Revisiting Christian Missiology and Colonialism in Africa

Assessing the true role of colonialism in the spread of Christianity in Africa.

Summary

Berlin conference 1884-85

Nearly 80 decades after the abolition of the slave trade in the early 19th century, the berlin conference was held and after the deliberations, Africa was partitioned amongst the European powers, signaling an imperialist transition from slave trade to another form of domination: colonialism. European powers would go ahead to exploit the continent of its labor and resources. However, another critical juncture in the history of Africa wasn’t just colonialism but also the influx of Christian missions that came along with it; which saw the spread and eventual establishment of Christianity on the continent. In the lay historical discourse on Christianity and colonialism, there’s a usual proclivity by Christianity’s critics to qualify it as a co-conspirator or certain scholar put it, the “spiritual wing of secular imperialism.” However, the article argues that while proper historical inquiry shows that the spread of Christianity in Africa was tied to colonialism, to a significant extent, the Christian missionaries did not bear the same motive for which colonialism was brought upon Africa.

This article, for the sake of clarity, also argues that Christianity’s early historical development is rooted in Africa and not Europe as most seem to erroneously think; included is that colonialism in Africa didn’t begin with modern Europe but the Roman Empire in late antiquity. In addition I draw from the scholarship on African Christianity to show that though Christian missions were founded by European missionaries, the spread of Christianity within can be widely attributed to black missionaries and not their European counterparts. Through the article, I make necessary concessions to moral failures where necessary. Finally, in evaluating the history of missiology in Africa, I classify the timelines into three periods namely: Emergence (late antiquity) Reintroduction (early modern era) and Resurgence (modern era), to allow for cohesion and continuity.

Map showing the colonies of each European power

Introduction

According to the pew research center, as of 1910, about two-thirds of Christians in the world lived in Europe, the percentage being 66%, while 27.1% lived in the Americas, 4.5% Asia-pacific, 1.4% in sub-Saharan Africa and 0.7 in the middle-east and North Africa. By 2010 however, while the percentage of global Christianity more or less maintained its stability, a serious demographical shift occurred in the regional distribution. The figure in Europe declined to 23.9% while it increased a tad to 36.8% in the Americas; though Asia-pacific climbed to 13.1%, the most significant increase occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, with a jump from 1.4% in 1910 to 23.6% in 2010. The Middle East and North Africa was the most stagnant of all regions with the percentage declining to 0.6%.¹

From the above demographic, it’s ostensible that the most significant change in the distribution of world Christianity occurred in Africa. The pertinent questions, in relation to the thesis of this article, becomes: what are the factors responsible for the rapid shift and increase in the regional distribution of world Christianity in Africa? Why would it surpass Europe, a continent which had most Christians in the world? There are quite a number of indices one could theorize but the distinctive feature, atleast for Africa, is colonialism.

As Europe was after its economic and political gain while the church exploited such incursion for a heavenly gain. For one to ascertain the role of colonialism in the spread of Christianity, one has to evaluate the major developments of Christianity within the continent and what one does find, is that the historical scope of Christianity in Africa is broader than we often care admit.

ROMAN COLONIALISM AND THE ORIGIN OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY (EMERGENCE)

Christianity started in Africa centuries before it was in the British Isles or the Iberian Peninsula, both of which many ways than one,² played an instrumental role in the development and spread the Christianity. Jewish Christians, who were part of the first people to believe in the Christian faith at its beginnings in Palestine, moved to Africa at the end of the first century.³ Much like the European colonialism played a role in the spread of Christians missions to Africa, the roman empire had colonized Africa since 185 B.C after the former’s victory over Carthage in the Punic wars though it would later take Rome about a hundred years before it could fully establish colonial rule over the region. In 27 C.E, the beginning of Augustus’ reign a province: Africa nova, was amalgamated with Carthage, thereby forming a large part of the northern African continent and it would eventually be named Africa proconsularis, in honor of a former roman consul.⁴ During the reign of Emperor Augustus, about 3000 thousand colonists, better known as the coloni, were sent to the African Colonies. As discharged soldiers would later join them in droves, the coloni were given farmlands and animals for land cultivation in areas that is now modern day Tunisia and Algeria.⁵ within the span of 50 years, Rome was benefiting from the abundance of wheat being turned in from Africa proconsularis with over 10 million bushels sent annually.⁶ This necessitated an elaborate road building program in the region and between 40 B.C and A.D 100, after which Roman cities sprang up all over the colony.⁷ As Christianity spread within the region it was only normal for its expansion to be largely limited to the colonized regions of Africa and the good roads and cities that sprang up made it easier to evangelize there. No diocese had its episcopal seat beyond any of the military detachments, further denoting that the roman amalgamation of these African provinces facilitated the establishment of Christianity in North Africa.⁸To corroborate this, Bruce L. Shelley, writing about the prominent figures of early Christianity in North Africa, supplies that

