Professor Soong-Chan Rah, author of The Next Evangelicalism, had a guest post on his blog today. Vince Campbell, a PhD student at Catholic University in early church history, tells us the story of the Egyptian monk Father Shenoute, whose sermons and theological treatises represent early Christian theology done from an ancient Egyptian context. One sermon, “Not because the Fox barks” implores Christians in Egypt to serve Christ bravely inspite of the persecution from the noblemen who would not allow them to celebrate Easter.
It is fascinating to study the development of early Christianity and God’s movement in Africa. It is one of the reasons why my stomach turns when I hear certain Christians pine for wanting to go to Africa to convert the poor pagans and give them charity, as if Africa (if we can call it that), has not history of the Christian religion. If only white conservative evangelical Christians (primarily of the American Protestant variety) would read more of Clement, Athanasius, and Origen, would their myths of “poor pagan Africa” be debunked. It is a shame that the greatest defender of Nicene orthodoxy, Athanasius, an Egyptian, never gets his just due; rather we hear Calvin this, Arminius that, or Jonathan Edwards, and Mark Driscoll. Right now, I am in the process of reading Athanasius’s On The Incarnation and it has been a joy so far. A possible brief commentary from me to come.
Truth and Peace,
Rod
rod,
thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. i remember hearing some audio of karl barth’s final words at his university of chicago lectures (1960s i think). in response to a question, barth said he had this advice for american theologians: quit looking up so highly to european scholarship, & quit looking down at africa, asia, & south america. unfortunately we’re not there yet.
that said, there are massive people groups throughout africa who have never even heard of Jesus or the God of the bible. how can we sit still & allow fellow human beings to die in ignorance of the gospel? i have close friends from seminary who have shared Jesus with people in north central africa for the very first time.
i have another friend who just moved to northern idaho. he & his wife have to make a pretty long trip to the only evangelical church in a 50 mile radius. the people in his town have a vague caricature of Jesus & church, mainly from mainstream television, & they certainly don’t know the Jesus of which the bible & the church bear witness. my friends are sharing the real Jesus for the 1st time with these people.
i, my friend, am a “white conservative evangelical” (as you mentioned) who thinks both of these peoples – north central africans & upper middle class white people in the northwest rocky mountains – need the gospel. still, i’m sure you’re correct more than i’d like to admit. i’m sure there is still a spirit of condescension in the missionary endeavors of north american protestant christianity. i’ll try to take what you’ve written to heart &, as i continue praying for & supporting missionary work in africa, try to let it flow from love & not religious elitism.
good post, good stuff for conversation
mike fox
I think in the latter half of your comments, you may have misinterpreted me, Mike. No where in the post did I say that there was not a need for missions in Africa. Nor did I say that there was no need for sharing the gospel.
What I am saying is that there are people who I have either interviewed or talked to who want to be missionaries, have the wrong ideas about Africa. They will say Africa, as if it is some place over there, where there has been no knowledge of the one true God when history proves otherwise. Also, the persons I am referring rarely interact with persons of color in the city where they live, and they want to go to Africa?!? These people go to churches where the history fo African thought does not matter (oh, except for Augustine but his Africanness is never mentioned) and where Karl Barth (who you mentioned) is considered a heretic. You know the churches I am talking about.
Maybe I should say something on why I think missions is important and why. It is possible I may post on it sometime. There are groups in the USA who need to hear the gospel. Yes, I do believe that the gospel needs to be spread.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
If you could. do you have a source or video of Barth’s lecture to the University of Chicago? I would like to add that to the post. Thx!
Truth and Peace,
Rod
i’ll look for the barth thing online, but i heard in dr. gouwens (spelling?) class on barth. he would probably be delighted if you stopped by & asked about it, plus he has it readily available on cd.
& i tried to concede that, really, i do think you’re more right than i care to admit about white evangelicals & africa. there is definitely something wrong with segregated churches in the united states sending missionaries to other cultures (!?!). weird times for sure
keep it up bro
Thanks, Mike.
I look forward to hearing more from you.