Educational experience about Christianity

1. Part 2
An Examination of Africa’s Contributions to the Early Christian Movement
1st – 5th Centuries

2. Brief Recap
• African Church Fathers
• Christian Educational Institution (Didascalium)
• African Martyrs and Saints
• Roots of Monasticism in Africa

3. Early Ecumenical Councils
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4. Early Ecumenical Decision Making Followed African Councilor Patterns
• First Eight Ecumenical Councils (next slide)
• Ecumenical council meetings, held to determine Christian doctrine, followed patterns of meetings held in Africa:
Carthage, Alexandria, Hippo, and Milevis
• Philosophies of Arianism, Sabellianism, Pelagianism, and Gnosticism were debated and decided in Africa before
they were debated elsewhere
• 100 Years before the First Council of Nicaea (325 CE) churches were already firmly established in Africa (see
map)
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5. Ecumenical Councils
• Nicaea I – 325 CE
• Constantinople I – 381 CE
• Ephesus I – 431 CE
• Ephesus II – 449 CE
• Chalcedon – 451 CE
• Constantinople II – 553 CE
• Nicaea II – 787 CE
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6. Lost Christianities
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7. Lost Christianities
• In Africa:
• Donatists: Numidia
• Copts: Egypt and Ethiopia
• Monophysites: Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia
• Various Gnostic Groups: Upper Egypt
• Manicheans
• Outside of Africa:
• Arians
• Nestroians
• Montanists
• Marcionies
• Manicheans
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8. 8

9. Beliefs of 2nd-4th Century Christians
God
• One God
• Two Gods
• 30 or 365 Gods
• God created the world and would redeem it
• God did not create the world neither did he have
anything to do with the world
Christ
• Was both human and divine
• Was human not divine
• Was human and temporarily inhabited by God
• His death led to salvation
• His death did not lead to salvation
• He never died on the cross
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10. Beliefs of 2nd-4th Century Christians
• Rituals/Practices:
• Did not call themselves Christians
• “The Way”
• No one wore crosses
• Did not meet in a church
• No choir or musicians
• No pastor, deacons, ushers
• No praise dancing
• Met secretly in private homes on the Sabbath not Sunday
• There was no Bible until the year 367 CE by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria
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11. Egyptian Spiritual Elements in Christianity
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12. According to Herodotus, travelled to Egypt 495 BCE
• “The names of nearly all the gods came to Greece from Egypt. I know from the
inquiries I have made that they came from abroad…”
• “The names of all the gods have been known in Egypt from the beginning of time…”
• “These [religious]practices, then, and others which I will speak of later, were
borrowed by the Greeks from Egypt.”
• Histories, Book II
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13. Origin of Core Christian Beliefs Found in Egyptian Spirituality
Core Christian Beliefs
• Creation
• One God
• Jesus – son of God
• The Trinity
• Death and resurrection of Jesus – Salvation
• Judgement
• Life after death
Origin in Egyptian Spirituality
• Trinity
• Annunciation, Immaculate Conception, Virgin
Birth and Adoration
• Wosir (Osiris) – death and resurrection
• Judgement
• Transmigration of the Soul
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14. • The ancient Egyptians did not have a single system of
cosmogony.
• There were four major systems emanating from four religious
centers:
• Ineb-Hedj (Memphis)
• Iwnw (Heliopolis)
• Khemenu (Hermopolis)
• Yebu (Elephantine)
• This does not mean there were different doctrines or theories of
creation.
• It means there were different systems of symbolism to express
the reality of creation.
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Kemet
Cosmogony
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15. Genesis Book I
• In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Gen 1:1
• And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Gen 1:3
• And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters…” Gen 1:6
• In Genesis chapter 1 - God creates through speech that is preceded by thought
• The origins of this idea of creating through the act of speech is in ancient Kemet
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16. Ineb-Hedj (Memphis) – Ptah creates by thought and speech
• According to the creation at Ineb-Hedj (Memphis) Ptah created the world with his heart and his
tongue.
• In ancient Kemet the heart is the seat of thought/consciousness – the place where ideas are
conceived
• The tongue controls speech
• Ptah brought the universe into being by first conceiving all aspects of it in his heart then speaking
those thoughts aloud
• The temple devoted to Ptah was called Hwt-ka-Ptah
• The words Hwt-ka-Ptah are the basis of the name Egypt
• Hwt-ka-Ptah was mistranslated by the Greeks as:
• Αἴγυπτος – Aigyptos
• Kemet
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17. Genesis Book 2
• “…then the Lord God formed man of the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living being.” Gen 2:7
• The origins of this idea of creating from “dust” is in ancient Kemet
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18. Yebu (Elephantine) – Khnum creates with clay on his potter’s wheel then breaths life into
his creations
Khnum accompanied by the goddess Heket
Dendera Temple complex
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His wife Satis or Neith holding the
Ankh, the symbol for life