The writers, matyrs, and bishops we know are nearly from the Romanized section of the community.⁹

This yielded the interesting result that,

North African Christianity produced the first Latin-speaking churches in the world.¹⁰

It is reasonable to conclude that the road systems that the romans built after the conquest of Carthage facilitated missionary activities to the region. Most of the most prominent theologians and church fathers that have helped shaped the modern understanding of Christian theology came from Africa. St. Augustine, who is recognized as a saint both in the catholic church and the eastern orthodox church and one of the most prominent Christian philosophers, was born in Thagaste (modern day Algeria) an ancient Numidian city in Northern Africa,

Without a doubt, this African was the most illustrious representative of Christianity in antiquity. Augustine was responsible for providing the African church, despite all of its shortcomings and challenges, with the most prominent place in the ecclesiastical world of his day. Without him, the European churches would not have been what been what they were from the fifth century onward, and the global church would not be what it is today.¹¹

St. Athanasius (293-373) who was the bishop of Alexandria (a city known to be the epicenter of intellectualism in antiquity) from 328-73 played a transformative role in the church of Egypt and one could even argue that he was the greatest patriarch they had. He helped explicate the doctrine of the trinity in wake of the Arian heresy and one of the ecumenical creeds is named after him. He was also known to have consecrated St. Frumentius as bishop of Aksum, Northern Ethiopia, creating the 1,600 years bond between the Egyptian church and the one in Ethiopia.¹² Additionally, other prominent theologians and church fathers arose in Africa during the age of antiquity. Thomas C. Oden notes that the editors at Drew University that produced the twenty-eight volumes of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, were surprised to find such a significant amount of texts were from Africa or influenced by African writers among the patristic comments, on verse after verse of Scripture. He writes that many leading themes of the popularly read homilies of John Chrysostom and Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Ambrose were actually derived from the teachings of Origen of Alexandria, Didymus and Cyril of Alexandria in specific details.¹³

Even the philosophical concept of Neo-Platonism, that has in one way or another affected our understanding of Christian theology and metaphysics, didn’t arise from the Greece or Rome but in Africa. Philo of Alexandria, ammonias Saccas and Plotinus, all of whom the concept derives its fundamental meaning, were all Africans.¹⁴ However, this flourishing during the emergence in Africa would become threatened by rise of Islam in the early 7^th century. Under the influence of jihad, the Umayyad caliphate was conquering from the Near-East. The golden age of Christianity in Africa began to fade with conquest of north Africa; the Coptic Christians which have thrived in Egypt were conquered in a military campaign by the followers of Prophet Mohammed in 641 C.E¹⁵ With this development, a rapid dechristianization would follow when Carthage was seized by the Muslims in 698 C.E. Though some semblance of Christianity still remained till 1076, by 1270, the year the crusading king Louis IX died near Tunis, Christianity had become a faint shadow of what it used to be in Africa a millennium ago.¹⁶ As Historian, Isichei Elizabeth, recalls..

