A History of Christianity in Africa: From Antiquity to the Present - Softcover

Isichei, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0865434433 ISBN 13: 9780865434431

Publisher: Africa World Pr, 1995

Synopsis

A History of Christianity in Africa examines the origins and development of Christianity in Africa from the early story of Egyptian Christianity to the spectacular growth, vitality, and diversity of the churches in Africa today.
Isichei opens with the brilliance of Christianity in Africa in antiquity and shows how Christian Egypt and North Africa produced some of the most influential intellects of the time. She then discusses the churches founded in the wake of early contacts with Europe, from the late fifteenth century on, and the unbroken Christian witness of Coptic Egypt and of Ethiopia. Isichei also examines the different types of Christianity in modern Africa and shows how social factors have influenced its development and expression.
With the explosive growth of Christianity now taking place in Africa - 393 million adherents projected by the year 2000 - and the increasingly recognized significance of African Christianity, this much-needed book fills the void in scholarly works on the continent's Christian past, also foreshadowing Christian Africa's influential future.

About this title

About the Author:

Elizabeth Isichei is professor of religious studies at Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand.

From Booklist:

The word encyclopedic seems somehow inadequate for a book whose subject spans 2,000 years on a continent as large and diverse as Africa, a continent where--by some estimates--Christianity is expanding at a rate roughly double that at which it is declining in the Western world. But it is probably the best word available to convey the scope and style of Isichei's book, which is informative and readable and will surely become an important reference for historians and others interested in Africa, in Christianity, or in both. But as important as what it contains is what it does. Much of Christianity's history in Africa and elsewhere is inscribed in the tragic consequences of its confusion and entanglement with European culture and colonialism. By chronicling diverse African struggles to disentangle and encounter it anew, and by teasing out a thread of descent that predates colonialism, Isichei lays a foundation for a more conscious and critical encounter with Christianity's enculturation outside Africa as well as in. That is a welcome contribution to the understanding of Africa and Christianity, a corrective to a history of interpretation that has too often confused them with their "inventions" by the West. Steve Schroeder

About this edition

• Publisher: Africa World Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0865434433
• ISBN 13: 9780865434431
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 420