19. Ancient Egyptian Trinity
• In ancient Kemet:
• The term ‘trinity’ is a complex concept
• It was an old idea when Christians came to it
• It is a concept that is best expressed symbolically
• For example:
• Kheper – Re – Atum
• Kheper – “to become” – is the Self-Created One
• Re – is the Eternally Created One
• Atum – “the All” – is the Complete One
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20. Ancient Egyptian Trinity
• Another symbolic expression of the concept of trinity:
• The sun rising in the morning is the Self-Creating One – Kheper
• The sun at mid-day is the Eternal One – Re
• The sun set is the Complete One - Atum
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21. Ancient Egyptian Trinity
• Another symbolic expression of the concept of trinity
• “From one I have become three.” – this is a trinity
• The Creator coming into being in unity then through
procreation giving birth to twins, one female and the
other male.
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22. • Another Example involves:
• Wosir (Osiris) the dying-resurrected God
• Aset (Isis) the source of Wosir’s resurrection
• Heru (Horus) son of God
• The Trinity in the Christian Church:
• The Father
• The Son
• The Holy Spirit
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23. Painted Mummy Shrouds, 1st – 3rd Century
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24. Annunciation, Immaculate Conception, Virgin Birth and Adoration
Carved on the wall of the Temple of Luxor, c. 1380 BCE
Temple built by Amen-Hotep III, c. 1700 BCE
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25. Annunciation, Immaculate Conception,
Virgin Birth and Adoration
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26. Mut Netcher – Mother of God
Aset (Isis) was worshipped in Egypt as early as the 2nd millennium
BCE
In the 4th century BCE Aset spread across the Mediterranean Sea
and was revered as far as Gaul (France) and England
In 333 BCE Athenians allowed Egyptian merchants to build a
temple to Aset.
In Egypt she survived until 537 CE
The Temple of Isis at Philae was desecrated by Emperor Justinian.
In 431 CE at the Council of Ephesus
The doctrinal question of the status of
Mary, the mother of Jesus was settled.
She was deemed Theotokos 26

