"Judaism and Christianity have their roots in the story of a people
formed in the interface between Africa and Asia. Jews and Christians would travel from Egypt to Jerusalem to Samaria to Antioch, and from there to the uttermost parts of the earth. And from Pentecost on, Africa would always have Christians. From the first century there are references to Apollos of Alexandria and the Libyans at Pentecost and Simon of Cyrene and the Ethiopian believers. These first-century African witnesses have continued without cessation all the way to the living testimony of Africans today. No African century since Apollos has lacked Christian presence. Neither Jews nor Christians are new to Africa. Both covenant peoples remember a history of salvation that had its earliest beginnings in the crossroads of two continents: Asia and Africa. From that same crossroads would come Islam in the seventh century of the first millennium ....
"At its zenith the Afro-Hellenic city of Alexandria was larger than either Rome or Antioch, and of far more importance in the world of ideas, literature, learning. Alexandria stood for centuries as one of the three leading cities of the ancient world. It should not be surprising that the Christian leader of Alexandria came to symbolize and represent all Christians on the continent in terms of ecclesiastical organization . It was analogous to Antioch representing Asia, and Rome signifying the voices of leadership of the north Mediterranean that would later (with Charlemagne in 800 C.E.) emerge as a quasi-literate amalgam of emerging cultures gradually forming into medieval Europe...
"Many Christian ideas and practices traveled north to Europe from the Nile and Numidian traditions. Nilotic and Numidian cultures are the epicenter for the pre-European history of Christianity.
"This is symbolized by two mighty rivers. The great Medjerda (=Bagradas) river stretches west to east from Timgad in the old Roman province of Numidia to Carthage in the Roman province of Africa (modern day Algeria to Tunisia) for 290 miles (450 km)... The Nile stretches south 4, 160 miles (6,695 km) with cataracts in southern Egypt and the Sudan and its headwaters in Uganda... Much Christian intellectual history matured around valleys and cities around inland river systems up and down the Nile, and throughout the mountains and valleys and deserts of the Maghreb where the Medjerda flowed...
"During the first four centuries Christianity emerged with equal vitality where the great Carthaginian and Numidian writers were Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobious, Optatus, and Augustine .
"Early African Christianity centered around the two language and culture configurations on these two great river systems . The relation of African geography and Christian culture has not been sufficiently studied . The river systems are deeply interior, not coastal, so any hint that Christianity was primarily a coastal phenomenon in Africa misunderstands this geography. The absence of rigorous inquiry has biased historical judgment toward the commonly held but incorrect opinion that Christianity in Africa's first millennium was primarily to be found on a thin strip of coastline .
"Trade and communication occurred all along the whole Medjerda river system and Nile river system to make commerce possible all across much of inland Africa. The desert routes led to the ports of rivers and seas . Alexandria was clearly the main connecting point between Nilotic Africa and the rest of the known world. The strategic importance of Carthage was its location near Sicily and Italy, and near the mouth of the Medjerda . The Medjerda was an incredibly fertile valley, the heart of wheat and olive growing areas. The valley was served by major ports in Utica and Carthage. Ideas and goods traveled easily from inland Africa through river and coastal waters to a Spain, France, Sicily, Italy, Greece...
"In this way Latin African orthodoxy became chiefly transmitted through the Western Christian tradition , while eastern African traditions ( including Coptic, Greek, Syriac and, by the end of the millennium, Arabic). Through the rapid spread of the monastic movement the African ascendency in ideas would reach quickly northward to saturate Palestine, Antiochene, Syriac, Greek and Armenian traditions of the Fourth century, and by the fifth century, Gaul and Ireland...
"The first arrival of Christianity in Africa can be pushed back to dates much earlier than Western historical skepticism has typically allowed. This will require further examination of archaeological and textual evidence . The early Alexandrian tradition may indeed go back to the sixties, fifties, possibly even the forties. The evidences for the history of the transmission of this tradition has been largely ignored by the previous generation of European scholars. 'European chauvinism' is a kind way of speaking about this neglect."
P. 16-23, "Introduction ," HOW AFRICA SHAPED THE CHRISTIAN MIND: REDISCOVERING THE AFRICAN SEEDBED OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY by Thomas C. Oden (2007).
