Christianity in Africa
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Christianity in Africa first arrived in
The
In the late 15th century, Portuguese traders and missionaries began arriving in West Africa, first in Guinea, Mauritania, the Gambia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, then Nigeria and later in the Kingdom of Kongo, where they would find success in converting prominent local leaders to Catholicism. During and after the Scramble for Africa, late in the 19th century, these Christian communities and others began to flourish up and down the coast, as well as in Central and Southern Africa as new missionary activities from Europe started,[13] (Christian evangelists were intimately involved in the colonial process in southern Africa).[14] In the 21st century, they constitute the bulk of the booming Christian community on the continent.
Today, Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population in most Southern African, Southeast African, and Central African states and others in large parts of Horn of Africa and West Africa. The Coptic Christians make up a significant minority in Egypt. As of 2020, Christians formed 49% of the continent's population, with Muslims forming 42%.[15] In a relatively short time, Africa has risen from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians and Muslims. Importantly, today within most self-declared Christian communities in Africa, there is a significant and sustained syncretism with African Traditional Religious beliefs and practices and African Christianity.[16]
A 2018 study by the
According to updated data for 2020, there are now nearly 658 million Christians in Africa, with 760 million expected by 2025.[19] This surpasses earlier estimates of 630 million to 700 million for 2025: "By 2025, that number is expected to nearly double, to somewhere between 630 and 700 million believers."[20] As of 2023, there are an estimated 718 million Christians from all denominations in Africa.[21]
History
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Early Church
Christianity also grew in northwestern Africa (today known as the Maghreb). The churches there were linked to the Church of Rome and provided Pope Gelasius I, Pope Miltiades and Pope Victor I, all of them Christian Berbers like Saint Augustine and his mother Saint Monica.
At the beginning of the 3rd century the church in Alexandria expanded rapidly, with five new suffragan bishoprics. At this time, the Bishop of Alexandria began to be called Pope, as the senior bishop in Egypt. In the middle of the 3rd century the church in Egypt suffered severely in the persecution under the Emperor Decius. Many Christians fled from the towns into the desert. When the persecution died down, however, some remained in the desert as hermits to pray. This was the beginning of Christian monasticism, which over the following years spread from Africa to other parts of the Gohar, and Europe through France and Ireland.
The early 4th century in Egypt began with renewed persecution under the Emperor Diocletian. In the Ethiopian/Eritrean Kingdom of Aksum, King Ezana declared Christianity the official religion after having been converted by Frumentius, resulting in the promotion of Christianity in Ethiopia (eventually leading to the foundation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church).
In these first few centuries, African Christian leaders such as Origen, Lactantius, Augustine, Tertullian, Marius Victorinus, Pachomius, Didymus the Blind, Ticonius, Cyprian, Athanasius and Cyril (along with rivals Valentinus, Plotinus, Arius and Donatus Magnus) influenced the Christian world outside Africa with responses to Gnosticism, Arianism, Montanism, Marcionism, Pelagianism and Manichaeism, and the idea of the university (after the Library of Alexandria), understanding of the Trinity, Vetus Latina translations, methods of exegesis and biblical interpretation, ecumenical councils, monasticism, Neoplatonism and African literary, dialectical and rhetorical traditions.[24]
After the Muslim conquest of North Africa
After the
Historians have considered many theories to explain the decline of Christianity in North Africa, proposing diverse factors such as the recurring internal wars and external invasions in the region during
Some historians remark how the
From the
There are reports that the Roman Catholic faith persisted in the region from Tripolitania (present-day western Libya) to present-day Morocco for several centuries after the completion of the Arab conquest by 700.[40] A Christian community is recorded in 1114 in Qal'a in central Algeria.[41] There is also evidence of religious pilgrimages after 850 to tombs of Catholic saints outside the city of Carthage, and evidence of religious contacts with Christians of Muslim Spain.[citation needed] In addition, calendar reforms adopted in Europe at this time were disseminated amongst the indigenous Christians of Tunis, which would have not been possible had there been an absence of contact with Rome.[citation needed]
Local Christians came under pressure when the Muslim regimes of the
Another group of Christians who came to North Africa after being deported from Islamic Spain were called the
In June 1225, Honorius III issued the bull
The medieval Moroccan historian
Jesuit missions in Africa
Another phase of Christianity in Africa began with the arrival of Portuguese in the 15th century.[47] After the end of Reconquista, the Christian Portuguese and Spanish captured many ports in North Africa.[48]
Missionary expeditions undertaken by the
The Jesuits went largely unchallenged by rival denominational missions in Africa. Other religious congregations did exist who sought to evangelize regions of the continent under Portuguese dominion, however, their influence was far less significant than that of the Christians. The Jesuit's ascendency to prominence began with the padroado in the fifteenth century and continued until other European countries initiated missions of their own, threatening Portugal's status as sole patron of the continent. The favor of the Jesuits took a negative turn in the mid eighteenth century when Portugal no longer held the same dominion in Africa as it had in the fifteenth century. The Jesuits found themselves expelled from Mozambique and Angola, as a result, the existence of Catholic missions diminished significantly in these regions.
