Christianity was an agent of great change in Africa. It destabilised the status quo, bringing new opportunities to some, and undermining the power of others. With the Christian missions came education, literacy and hope for the disadvantaged.
What did the missionaries bring to Africa?
The blessings which Christianity has brought to West Africa are many. Apart from giving to the converts a new religious faith which they consider is superior to the traditional religions, the Christian missionaries did pioneering work in introducing new crafts, industries, Western education and modern health services.
Did Missionaries bring Christianity to Africa?
Jesuit missions in Africa
After the end of Reconquista, the Christian Portuguese and Spanish captured many ports in North Africa. Missionary expeditions undertaken by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) began as early as 1548 in various regions of Africa.
What religion was brought to Africa?
The Story of Africa| BBC World Service. Christianity came first to the continent of Africa in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. Oral tradition says the first Muslims appeared while the prophet Mohammed was still alive (he died in 632). Thus both religions have been on the continent of Africa for over 1,300 years.
What religion did missionaries spread?
Spreading the Word: The missionary expansion of Christianity.
When did Christianity begin in Africa?
Christianity first arrived in North Africa, in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. The Christian communities in North Africa were among the earliest in the world. Legend has it that Christianity was brought from Jerusalem to Alexandria on the Egyptian coast by Mark, one of the four evangelists, in 60 AD.
Who introduced the Bible in South Africa?
Christianity arrived in South Africa with settlers from Europe, starting with Jan van Riebeeck in 1652, when Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC, Dutch East India Company) authorized him to establish a post to resupply food and fuel to ships traveling between the Netherlands and Southeast and South Asia.
What was the religion of Africa before Christianity?
OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa.
Who brought Christianity to Nigeria?
Christianity came to Nigeria in the 15th century through Augustinian and Capuchin monks from Portugal. The first mission of the Church of England was, though, only established in 1842 in Badagry by Henry Townsend.
Why do missionaries go to Africa?
Many people in Africa wanted education; and missionaries taught people to read, in order that they might understand the word of God. The missionary traveler David Livingstone (1813-1873) believed that the slave trade could only be suppressed by a combination of Christianity and trade.
What is the oldest religion?
The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्मः, lit.
Who is God in African traditional religion?
Generally speaking, African religions hold that there is one creator God, the maker of a dynamic universe. Myths of various African peoples relate that, after setting the world in motion, the Supreme Being withdrew, and he remains remote from the concerns of human life.
What is the fastest growing religion in Africa?
The paper concludes that the Pentecostalism movement is the fastest-growing religion worldwide. Protestantism is growing as a result of historic missionary activity and indigenous Christian movements by Africans in Africa, and due primarily to conversion in Asia, Latin America, the Muslim world, and Oceania.
Who was the first woman missionary in the Bible?
The early Christian texts refer to various women activists in the early church. One such woman was St. Priscilla, a Jewish missionary from Rome, who may have helped found the Christian community at Corinth. She traveled as a missionary with her husband and St Paul, and tutored the Jewish intellectual Apollos.
What religion has the most missionaries?
As of December 2019, the LDS Church had over 67,000 full-time missionaries worldwide and over 31,000 Service Missionaries.
Did missionaries spread Christianity?
During this time, however, Celtic and British missionaries spread the faith in western and northern Europe, while missionaries of the Greek church in Constantinople worked in eastern Europe and Russia. From about 950 to 1350 the conversion of Europe was completed, and Russia became Christian.