The Christianity of the Maghreb had virtually disappeared by the eleventh century and in 1317, Dongola Cathedral, in Nubia, became a Mosque.¹⁷

Ruins of a church in the ancient city of Timgad (Algeria)

PRECOLONIAL CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA (Reintroduction)

With the conquest of Northern Africa and the subsequent spread of Islam across the region, there were two major trends of Christianity within Africa; firstly, the continuation of Coptic and Ethiopic Christianity and secondly, the founding of Catholic Churches with the sub-Sahara, started by the Portuguese in 1483¹⁸ Consequently, it spread sparingly around the regions of Senegambia, Slave coast, Gold Coast, Warri, Benin and the kingdom of Kongo (Zaire, Angola and Congo)¹⁹

During the 15th century, when Christianity made its entry into the Sub-Saharan region, Spain and Portugal were Christian kingdoms within theocratic Europe expanding their lands and economy through trade and conquest and that Portugal was thalassocratic and the closest to the Atlantic made this much easier. An English sailor who visited Warri at the end of the 18^th century summarized Catholicism there as thus,

we were much surprised to see, placed on a rude crucifixes. . . . A large wooden cross, which had withstood the tooth of time, was remaining in a very perfect state, in one of the angles formed by the two roads intersecting each other. King Otoo’s subjects appeared to trouble themselves very little about religion of any kind.²⁰

Apart from trade, another factor that perpetuated the maritime exploration of Portugal and the introduction of Christianity into Africa was slavery, a practice the state would kickstart to what is now known as the transatlantic slave trade. And in many cases Missionaries were sponsored by the Iberian kingdom.

Now, before I continue the historical enquiry, I’ll have to separate a juxtaposition often made by critics of Christianity regarding slavery, as even African poets or novelists do not see any difference between the missionaries or slave traders and colonizers.²¹ Therefore, there’s often the objection: how is it that Christians, who ought have displayed the highest example of morality, became associated with perpetrators of the grossest indignity ? As others have often suggested, isn’t this an indictment on Christianity itself? While not denigrating the harrowing experiences caused by the slave trade nor oversimplifying the nearly valid tendency to equivocate the actions of missionaries with that Christianity, I would nonetheless point out a misapprehension from the usual critique Africans generally tend to point out as a blot on the Christian faith. I call it a misapprehended critique because of the usual conflations between dogma and the abuse of dogma, which has led to the failure to make proper distinctions in the critiques. Rather, i posit to those who might want to criticize, to direct it at western Christianity which I would define as a dilution of Christian dogma with European socio-cultural ideals, most of which was negative at the time. This isn’t a cop-out but simply what I believe to be an academically valid position to hold. As Lebanese-American Author, Nassim Taleb poignancy observes,

That Western Christianity may not be entirely Christian, but a cultural mixture dominated by Northern European values is a valid hypothesis. We tend to think that religions shape people. But religions are also shaped by people.²²

This dilution of dogma was made possible with the institutionalization of Christianity, particularly as seen in the Holy Roman Empire. I find these thoughts confirmed in that of Aleskey Khomyakov, Russian theologian and Philosopher. Khomyakov attempted to rigorously divorce Russian orthodoxy from its western counterpart, due to what he qualifies as the latter’s failure to truly uphold the moral-spiritual demands of their faith.²³ He was especially critical of Roman Catholicism which he blames for the bureaucratization of western Christianity,²⁴ citing examples of the Roman pontiff’s constant struggle for power through the Middle Ages.²⁵ Khomyakov finalizes that for every socio-political institution established from the Middle Ages to modern democracy, had a major theme in mind: Domination.²⁶

Though Portugal had already started the slave trade in 1441, it was legitimatized when In 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued three papal bulls that gave the kingdom of Spain and Portugal the right to possess newly discovered lands and propagate the Christianity within those lands²⁷ During the age of Catholicism, the initiative for missions was usually undertaken by the king or the pope; as earlier noted, The Catholic missions into Africa were strongly linked to the Portuguese crown.²⁸ This meant that decisions concerning the church were not merely ecclesiastical but more appropriately, Political-ecclesiastical.

Note that I called it the “dilution of dogma” and not the “dissolution of dogma” which means that even within the political-ecclesiastical order, there were some Christians who saw slavery for exactly what it was. Some argued for it and some against it.