The Maghreb
The bishopric of Marrakesh continued to exist until the late 16th century and was borne by the
The growth of Catholicism in the region after the French conquest was built on
In 2009, the
Before the independence in 1956; Morocco was home to half a million
Before the independence in 1956;
Some scholars and media reports indicate that there been increasing numbers of conversions to Christianity among the Berbers.[64][65][66]
Africanizing Christianity
According to
Within African communities, there were clashes brought on by Christianization. As a religion meant to "colonize the conscience and consciousness of the colonized"[70] Christianity caused disputes even amongst hereditary leaders, such as between Khama III and his father Sekgoma in nineteenth-century Botswana. Young leaders formed ideas based on Christianity and challenged elders. Dona Beatriz, an African prophet, made Christianity political and eventually went on to become an African Nationalist, planning to overthrow the Ugandan state with the help of other prophets. According to Paul Kollman, teaching from missionaries was up to the interpretation of each person and took different forms when acted upon.[71]
David Adamo, a Nigerian within the Aladura church chose portions of the Bible that closely resembled what his church found important. They read portions of Psalms because of the idea that missionaries were not sharing the power of their faith. They found power in reading these verses and put them into the context of their lives.
In addition to Africanizing Christianity, there were movements to Africanize Islam. In
The influenza pandemic of 1918 accelerated the Africanization of Christianity and hence its growth in twentieth century Africa.[72] As many as five million Africans are estimated to have died. European governments, churches and medicine were powerless against the plague, boosting anti-imperial sentiment. This contributed to growth of independent and prophetic Christian mass movements with prophecy, healings, and nationalist church restructuring. For example, the inception of the Aladura movement in Nigeria coincided with the pandemic. Evolving into the Christ Apostolic Church, it gave rise to many offshoots, which continued to emerge into the 1950s spreading with migrants around the world. For example, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, founded in 1952, has congregations in a dozen African states, Western Europe and North America.
Christian education in Africa
Christians and Muslims built schools throughout the continent of Africa, teaching missionary beliefs and philosophies. Since the Quran must only be recited in Arabic, It is necessary that a practitioner of the Muslim faith reads and understands the meaning of Arabic words in order to recite and/or memorize the Quran. As a result of the nature of Islam in Africa, Muslim missionaries were not prompted to translate their sacred text into the native language. Unlike that of Islam, Christian missionaries were compelled to spread an understanding of their gospel in the native language of the indigenous people they sought to convert. The bible was then translated and communicated in these native languages. Christian schools did teach English, as well as mathematics, philosophy, and values inherent to Western culture and civilization. The conflicting branches of secularism and religiosity within the Christian schools represents a divergence between the various goals of educational institutions within Africa.[73]
Current status
Christianity is now one of the two most widely practiced religions in Africa.
