Christianity in Africa

Christianity in Africa began in Egypt in the middle of the 1st century. By the end of the 2nd century it had reached the region around Carthage. Important Africans who influenced the early development of Christianity include Tertullian, Perpetua, Felicity, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian, Athanasius and Augustine of Hippo.

The spread of Islam into North Africa reduced the size of Christian congregations as well as their number, so that of the original churches, only the Coptic Church in Egypt, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the Horn of Africa remain. Both the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches profess their own distinct religious customs, a unique canon of the Bible and unique architectures. Neither of these communities of Christians in the Horn of Africa are the product of European missionary work, but were founded prior to missionary work by any European countries.

Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population in most Southern African, Southeast African, and Central African states and others in some parts of Northeast and West Africa. The Coptic Christians make up a significant minority in Egypt. The World Book Encyclopedia has estimated that in 2002 Christians formed 80% of the continent's population, with Muslims forming 20%. In a relatively short time, Africa has gone from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians and Muslims. Since 2013, traditional African religions are declared as the majority religion only in Togo. Importantly, today within most self-declared Christian communities in Africa, there is significant and sustained syncretism with African Traditional Religious beliefs and practices.

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