For instance, Pope Nicholas V issued a Papal Bull in 1452 that allowed the Portuguese to have slaves and it received support from some who considered it necessary for the sustenance of the state.²⁹ In contrast, Pope Paul III issued a bull in 1537, declaring that every human intrinsically possessed equal dignity which prevents them from being enslaved, much to the chagrin of Emperor Charles V. Charles V so strongly opposed the pope’s declaration that he punished priests who preached against slavery.³⁰ In similar vein, Pope Urban VIII's ruling against slavery in 1639 was likewise visited with resistance by the Portuguese government.³¹ One is then left to wonder little when Sundkler and Steed declare, about Portuguese missions that,

Their missionary involvement did not resemble the modern missionary movement. It was rather an expression of the medieval Catholic Church in its Lusitanian form. In principle, it was directed under the exclusive leadership of the king, who acted as the Grand Master of the Order of Christ.³²

We see this impasse of morality with the Dutch Christians(Post-reformation), when the west India company wanted to join the slave trade, they would consult with some theologians about the moral legitimacy of the trade but the idea was promptly dismissed because it lacked any moral justification whatsoever. On the other hand, some Dutch reformed Christians rationalized the slave trade by subscribing to the so-called Curse of Ham Theory, which claimed that blacks were the offsprings of Ham, who was placed under a curse of perpetual servitude.³³ Interestingly, The Reformed Christians that pronounced their displeasure with the trade did so in the pre-enlightenment period probably denoting the influence of the generally negative enlightenment perception in Europe, about Africans.³⁴

Overall, this served as a characteristic of a western form of Christianity which synthesized European imperialist backgrounds with Christian tenets. As a result the Portuguese, along with the west, saw the African cultures as primeval and in serious need of expunging. During this period, missionary works were conducted lethargically. The reasons ranging from how the Europeans didn’t consider it necessary to convert Africans, the few supply of missionaries, limited funds and most prominently, the economic interests they had.³⁵ Of this hybridized Christianity elaborated on, Friedrich Douglass, American abolitionist and former slave, would clarify,

Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference…..I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land…I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.”³⁶

The catholic missionary hegemony in Africa changed with the rise of the reformation era in the 16^th century and ecclesial authority became decentralized which, as a consequence, made the organizing of church mission nonexclusive to the Catholic Church. Church-state relationship was in shambles for the period of the enlightenment and the missions wouldn’t get the push they needed until the emergence of Protestant missionary societies³⁷

THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA AND THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY (Resurgence)

In the 1870’s, Africa right from the Sahara all the way down to the southern Limpopo was pretty much split into a couple of “mini-states and stateless people” and indistinguishable from what Europe could classify as sovereign.³⁸ Therefore, the continent was termed Terra incognito and served as the impetus for its partitioning amongst the European states in the next decade. The berlin conference (1884-1885), would mark as a critical juncture for Africa in the terms of religion because this would see the major establishment of Christianity in the continent. The consensus of the conference, though unrelated to the missions, opened a door of opportunity for the missions. The conference, organized by Otto von Bismarck, former chancellor of the German Reich, reechoed the pejorative thoughts of people like welsh Journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, who infamously named Africa The Dark Continent and they would eventually partitioned amongst the European powers without the consent any Africa nation or representatives at least.³⁹ The missionaries weren’t aware of this intended colonization agenda by the European powers until the 1880’s when the politics of Europe made it apparent. While the missionaries didn’t see this critical juncture as a means of extending the British Empire, they nonetheless saw it as a providential means to promulgate the Christian message.⁴⁰ By 1886, the student volunteer movement was opened in the United States and thousands of graduates were filling in. Back in Europe, German professors of missiology were contributing their knowledge towards the cause and interestingly, Albert Schweitzer, German theologian, philosopher and one of the most important voices in the quest for the historical Jesus movement of the 19^th and 20^th century, offered to travel to Africa and spend the rest of his life as a missionary.⁴¹ As Historian, Adrian Hastings portrays,

[by]1910 the Christian missionary army deployed throughout Africa numbered some 10,000 men, women and over 4,000 Protestants, nearly 6,000 Catholics.⁴²

He notes further that,

In 1900 Kavirondo (at the time the eastern province of Uganda, later transferred to Kenya) had not a single mission. In December 1901 the railway from Mombasa reached Kisumu. By 1908 there were six different missionary societies at work in the region: the Quakers at Kaimosi from 1902, the Mill Hill Fathers a few months later, the CMS early in 1905, the South African Compounds and Interior Mission late 1905, the Nilotic Independent Mission and the Seventh-day Adventists, both in 1906. On the Protestant side, by 1908 there were five different societies occupying eight stations, twenty-one missionaries in all.⁴³