27. Isis as a model for women today
• In many ways Isis (Aset) remains as a model for women today
• Her name echoes in female names such as:
• Isadora
• Isabella
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28. Perhaps what we should say is…
Our Mother and Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by their names.
Their Kingdom come, their will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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29. There are over 500 images of the
Black Madonna all over Europe
• Sicily
• Spain
• Switzerland
• France
• Poland
• Czechoslovakia
• Turkey
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30. Grave goods
Include:
Skeleton, Pottery, Jewelry, Tools, Grinding Palettes, Sacrificial animals
The concept of an afterlife is evident in archaeological excavations in Nubia and Kemet
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31. Sources of Egyptian Spirituality Can be found in Ancient Texts
• Pyramid Texts – Old Kingdom Period – oldest known texts
• Coffin Texts – First Intermediate Period
• Book of Coming Forth by Day – New Kingdom Period
• All consisted of instructions intended to assist the deceased person’s journey through the Duat (underworld) and into the Afterlife –
the Field of Reeds
• Other sources:
• Book of Djhuti (Thoth)
• Memphite Theology – Creation
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32. Christianity in Nubia• Christianity came later to Nubia
• Three separate states developed in Nubia: Nobatia, Makuria, Alwa and
Alodia
• According to tradition it was a high official from the court a Candace
who was the first convert.
• In 534 CE Theodora, Empress of Byzantium, sent a Monophysite monk
to Nubia
• Monphysite Christians believed Christ had only one nature – divinity
and humanity were united. This was in opposition to the Chalcedonian
position (451 CE) – Christ had two natures – divine and human
• Julian converted Nobatia starting with members of the court
• Makuria was converted c.569CE by Chalcedonian emissaries
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33. Ancient Axum
• Axum reached it peak under the leadership of Ezana
who ruled from c. 325-360 CE
• Under Ezana, Axum expanded its territory, conquered
the Kingdom of Kush and converted to Christianity
• Frumentius, a student of philosophy, converted Ezana
and became the first bishop of Ethiopia
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34. Kebra Negast
• The Glory of Kings
• This texts is about 700 years old
• Written in Ge’ez
• Origins of the Solomonic line of Emperors of Ethiopia
• It chronicles the origins of the line emperors extending from
King Solomon
• Sacred text of Ethiopians, Christians and Rastafarians
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35. Christianity in Ethiopia
• Bet Giorgis, Lalibela
• 1 of 11 Churches carved from rock
• Dated to the 12th or 13th century
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36. Conclusion
• According to stereotypes, Christianity cannot be African
• Christianity was imported to Africa
• These notions are based on the philosophy of George Wilhelm
Frederick Hegel and other who followed his teachings.
• Hegel states in his book, The Philosophy of History (1899):
• “At this point we leave Africa, not to mention it again, for it is no
historical part of the world; it has no movement or development to
exhibit.”
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37. Conclusion
• The opposite of what Hegel and other European scholars
have claimed about Africa, is true – the flow of intellectual
leadership moved from Africa to Europe
• Africans were informing, instructing and educating teachers
in Greece, Rome, Syria, and Cappadocia
• African intellect blossomed so much that it was sought out
by Christians of northern and eastern Mediterranean
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38. According to Herodotus, travelled to Egypt 495 BCE
• “The names of nearly all the gods came to Greece from Egypt. I know from the
inquiries I have made that they came from abroad…”
• “The names of all the gods have been known in Egypt from the beginning of time…”
• “These [religious]practices, then, and others which I will speak of later, were
borrowed by the Greeks from Egypt.”
• Histories, Book II
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39. Diodorus Siculus, 90 – 30 BCE
Greek Historian
• He stated that Ethiopia is the origin of Egyptian traditions and
civilization (consistent with modern archaeological discoveries).
• “Now the Ethiopians, as historians relate, were the first of all
men and the proofs of this statement, they say, are manifest.
For they [Ethiopians] did not come into their land as
immigrants from abroad but were natives of it.”
• Library of History, Book III, Chapter 2
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40. • The information presented here is nothing new.
• African scholars in the diaspora have make the same statements for more
many years:
• Antenor Fermin, Drusilla Dunjee Houston, Martin R. Delaney, George Wells
Parker, Yosef Ben Jochannan, John G. Jackson, William Leo Hansberry, John
Henrik Clarke, Cheik Anta Diop,Theophile Obenga, Asa G. Hilliard, Jacob H.
Carruthers, and many others.
• I leave you with a quote from my teacher and mentor, Dr. Josef Ben Levi:
• “We cannot continue to rely on others, namely European academicians, to
appraise our heritage and define it from the standpoint of their worldview.
We cannot allow the European academic consensus, at a table where we have
no seat, to validate our history because they possess hegemony over its
research and antiquities.”

41. Sources
• Ancient Egypt The Light of the World, Gerald Massey
• The Black Presence in the Bible, Walter A. McCray
• History of Africa, Kevin Shillington
• Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern World, Justin Pollard and Howard Reid
• How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind, Thomas C. Oden
• Christian Egypt Ancient and Modern, Otto F. A. Meinardus
• The Septuagint
• The Lost History of Christianity, Philip Jenkins
• Egypt in Africa, Theodore Celencko, editor
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42. Sources
• African Presence in Early Europe, Ivan Van Sertima
• Saints of Africa, Fr. Jerome Sanderson and Carla Thomas
• African Saints African Stories, Camile Lewis Brown
• A History of Christianity in Africa, Elizabeth Isichei
• Nag Hammadi Library, James M. Robinson
• The Saints Go Marching In, Robert Fulton Holtzclaw
• Saints of Africa, Vincent J. O’Malley
• Libraries in the Ancient World, Lionel Casson
• The Library of Alexandria: Center of Learning in the Ancient World, Roy Macleod
• The Cult of the Virgin, Ean Begg
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43. Angela Davis
for DARC
January 21, 2018
An Examination of Africa’s Contributions to the Early Christian Movement
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