Some experts predict the shift of Christianity's center from the European industrialized nations to Africa and Asia in modern times. Yale University historian Lamin Sanneh stated that "African Christianity was not just an exotic, curious phenomenon in an obscure part of the world, but that African Christianity might be the shape of things to come."[77] The statistics from the World Christian Encyclopedia (David Barrett) illustrate the emerging trend of dramatic Christian growth on the continent and supposes, that in 2025 there will be 633 million Christians in Africa.[78]
A 2015 study estimates 2,161,000 Christian believers are from a formerly Muslim background in Africa, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.[79]
The rise of the megachurch
Statistics by country
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
Country | Christians | % Christian | % Catholic | % Others | GDP/Capita PPP World Bank 2012 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Algeria (details) | 380,000[86] | 2% | 1% | 1% | 8,515 |
Angola (details) | 17,094,000 | 75%[87] | 50% | 25% | 6,105 |
Benin (details) | 3,943,000 | 42.8% | 27% | 15% | 1,583 |
Botswana (details) | 1,416,000 | 71.6% | 5% | 66% | 16,986 |
Burkina Faso (details) | 3,746,000 | 22.0% | 18% | 4% | 1,513 |
Burundi (details) | 7,662,000 | 75.0% | 60% | 15% | 560 |
Cameroon (details) | 13,390,000 | 65.0% | 38.4% | 26.3% | 2,324 |
Cape Verde (details) | 487,000 | 89.1%[citation needed] | 78.7% | 10.4% | 4,430 |
Central African Republic (details) | 2,302,000 | 80% | 29% | 51% | 857 |
Chad (details) | 4,150,000[citation needed] | 35.0% | 20% | 15% | 1,493 |
details )
|
15,000 | 2.1% | 1,230 | ||
Congo, Republic of (details) | 3,409,000 | 90.7% | 50% | 40% | 4,426 |
Congo, Democratic Republic of (details) | 63,150,000 | 92% | 50% | 42% | 422 |
Djibouti (details) | 53,000 | 6.0% | 1% | 5% | 2,784 |
Egypt (details) | 10,000,000 | 10% | 6,723 | ||
Equatorial Guinea (details) | 683,000 | 88.7%[citation needed] | 80.7% | 8.0% | 30,233 |
Eritrea (details) | 2,871,000 | 63%[88] | 4% | 54% | 566 |
Ethiopia (details) | 52,580,000 | 64% | 0.7% | 63.4% | 1,139 |
Gabon (details) | 1,081,000 | 88.0%[89] | 41.9% | 46.1% | 16,086 |
Gambia (details) | 79,000 | 4.2%[90] | 1,948 | ||
Ghana (details) | 19,300,000 | 71.2%[91] | 13.1% | 58.1% | 2,048 |
Guinea (details) | 1,032,000 | 8.9%[92] | 5% | 5% | 1,069 |
Guinea-Bissau (details) | 165,000 | 10.0% | 10.0% | 1,192 | |
Ivory Coast (details) | 7,075,000 | 32.8% | 28.9% | 3.9% | 2,039 |
Kenya (details) | 34,774,000 | 85.1% | 23.4% | 61.7% | 1,761 |
Lesotho (details) | 1,876,000 | 90.0% | 45% | 45% | 1,963 |
Liberia (details) | 1,391,000 | 85.5%[93] | 85.5% | 655 | |
Libya (details) | 170,000[citation needed] | 2.7%[citation needed] | 0.5% | 1.5% | 17,665 |
details )
|
8,260,000 | 41.0% | 978 | ||
Malawi (details) | 12,538,000 | 79.9% | 902 | ||
Mali (details) | 348,000 | 2.4%[94] | 1,214 | ||
Mauritania (details) | 10,000[95] | 0.14% | 2,603 | ||
Mauritius (details) | 418,000 | 32.2% | 15,649 | ||
Morocco (details) | 336,000 | 1%[96] | 5,193 | ||
Mozambique (details) | 13,121,000 | 56.1% | 28.4% | 27.7% | 1,024 |
Namibia (details) | 1,991,000 | 90.0% | 13.7% | 76.3% | 7,488 |
Niger (details) | 85,000 | 0.5% | 5% | 665 | |
Nigeria (details) | 74,400,000-107,000,000 | 40%[97]- 58%[98] | 10–14,5% | 30–43,5% | 6,204 |
Rwanda (details) | 9,619,000 | 93.6% | 56.9% | 26% | 1,354 |
Senegal (details) | 570,000 | 4.2%[99] | 1,944 | ||
Seychelles (details) | 80,000 | 94.7% | 82% | 15.2% | 27,008 |
Sierra Leone (details) | 619,000-1,294,000 | 10%[100]-20.9%[101] | 1,359 | ||
Somalia (details) | 1,000[102] | 0.01% | 0.0002% | 0.01% | |
South Africa (details) | 43,090,000 | 79.8%[103] | 5% | 75% | 11,440 |
South Sudan (details) | 6,010,000[104] | 60.5%[105] | 30% | 30% | |
Sudan (details) | 525,000 | 1.5%[106] | |||
Tanzania (details) | 31,342,000 | 61.4%[107] | 1,601 | ||
Togo (details) | 1,966,000 | 29.0% | 1,051 | ||
details )
|
30,000[108][a] | ||||
Uganda (details) | 29,943,000 | 88.6% | 41.9% | 46.7% | 1,352 |
details )
|
200 | 0.04% | 0.04% | ||
Zambia (details) | 12,939,000 | 95.5%[109] | 20.2% | 72.3% | 1712 |
Zimbabwe (details) | 12,500,000 | 87.0%[110] | 17% | 63% | 559 |
