Page 86 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

Khartoum along the Nile corridor. The territory is located in modern
Sudan. Until recently, African Christianity has been unfamiliar with
the history and heritage of the Nubian church. However, archaeological
discoveries in the 1930s uncovered evidence of a Christian kingdom.
In 1985, Paul Bowers wrote a very significant article for the East Africa
Journal of Evangelical Theology entitled “Nubian Christianity: The Neglected
Heritage.” Bowers wrote: “Incredibly, virtually no standard presentation
on African Christian history currently available includes any data visibly
derived from the extraordinary discoveries of the past twenty-five years
on Nubian Christianity” (5). He adds:

Oddly enough, we owe today’s considerable increased knowledge
of Nubian Christianity to a remarkable technological achievement
of our own generation, the building of the Aswan High Dam
in Egypt not twenty-five years ago. Because the dam would
produce an immense lake eventually covering up almost all
archeological remains in the Nile Valley for three hundred miles
south of Aswan, an international consortium of archaeological
investigations evolved, under UNESCO auspices, to dig out as
many hitherto unattended sites as possible before the waters
rose. The results of this extraordinary international cooperation
included an awesome wealth of fresh information about Nubian
Christianity. (5)

In 2002, Craig Keener wrote an important article on the Nile corridor
churches for The AME Church Review. Other scholars are assisting with
information about this chapter of African church history. A useful and
extensive book written by Werner, Anderson, and Wheeler entitled Day
of Devastation, Day of Contentment: The History of the Sudanese Church
Across 2000 Years provides
critical information. Sanneh,
Isichei, Shaw, Hildebrant, Paas,
Before there was Nubia, and other authors have also

there was Meroë, and contributed helpful material.
While researchers have shed
before Meroë, Cush of much light on this aspect of

Old Testament times. African church history, gaps still
exist in the record and the need
exists for additional research.

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