It should be mentioned that David Livingstone who worked for the London missionary society (LMS) in southern Africa for 15 years provided deep insights about the terrain, climate, botanical arrangements and anthropology of Africans he met during his travels, details which are mostly contained his book Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa.⁴⁴ When he came back, he grew very popular as a result of both his voyage and the sale from his books that he would create a missionary zeitgeist which even inspired people like Mary Slessor to be missionaries to Africa. Cooperation amongst the colonial powers and missionaries were fostered partly because there was a shortage of officials and any European (including missionaries) who offered assistance were welcomed. It is also worthy of note that not all the missionaries were white, for there were  Jamaicans who took a significant part in the early Baptist missions to Cameroun and Congo while African-Americans were also involved in Liberia mostly as settlers (this will be elaborated on in another segment of article).⁴⁵

The partitioning of the Africa wasn’t just physical but also had spiritual partitioning, because it saw the practice of sectarianism owing from the fact that the denominations of the colonies depended largely on the denomination of the missions of the colonial administration. The Anglican Church were established in the British colonies while the Roman Catholic Church were established in the French colonies.⁴⁶ In Congo, king Leopold only gave official recognition to the catholic missions with preference given to ones specifically from Belgium. They were granted subsidies and lands for their missions and free transportation. Given that Catholicism was the denomination of Portugal, the same preference played out in which missions came to their colonies. Conversely, this also happened with colonial administrations with protestant backgrounds, exhibiting preferences for CMS and Anglican missions.⁴⁷

THE ROLE-PLAY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY AND CONDUCT WITHIN THE COLONIES

At this last juncture of enquiry, a brief corrective assessment of actors involved in the active proselytizing of Africans and the general conduct of missionaries while they did this will be made. Contrary to another popular opinion, the underlying reason for which Christianity spread very fast is attributed to the active role Black missionaries as opposed to European missionaries.

Yale historian of Christianity, Lamin Sanneh points out the critical role of African missionaries in the [re]establishment of Christianity in Africa, a role Sanneh opines to bear an exceeding significance than that of western missionaries.⁴⁸ Noting the stagnancy of the spread between 16th and 18th century, Sanneh observes that quickened pace in the 19th century occurred when former African slaves became involved in missions. Sanneh illustrates with the examples of William Wade Harris of Ivory Coast in 1913 and Garrick Braide of Nigeria in 1915, who within just a few months baptized 100,000 Africans into the Christian faith. The same applies to Zambian preacher, Alice Leninsha Mulenga in the 1950’s who despite the frustrating years of European missionaries spent in trying to convert Africans, was able to gain a large following within a relatively short period of time. Independent Africa churches in South Africa also expanded to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.⁴⁹

Similarly, Richard Gray, another scholar of Christianity, notes that the expansion of Christianity in Africa largely depended on blacks. He corroborates that it was the Sierra Leoneans who were pioneer evangelists in southern Nigeria and neighboring countries. The first Presbyterian church which was established by the west-Indies missionaries would eventually develop its own indigenous leadership by World War I.⁵⁰He further elaborated concerning the African interior south of the equator, that even though the mission stations there were founded Europeans,

it was African catechists, teachers, traders migrant laborers who assimilated the faith and initiated villagers, kinsfolk, workmates and strangers into this new identity ⁵¹

As Renowned authority on African Christianity, Ogbu Kalu finalizes,

In the long run, Africans evangelized Africans⁵²

Having stated that, what about the conduct of European missionaries? Well, For one thing, the 19^th century missionaries saw Europe as the cradle of Christianity and civilization in stark contrast to the non-western world, which was perceived as uncivilized and enveloped in darkness. Even David Livingstone shared this idea when in advocating the Zambezi River as a highway into the interior of Africa, he promoted the three C’s: Christianity, commerce and civilization. However, one could argue Livingstone’s perception was more altruistic given that he saw the three C’s as a definitive way to end the slave trade. In so doing, the missionaries helped establish western education to combat what they thought was backward African culture. Be that as it may, The manner in which some of them did it would serve as an indictment to some the missionaries.⁵³

