Page 97 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Nile Corridor Churches

form the present central part of the country. In these highlands
the originally Arabic Habesh (Abyssinians) mixed with the local
population, producing a new people, the Amhara, with a new
language, Amharic (hence “Habesh” came to mean “half-caste”
for the Arabs, and its modern equivalent “Abasha” is a pejorative
word, so that the term “Abyssinia” is anathema to Ethiopians). (37)

By the eighth century, the center for Christianity in Ethiopia had shifted
to the central highlands. During the tenth century, the church faced a
threat from the south from those who worshipped traditional African
gods. The Zagwe, a new dynasty of kings, came to power from A.D. 1137
to A.D. 1270. As Paas affirms, “The most important Zagwe king is Lalibela
(1190–1225), also known by his throne name, Gare Maskal (Servant of the
Cross)” (42). According to tradition, Lalibela was a descendant of Solomon
and the Queen of Sheba’s handmaid. The ten churches carved from rock
in the mountains of Lasta are a legacy of this dynasty.

Interestingly, Ethiopian Christianity survived at a time when Nubian
Christianity failed. A study of the two churches provides a fascinating
contrast. In the next chapter, we will study about the triumph and trouble
of the church. While North Africa and much of the proud Byzantine
Empire fell to the challenge of Islam, one exception was the Egyptian
Coptic Church. When conditions in the Western Roman Church were
in a state of decline, the Ethiopian church expanded. In fact, Baur calls
the period between A.D. 1270 and A.D. 1530 “the most glorious time for
Ethiopian Christianity” (37).

In the Middle Ages, from about A.D. 1095 to A.D. 1270, the Western
church was preoccupied with the Crusades. The Crusades were a series
of military expeditions that the Roman Catholic Church organized in an
attempt to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. The net result was
that many people died in these “Holy Wars.”

This was also a period in history in which the leaders of the Roman
Catholic Church became corrupt and at times immoral. Renwick
describes this period quite aptly:

During this time three strong-minded men of high rank, but of
very low morals, dominated the church…and early in the eleventh

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