes on non-Muslims and marginalising them in public life. The Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria survived Muslim invasions.
In Egypt, during the reign of al-Hakim (996–1021), churches were demolished and restrictions were put on building new ones and Christians were prosecuted.
The Almohad Abd al-Mu'min (1094-1163), the founding figure of the Almohad Caliphate in North Africa, born in Tagra, Algeria, who brought all the Berbers under one rule, forced the Christians and Jews of Tunis to convert in 1159.
In June 1225, the Pope permitted two friars of the Dominican Order to establish a mission in Morocco to look after the Christians there. In December 1246, the Bishop of Morocco Lope Fernandez de Ain was made the head of the Church of Africa.
In 1490 the first Western missionaries came to sub-Saharan Africa at the request of King Nzinga of Kongo, in the north of modern Angola. They did not bring Christianity to Africa, but brought a new Christian wave. Christianity is now the largest religion in Africa.
• William Gumede is professor of practice, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand and author of Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Times (Tafelberg)
For opinion and analysis consideration, e-mail Opinions@timeslive.co.za
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