Page 70 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

was gifted in the use of Hebrew and Greek and could use the original
documents of Scripture to develop “a coherent theology of the nature
of God, revelation, and salvation. Open-minded and deeply learned,
Origen carried on his shoulders the immense task of bearing witness
to the church throughout the world of learning, which he also enriched
with rare gifts of the spirit” (Sanneh 1983, 6–7).

Thus, Origen carried the mantle of apostolic teaching and practice
handed down by the apostles. An example of this is the conversion of St.
Gregory of Cappadocia, in Asia Minor, who came under the influence of
Origen. The purpose of the school in Alexandria was to teach about Jesus
Christ and to explain the doctrines related to the church.

This evidence suggests that Africa conducted the first Christian Bible
school. Evidence also suggests that the teachers of this school confronted
many heresies and extremes—challenges that are still present in the
church. As a result, training is needed to keep the church strong and to
conserve the harvest.

We know that every river has banks that guide and control the flow
of its water. If the water overflows the banks, untold damage can occur.
I have chosen the metaphor of a river to illustrate the need to keep
the teaching of the church within biblical limits. With many false cults,
heresies, and extremes of doctrine confronting the church today, there is
also the potential for damage to its life, teachings, and practices. We need
sound biblical teaching to keep us within the “banks,” the scriptural limits,
which ensure the ongoing flow of God’s blessings.

The term Copt is the Arabic spelling of “Egypt” and has been applied
to the non-Islamized population of Egypt. During the first and second
centuries, it also referred to the people who lived in the rural areas of
Egypt and were of Hamitic origin. While the Egyptian church began in
Alexandria, it spread later to the Copts. Christian churches sprang up in
the rural areas and Coptic towns along the Nile River. As Baur points out:

Around A.D. 300 the full Bible was translated into the Sahidic
dialect of Upper Egypt, and in A.D. 330 Athanasius decided to
preach in the Coptic language even in Alexandria. At the end of
his episcopate, Egypt must have been a Christian nation. (24)

::: 60 :::