Africa | 526,016,926 | 62.7% | 21.0%[111] | 41.7% | - |
Denominations
Pew projected that 53% of Africa's population would be Christian in 2020.[112]
Catholicism
Roman Catholic
Catholic Church membership rose from 2 million in 1900 to 140 million in 2000.[113] In 2005, the Catholic Church in Africa, including Eastern Catholic Churches, was followed by approximately 135 million of the 809 million people in Africa. In 2009, when Pope Benedict XVI visited Africa, it was estimated at 158 million.[114] Most belong to the Latin Church, but there are also millions of members of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy
- Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church – 37 million[115][116][117][118][119]
- Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church – 2 million[124]
Eastern Orthodoxy
- Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria – 500 000[125]
Protestantism
In 2010, Pew estimated that there were around 300 million Protestants in Sub Saharan Africa.[126] Protestantism is the largest Christian group in Africa, with 35.9% (more than a half) in sub-Saharan Africa.[127] Protestant have grown to 35.9% of the whole population of the continent.[128] The three countries with more Protestant population are: Nigeria with 60 million (37.7% of the population), Kenya with 48 million (84% of the population), and South Africa with 24 million (47.7% of the population), these three countries add up to around 121 million Protestants.[129] There are an estimated 60 million Anglicans and 23 million Lutherans in Africa.[130][131] There are also approximately 10 million Baptists and another 25 million Methodists on the continent.[132][133] Presbyterians in Africa are estimated to number more than twenty million.[134]
Anglicanism
- Church of Nigeria – 20.1 million[135]
- Church of Uganda – 8.1 million[136]
- Anglican Church of Kenya – 5.0 million[137]
- Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan – 4.5 million[138]
- Anglican Church of Southern Africa – 2.3 million[139]
- Anglican Church of Tanzania – 2.0 million[140]
- Anglican Church of Rwanda – 1.0 million[141]
- Church of the Province of Central Africa – 0.9 million[142]
- Anglican Church of Burundi – 0.8 million[143]
- Church of Christ in Congo–Anglican Community of Congo – 0.5 million[144]
- Church of the Province of West Africa – 0.3 million[145]
- Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa – 0.09 million[146]
Baptists
- Nigerian Baptist Convention – 5.0 million[147]
- Baptist Union of Uganda – 2.5 million[147]
- Baptist Community of Congo – 2.1 million[147]
- Baptist Convention of Tanzania – 2.0 million[147]
- Baptist Community of the Congo River – 1.1 million[147]
- Baptist Convention of Kenya – 0.6 million[147]
- Baptist Convention of Malawi – 0.3 million[147]
- Ghana Baptist Convention – 0.3[147]
- Union of Baptist Churches in Rwanda – 0.3 million[147]
- Evangelical Baptist Church of the Central African Republic – 0.2 million[147]
Catholic Apostolic Church (Irvingism)
- New Apostolic Church – 16 million[148][149]
Lutheranism
Lutheranism in Africa represent 24.13 million people.[150]
- Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus – 8.3 million[151]
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania – 6.5 million[152]
- Malagasy Lutheran Church – 3.0 million[153]
- The Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria – 2.2 million[154]
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia – 0.7 million[155]
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa – 0.6 million[156]
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia – 0.4 million[155]
- Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon – 0.3 million[157]
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe – 0.3 million[158]
Methodism
With over 20 denominations in the continent, World Methodist Council has 17.08 million members in the whole continent.[159]
- Methodist Church Nigeria – 2 million[160]
- Methodist Church of Southern Africa – 1.7 million[161]
- United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast – 1.08 million[162]
- Methodist Church Ghana – 0.8 million[163]
- Methodist Church in Kenya – 0.5 million[164]