Aforementioned is that the popular belief that missionaries worked hand-in-hand with the colonial governments to put Africa under subservience, is usually exaggerated , as there were times where the missionaries disagreed with the methods adopted by the colonial administrations. For example, the French missionaries distanced their stations from the French colonial stations when they were stalling in abolishing the slave trade in the much earlier stage of Colonialism. Also, the French government wanted their missionaries to teach in French but the missions taught in the native languages of Bambara, Kissi and Malinke.⁵⁴ Another case is the Blantyre missionaries, who appealed to the British authorities to respect the authorities of the local rulers in resposnse to the undignified manner with which they were treated.⁵⁵ Additionally, Missionaries knew and criticized the imperialist machinations of Europe. As Scottish missionary, Alexander Murdoch Mackay, otherwise known as Mackey of Uganda, once remarked,

In the former Years, the universal aim was to steal Africans from Africa. Today the determination of Europe is to steal Africa from Africans?⁵⁶

Five years after D.C Scott, a Blantyre missionary stated that

Africa for Africans has been our policy from the first and I believe God has given this continent into our hands that we may train its people on how to develop its marvelous resources for themselves.⁵⁷

The Africa for Africans phrase had become a religious rhetoric for people like Joseph Booth who in 1897, used it as a title for his book and dedicated it to the natives of Africa.⁵⁸ At some point, the British empire in some cases began to view mission work in the colonies as a threat to colonial administration.⁵⁹

Sadly, not every missionary could boast of this altruism and quite a number of missionaries were Ill-behaved towards Africans. Take for instance, the statement of Methodist missionary, George Eva, when he remarked about the Ndebele, a bantu speaking African people that they needed “thrashing.” Another instance would be a Jesuit friar who, in relation to the mashona people, shockingly stated that,

It seems to me that the only way of doing anything with these natives is to starve them, destroy their lands and kill all that can be killed.⁶⁰

Generally however, while most missionaries would often play a role in criticizing the harshness of colonialism in Africa, a few weren’t so different from the colonial masters. As Ogbu Kalu points out,

Missionary ideology was full of paradoxes: while sharing the racist theories of the age, and supporting the official programme to transform the political and economic structure of the colonies, it realized higher values in the biblical conception of the dignity of man... the missionaries colluded with the colonial government when it suited their interests and yet would also at times unleash virulent attacks on certain styles and purpose of [the colonial] government. Missionaries condemned the harsh sanctions of government labour proclamations and criticized merchants for their intemperance, irreligiosity and brutality⁶¹

CONCLUSION

Christianity had one of its earliest beginnings on the Africa soil, with a substantive part of its theological and doctrinal history occurring within the continent long before it got spread to Western Europe. This effectively dispels any false notion that the Europeans brought Christianity to Africa. Even after it dissipated in Northern Africa, the unfolding of history would have it reintroduced, albeit in a different region in the continent and also in manner that is often considered controversial. Either way, the colonial period saw growth of Christianity in Africa skyrocket such that even though it had the second lowest regional percentage of Christians in the early 20^th century, the continent would eventually the second highest in the world. Colonialism In both periods of Emergence and Resurgence, largely paved a way for this social phenomena to occur. In the Reintroduction epoch, an attempt was made in recognizing the unfiltered criticism towards Christianity, which results from a lack of making proper distinctions, as far as imperialism and missiology is concerned. It was finally noted that it was black missionaries and fellow Africans who were fundamental to the spread of Christianity. The conduct of missionaries varied from good to bad but it was pronounced that most dissociated themselves from the evils of colonialism while holding on to the thought that, ironically, colonialism provided the means through which they could evangelize and help civilize Africans, even if much of this what they considered “civilization” was simply their own European ideals and culture.

References

1. Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/

2. Afe Adogame, Roswith Gerloff and Klaus Hock. Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora: The Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage. (Continuum International Publishing Group) 2008. p.10.