Saturday, March 5, 2016
HOW AFRICA SHAPED THE CHRISTIAN MIND ...excerpt
"Judaism and Christianity have their roots in the story of a people
formed in the interface between Africa and Asia. Jews and Christians would travel from Egypt to Jerusalem to Samaria to Antioch, and from there to the uttermost parts of the earth. And from Pentecost on, Africa would always have Christians. From the first century there are references to Apollos of Alexandria and the Libyans at Pentecost and Simon of Cyrene and the Ethiopian believers. These first-century African witnesses have continued without cessation all the way to the living testimony of Africans today. No African century since Apollos has lacked Christian presence. Neither Jews nor Christians are new to Africa. Both covenant peoples remember a history of salvation that had its earliest beginnings in the crossroads of two continents: Asia and Africa. From that same crossroads would come Islam in the seventh century of the first millennium ....
"At its zenith the Afro-Hellenic city of Alexandria was larger than either Rome or Antioch, and of far more importance in the world of ideas, literature, learning. Alexandria stood for centuries as one of the three leading cities of the ancient world. It should not be surprising that the Christian leader of Alexandria came to symbolize and represent all Christians on the continent in terms of ecclesiastical organization . It was analogous to Antioch representing Asia, and Rome signifying the voices of leadership of the north Mediterranean that would later (with Charlemagne in 800 C.E.) emerge as a quasi-literate amalgam of emerging cultures gradually forming into medieval Europe...
"Many Christian ideas and practices traveled north to Europe from the Nile and Numidian traditions. Nilotic and Numidian cultures are the epicenter for the pre-European history of Christianity.
"This is symbolized by two mighty rivers. The great Medjerda (=Bagradas) river stretches west to east from Timgad in the old Roman province of Numidia to Carthage in the Roman province of Africa (modern day Algeria to Tunisia) for 290 miles (450 km)... The Nile stretches south 4, 160 miles (6,695 km) with cataracts in southern Egypt and the Sudan and its headwaters in Uganda... Much Christian intellectual history matured around valleys and cities around inland river systems up and down the Nile, and throughout the mountains and valleys and deserts of the Maghreb where the Medjerda flowed...
"During the first four centuries Christianity emerged with equal vitality where the great Carthaginian and Numidian writers were Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobious, Optatus, and Augustine .
"Early African Christianity centered around the two language and culture configurations on these two great river systems . The relation of African geography and Christian culture has not been sufficiently studied . The river systems are deeply interior, not coastal, so any hint that Christianity was primarily a coastal phenomenon in Africa misunderstands this geography. The absence of rigorous inquiry has biased historical judgment toward the commonly held but incorrect opinion that Christianity in Africa's first millennium was primarily to be found on a thin strip of coastline .
"Trade and communication occurred all along the whole Medjerda river system and Nile river system to make commerce possible all across much of inland Africa. The desert routes led to the ports of rivers and seas . Alexandria was clearly the main connecting point between Nilotic Africa and the rest of the known world. The strategic importance of Carthage was its location near Sicily and Italy, and near the mouth of the Medjerda . The Medjerda was an incredibly fertile valley, the heart of wheat and olive growing areas. The valley was served by major ports in Utica and Carthage. Ideas and goods traveled easily from inland Africa through river and coastal waters to a Spain, France, Sicily, Italy, Greece...
"In this way Latin African orthodoxy became chiefly transmitted through the Western Christian tradition , while eastern African traditions ( including Coptic, Greek, Syriac and, by the end of the millennium, Arabic). Through the rapid spread of the monastic movement the African ascendency in ideas would reach quickly northward to saturate Palestine, Antiochene, Syriac, Greek and Armenian traditions of the Fourth century, and by the fifth century, Gaul and Ireland...
"The first arrival of Christianity in Africa can be pushed back to dates much earlier than Western historical skepticism has typically allowed. This will require further examination of archaeological and textual evidence . The early Alexandrian tradition may indeed go back to the sixties, fifties, possibly even the forties. The evidences for the history of the transmission of this tradition has been largely ignored by the previous generation of European scholars. 'European chauvinism' is a kind way of speaking about this neglect."
P. 16-23, "Introduction ," HOW AFRICA SHAPED THE CHRISTIAN MIND: REDISCOVERING THE AFRICAN SEEDBED OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY by Thomas C. Oden (2007).