- The United Methodist Church in Liberia – 0.35 million[159]
- Free Methodist church in Congo– 0.11 million[165]
Reformed (Calvinism)
- Presbyterian Church of East Africa – 4.0 million[166]
- Presbyterian Church of Nigeria – 3.8 million[167]
- Presbyterian Church of Africa – 3.4 million[168]
- Church of Christ in Congo–Presbyterian Community of Congo – 2.5 million[169]
- Presbyterian Church of Cameroon – 1.8 million[170]
- Church of Central Africa Presbyterian – 1.3 million[171]
- Presbyterian Church in Sudan – 1.0 million[172]
- Presbyterian Church in Cameroon – 0.7 million[173]
- Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana – 0.6 million[174]
- Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa – 0.5 million[175]
- Presbyterian Church in Rwanda – 0.3 million[176]
- Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar – 3.5 million[177]
- United Church in Zambia – 3.0 million[178]
- Evangelical Church of Cameroon – 2.5 million[179]
- Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) – 1.1 million
- Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa – 0.5 million[180]
- Lesotho Evangelical Church – 0.3 million[181]
- Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria – 0.3 million[182]
- Reformed Church in Zambia – 0.3 million[183]
- Evangelical Reformed Church in Angola – 0.2 million[184]
- Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv – 0.2 million[185]
- Evangelical Church of Congo – 0.2 million[186]
- Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola – 0.9 million[187]
- United Congregational Church of Southern Africa – 0.5 million[188]
Pentecostalism
The population of
- Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church – 9 million[191]
- Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers' Church – 4.5 million[192]
- – 1 million
- General Council of the Assemblies of God Nigeria - 3.6 million[193]
- Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa – 1.2 million[citation needed]
- Association of Pentecostal Churches of Rwanda – 1 million[citation needed]
Mennonites
- Meserete Kristos Church – 0.47 million[194]
Other evangelical groups
- Evangelical church of west africa – 5 million[citation needed]
Other Christian groups
African-initiated churches
60 million people are members of African-initiated churches.[195]
- Zion Christian Church – 15 million[citation needed]
- Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim – 10 million[citation needed]
- Kimbanguist Church – 5.5 million[citation needed]
- Redeemed Christian Church of God – 5 million[196]
- Church of the Lord (Aladura) – 3.6 million[197]
- Council of African Instituted Churches – 3 million[198]
- Church of Christ Light of the Holy Spirit – 1.4 million[199]
- African Church of the Holy Spirit – 0.7 million[200]
- African Israel Church Nineveh – 0.5 million[201]
Restorationism
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – 0.6 million[202]
See also
- African theology
- Afrikaner Calvinism
- Christianity and colonialism
- Christian mysticism in ancient Africa
- Roman Catholicism in Africa
- Traditional African religion
Notes
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It is a process that has attracted the interest of modern scholars who have been primarily preoccupied with questions as to when conversions to Islam took place, how many people converted in a given period, and why they chose to do so. Early in the twentieth century, scholars such as C. H. Becker considered conversion to Islam to have been principally motivated by economic considerations. This understanding was later revised, following Daniel Dennett's study on the poll tax (jizya) in the 1950s. Dennett convincingly showed that discriminatory taxes on non-Muslims were neither imposed consistently, nor uniformly conceived from the onset of Islamic rule. Thus, while acknowledging the role of economic growth in confessional change, Marshall Hodgson pointed to the great social advantages that were to be gained by conversion to Islam, underscoring the social mobility that went hand in hand with the new affiliation. In general, historians have come to the understanding that the phenomenon of conversion to Islam cannot be treated from a singular perspective.