3. François Decret. Early Christianity in North Africa (Cascade books, 2009) p.14.

4. François Decret, pp.5-6.

5. Victor W. Von Hagen. Roman Roads. (Weldenfeld and Nicholson Educational Limited: Great Britain) 1967. p.60.

6. Victor W. Von Hagen, p.61.

7. Victor W. Von Hagen, p.63.

8. Bruce L. Shelly. Church History in plain language.(Thomas Nelson). 2008

9. Bruce L. Shelly. Church History in plain language.

10. Bruce L. Shelly. Church History in plain language.

11. Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed. A History of the Church in Africa. (Cambridge university press). 2004. p.19.

12. Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed. p.12.

13. Thomas C. Oden. How Africa shaped the Christian mind: rediscovering the African seabed of western Christianity. (Intervarsity press). 2004.

14. Thomas C. Oden. p.55

15. Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed. p.12.

16. Hefner, Robert W. Introducing World Christianity. (John Wiley & Sons). 2011. p.11.

17. Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of Christianity in Africa. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing). p.45.

18. Ibid

19. Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of Christianity in Africa.

20. Afe Adogame, Roswith Gerloff and Klaus Hock. p.10.

21. Richard Gray. Black missionaries and white missionaries. (Yale University press: London and New Haven). 1990. p.80.

22. Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. 2022. “On Christianity. An Essay as a Foreword for Tom… | by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | INCERTO | Medium.” Medium. INCERTO. https://medium.com/incerto/on-christianity-b7fecde866ec.

23. Wieczynski, Joseph L. “Khomyakov’s Critique of Western Christianity.” Church History, vol. 38, no. 3, 1969, pp. 291–99. https://doi.org/10.2307/3163153.

24. Ibid

25. Ibid

26. Ibid

27. A. Camps, L.A. Hoedemaker, M.R Spindler and F.J. Vestraelen. Missiology, An ecumenical introduction: Texts and Contexts of Global Christianity.(Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing: Michigan). 1995. p.214.

28.

29. Antwi, Emmanuel Kojo. Church Involvement in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: Its Biblical Antecedent Vis-à-Vis the Society’s Attitude to Wealth. SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script.

30. Ibid

31. Ibid

32. Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed.

33. Postma, Johannes. The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600-1815 (Cambridge University Press). 2008. p.11

34. Ibid

35. Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed.

36. “Douglass’ Narrative.” n.d. Uncle Tom’s Cabin & American Culture. http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/abolitn/abaufda14t.html.

37. Micheal W. Goheen. Introducing Christian Mission Today Scripture, History and Issues. InterVarsity Press. 2015. p.11

38. Adrian Hastings. “The Church in Africa 1450-1950.” (Clarendon press).1994. p.397.

39. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950.

40. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950.

41. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950. p.419.

42. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950. p.419.

43. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950. p.415.

44. Wisnicki, Adrian S. “Interstitial Cartographer: David Livingstone and the Invention of South Central Africa.” Victorian Literature and Culture 37, no. 1 (2009): 255–71. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40347223.

45. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950.

46. Afe Adogame, Roswith Gerloff and Klaus Hock. Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora: The Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage.

47. Afe Adogame, Roswith Gerloff and Klaus Hock. Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora: The Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage.

48. A. Camps, L.A. Hoedemaker, M.R Spindler and F.J. Vestraelen. Missiology, An ecumenical introduction: Texts and Contexts of Global Christianity. p. 261.

49. Ibid

50. Richard Gray. Black missionaries and white missionaries. (Yale University press: London and New Haven). 1990. p.81.

51. Richard Gray. p.81.

52. A. Camps, L.A. Hoedemaker, M.R Spindler and F.J. Vestraelen. Missiology, An ecumenical introduction: Texts and Contexts of Global Christianity. p. 261.

53. Afe Adogame, Roswith Gerloff and Klaus Hock. Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora: The Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage.

54. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950. p.430.

55. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950.

56. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950. p.432.

57. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950. p.432.

58. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950. p.433.

59. A. Camps, L.A. Hoedemaker, M.R Spindler and F.J. Vestraelen. Missiology, An ecumenical introduction: Texts and Contexts of Global Christianity. p.239.

60. Adrian Hastings. The Church in Africa 1450-1950. p.433.

61. Ogbu Kalu. The History of Christianity in Western Africa. (Longman Group limited: London and New York). 1980. p.183.