Page 71 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Gospel Comes to Africa

These Christians faced the challenge of persecution by Roman officials.
According to Sanneh:

Eusebius, who seems to have made the subject a special concern
of his, says that he was himself present in Thebes on the Nile
when a wave of persecutions engulfed the Coptic Church.… These
persecutions succeeded in driving the Coptic Church into itself
so that it became little involved in projects to spread Christianity
beyond Egypt, apart from a period of relationship with the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church. (1983, 8)

By the fourth century the Holy Scriptures were translated into Coptic
and the Egyptian Orthodox church remains as a minority religion in Islamic
Egypt today.

The Gospel Advances to North Africa

To the west of Egypt was the Roman province of “Africa.” This included
territories we now know as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and even part of
Mauritania. The coastal city of Carthage was considered to be the center
of this province. Because of its geographical closeness to Rome, the
territory was highly influenced by the Romans, and the Latin language
became the means of spreading its culture.

The Berber people who lived in the province of Africa were gifted
agriculturalists who provided much-needed food for the Roman Empire.
Following the Day of Pentecost, the Christian church expanded to this area.

Unfortunately, we do not have much written history about this era.
Sanneh’s remarks here are helpful: “Christianity had made some inroads
into Tunisia and the Algerian hinterland but until the early third century it
was confined mainly to unofficial and native circles” (1983, 8). However,
we do know some important things about the people who lived in this
area and who had a tremendous impact on the Christian church. I have
chosen to list a few of the key leaders.

Tertullian

Tertullian was born in A.D. 150. He was given a good education and
at a young age went to Rome to study law. Kealy says:

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