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Al Hakim Bi-Amr Allah (r. 996—1021), however, who became the greatest persecutor of Copts.... within the church that also appears to coincide with a period of forced rapid conversion to Islam
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Reports of widespread conversions of Muslims to Christianity come from regions as disparate as Algeria, Albania, Syria, and Kurdistan. Countries with the largest indigenous numbers include Algeria, 380,000; Ethiopia, 400,000; Iran, 500,000 (versus only 500 in 1979); Nigeria, 600,000; and Indonesia, an astounding 6,500,000.
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Further reading
- Cinnamon, John M. "Missionary expertise, social science, and the uses of ethnographic knowledge in colonial Gabon." History in Africa 33 (2006): 413-432. online[permanent dead link]
- Froise, Marjorie. Southern Africa : a factual portrait of the Christian Church in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (1989) online
- Froise, Marjorie. World Christianity : South Central Africa : a factual portrait of the Christian church (1991) online
- Hastings, Adrian. A history of African Christianity, 1950-1975 (Cambridge University Press, 1979).
- Hastings Adrian. Church and mission in modern Africa (1967) online
- Hastings Adrian. The Church in Africa, 1450–1950 (Clarendon, 1995). online
- Isichei, Elizabeth. A history of Christianity in Africa: From antiquity to the present (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995) online.
- Lamport, Mark A. ed. Encyclopedia of Christianity in the global south (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018)
- Latourette, Kenneth Scott. The Great Century: North Africa and Asia 1800 A.D. to 1914 A.D. (A History of The Expansion of Christianity, Volume 5) (1943), Comprehensive scholarly coverage. full text online also online review;
- Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A history of the expansion of Christianity. 6. The great century in the Americas, Australasia, and Africa. 1800–1914 (1943) online review
- Latourette, Kenneth Scott. The twentieth century outside Europe : the Americas, the Pacific, Asia, and Africa : the emerging world Christian community (1962) online
- Meyer, Birgit. "Christianity in Africa: From African independent to Pentecostal-charismatic churches." Annual Review of Anthropology 33 (2004): 447-474. online
- Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions (1986), Global coverage over 19 centuries in 624 pages; online book also see. online review
- Ranger, T.O. and John Weller, eds. Themes in the Christian history of Central Africa (1975) online
Historiography and memory
- Bongmba, Elias Kifon. "Writing African Christianity: Perspectives from the History of the Historiography of African Christianity." Religion and Theology 23.3-4 (2016): 275-312. online[permanent dead link]
- Etherington. Norman. "Recent Trends in the Historiography of Christianity in Southern Africa" in Critical Readings in The History of Christian Mission: volume 3" ed by Martha Frederiks and Dorottya Nagy. (Brill, 2021) pp 39–66.
- Hastings, Adrian. "African Christian studies, 1967-1999: Reflections of an editor." Journal of religion in Africa 30#1 (2000): 30-44. online
- Maluleke, Tinyiko Sam. "The Quest for Muted Black Voices in History: Some Pertinent Issues in (South) African Mission Historiography" in Critical Readings in The History of Christian Mission: volume 3" ed by Martha Frederiks and Dorottya Nagy. (Brill, 2021) pp 95–115.
- Maxwell, David. "Writing the history of African Christianity: Reflections of an editor." Journal of religion in Africa 36.3-4 (2006): 379-399.