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Christianity in Africa

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The Church of Saint George in Lalibela, Ethiopia is rock-hewn in the shape of a cross
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Christianity in Africa arrived in Africa in the 1st century AD, and in the 21st century the majority of Africans are Christians.[1] Several African Christians influenced the early development of Christianity and shaped its doctrines, including Tertullian, Perpetua, Felicity, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian, Athanasius and Augustine of Hippo.[2][3] In the 4th century, the Aksumite empire in modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea became one of the first regions in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, followed by the Nubian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia and several Christian Berber kingdoms.[4]

The Islamic conquests into North Africa brought pressure on Christians to convert to Islam due to special taxation imposed on non-Muslims and other socio-economic pressures under Muslim rule, although Christians were widely allowed to continue practicing their religion.[5] The Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria (which separated from each other during the Chalcedonian Schism) in Egypt and the Orthodox Tewahedo Church survived Muslim invasion. Islamization of Muslim-ruled territory occurred progressively over the next few centuries, though this process is not fully understood by historians.[6][5] Restrictions on church building and demolition of churches in Egypt, along with occasional persecutions such as during the reign of al-Hakim (996–1021), put additional pressure on Copts in Egypt.[7][8]: 23 [9] In the Middle Ages, the Ethiopian Empire was the only region of Africa to survive as a Christian state after the expansion of Islam.[10] The Ethiopian church held its own distinct religious customs and a unique canon of the Bible. Therefore, the Ethiopian church community is globally unique in that it wasn't Christianised through European missionaries, but was highly independent and itself spread missionaries throughout the rest of Africa prior to the contact of European Christians with the continent.

In the late 15th century, Portuguese traders and missionaries began arriving in West Africa, first in Guinea, Mauritania, the Gambia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, then Nigeria and later in the Kingdom of Kongo, where they would find success in converting prominent local leaders to Catholicism. During and after the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, these Christian communities and others began to flourish up and down the coast, as well as in Central and Southern Africa as new missionary activities from Europe started,[11] (Christian evangelists were intimately involved in the colonial process in southern Africa).[12] In the 21st century, they constitute the bulk of the booming Christian community on the continent.

As of 2024, there are an estimated 734 million Christians from all denominations in Africa,[13] up from about 10 million in 1900.[14] 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,[15] even though there is a significant and sustained syncretism with traditional beliefs and practices.[16] Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population in most Southern African, Southeast African, and Central African states and in large parts of the Horn of Africa and West Africa, while the Coptic Christians make up a significant minority in Egypt. According to a 2018 study by the Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary, more Christians live in Africa than any other continent, with Latin America second and Europe third.[17][18]

  1. ^ Tagwirei, Kimion (2024-02-27). "Rebuilding the broken walls of Zimbabwe with the Church, leadership and followership". Verbum et Ecclesia. 45 (1). AOSIS. doi:10.4102/ve.v45i1.3054. ISSN 2074-7705.
  2. ^ Agbaw-Ebai, Maurice Ashley; Levering, Matthew (27 December 2021). Joseph Ratzinger and the Future of African Theology. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-6667-0360-3.
  3. ^ Avis, Paul (2018). The Oxford Handbook of Ecclesiology. Oxford University Press. pp. 627–628. ISBN 9780191081378.
  4. ^ Isichei 1995, p. 19.
  5. ^ a b Simonsohn, Uriel (2017). "Conversion, Exemption, and Manipulation: Social Benefits and Conversion to Islam in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages" (PDF). Medieval Worlds. 6: 196–216. doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no6_2017s196.
  6. ^ Kennedy, Hugh N. (2004). The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century. Pearson/Longman. pp. 199–201. ISBN 978-0-582-40525-7.
  7. ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – Egypt : Copts of Egypt". Refworld. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  8. ^ Brett, Michael (2005). "Population and Conversion to Islam in Egypt in the Mediaeval Period". In Vermeulen, Urbain; Steenbergen, J. Van (eds.). Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras IV: Proceedings of the 9th and 10th International Colloquium Organized at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in May 2000 and May 2001. Peeters Publishers. pp. 1–32. ISBN 978-90-429-1524-4.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA". historyworld.net.
  11. ^ Latourette, Kenneth Scott 1944, pp. 301–464.
  12. ^ Comaroff, Jean; Comaroff, John (1986). "Christianity and Colonialism in South Africa b". American Ethnologist. 13 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1525/ae.1986.13.1.02a00010. S2CID 143976274.
  13. ^ "Status of Global Christianity, 2024, in the Context of 1900–2050" (PDF). Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Retrieved 17 Aug 2024.
  14. ^ https://academic.oup.com/book/32113/chapter-abstract/268045986?redirectedFrom=fulltext "In 1900, Christians in Africa represented 2 percent (or 10 million people) of all Christians in the world and about 9 percent of the population of Africa."
  15. ^ Verstraelen-Gilhuis, Gerdien (1992). A new look at Christianity in Africa : essays on apartheid, African education, and a new history. F. J. Verstraelen. Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press. ISBN 0-86922-518-9. OCLC 25808325.
  16. ^ Rosalind Shaw, Charles Stewart, Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism: The Politics of Religious Synthesis (1994)
  17. ^ Johnson, Todd M.; Zurlo, Gina A.; Hickman, Albert W.; Crossing, Peter F. (November 2017). "Christianity 2018: More African Christians and Counting Martyrs". International Bulletin of Mission Research. 42 (1): 20–28. doi:10.1177/2396939317739833. S2CID 165905763. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  18. ^ Mauro, J.-P. (24 July 2018). "Africa overtakes Latin America for the highest Christian population". Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture. Retrieved 24 September 2019.

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