Science and historyDraft · awaiting advisor review
Isn’t Christianity a white, colonial religion?
In short
Christianity began in the Middle East and reached Africa in its first generation, centuries before it reached most of Europe. Missions were sometimes bound up with colonial power, and that history should be faced honestly. Today more Christians live in Africa than on any other continent.
The Objection
Missionaries arrived alongside colonial armies and traders. Christianity was used to justify conquest and slavery and to replace African cultures. Why should Africans keep the religion of their colonisers?
Put as its strongest advocates would put it.
The Christian Case
- Scripture
The gospel reached Africa within the book of Acts: an Ethiopian official was baptised and went home rejoicing, and believers from Cyrene in North Africa were among the first to preach to non-Jews. Leaders of the church in Antioch included Simeon “called Niger” and Lucius of Cyrene.
- Historical evidence
African Christianity is ancient. The Egyptian (Coptic) church goes back to the first centuries, and the kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia became Christian in the fourth century. North Africans such as Tertullian, Athanasius and Augustine shaped Christian thought for the whole world.
- Historical evidence
Some missionaries were complicit in colonial rule, and some Christians defended slavery from the Bible. But Christians also led campaigns against the slave trade, and Africans were the main evangelists across much of the continent, among them Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a freed Yoruba slave who became the first African Anglican bishop in 1864. The fastest growth came after independence, in African-led churches.
- Historical evidence
By most recent estimates, more Christians now live in Africa than on any other continent, and most of the world’s Christians live in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
- Scripture
The Bible pictures people from every nation, tribe and language worshipping together, not one culture replacing the others.
Where the Evidence Is Weaker
The harm done in Christ’s name in the colonial era is real and hasn’t been fully undone, and some churches were slow to hand leadership to Africans. Christians should acknowledge this plainly rather than explain it away.
Arguments to Avoid
- Denying or playing down the abuses of the colonial era.
- Treating European ways of worship as the Christian way.
- Dismissing African traditions wholesale, without discernment.
Read for Yourself
Acts 8:26–39
26And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. 27And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, 28Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. 29Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 32The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: 33In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. 34And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 36And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
Psalm 68:31
Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
Revelation 7:9–10
9After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Further Reading
- Whose Religion Is Christianity? The Gospel beyond the West · Lamin Sanneh (2003)
- How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind · Thomas C. Oden (2007)
- The Next Christendom · Philip Jenkins (2002)
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s apologetics advisors. Labels show the kind of support each point has: Scripture is what the Bible says; historical evidence and philosophical arguments can be checked by anyone; “Christians differ” marks questions on which faithful Christians disagree.
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