Assessing Christianity in Africa’s Transforming Context

Abstract

Africa is the heartland of early as well as contemporary Christianity. Indeed Africa contains some of the oldest forms of Christianity on earth. From Athanasius and Antony to Augustine, Africa helped to spawn the largest religion in human history. African Christianity has come full circle. For the first several centuries of Christian faith, Africa was the hub. In the seventh and eighth centuries, however, Islam grew quickly and African Christians became a minority voice. The situation has changed again in recent years, and by 2030 Africa will surpass Latin America as having more Christians than any other continental block.17. With Africa’s fertility rate—the highest in
the world—African Christianity is on pace to continue its impressive growth trajectory. From Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia to Cape Agulhas at the southern tip of the continent, half a billion Africans consider Christianity their religion. This is around half the continent›s
population. Africa today has 59 countries and territories. In 31 of those, Christianity is the largest religion. This paper analyses the demography, history, and geography of Africa’s changing religious context. It argues that Africa is the next Christendom, and this has broad implications for international politics, intercultural relations, and world religion. The thesis of this paper is that Christianity, the world’s largest religion, is becoming more associated with Africa than with the West, and this development is shaping our understanding of world Christianity.