How African is Egypt?
Thomas C. Oden’s book, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity challenged me and how I have considered Christianity. It is true that many westerners and Europeans have viewed Africa Christianity with the same sort of mindset that the colonizers did. Many hold the attitude that every academic or spiritual nugget being exported out of Africa must have been imported there to begin with. Oden pointed out that not only has Africa been solidly Christian for hundreds of years, but even what we would consider “early Christianity” was influenced by African thought. Oden points out that Christianity has been in Africa so long that it should be consider indigenous to the region.
Oden writes persuasively, “Some scholars of African culture have regrettably acquired a persistent habit of assuming that Christianity began in Africa only a couple centuries ago, strictly imported ‘the west’ or ‘the north.’ They appear to view Africa as only two or three centuries deep, not two or three millennia.”[1] Oden continues a few pages later, “If ancient Christianity is not yet indigenous, then the 17th century arrival of many Bantus in Zuzuland is not yet indigenous. If first-millennium Christianity is not yet traditional in Africa, then the seventh-century arrival of Arabic cultures to Africa is not yet traditional.”[2] These are powerful statements and true observations. I certainly think the mindset of Christianity in Africa needs to change, and we should recognize much more of the influence that came from that region.
However…
I did notice that the majority of Africa contributions that Oden listed seemed to come from Egypt. And so one question I would ask the author for more explanation would be “how African is Egypt.” And as soon as I asked this question in my head, Oden answered it in the next paragraph. But he answered it briefly and seemed to dismiss the whole question with one wave of his hand calling it prejudice to think so. But yet I believe this to be a significant question because the majority of this African Christian influence Oden was pointing to took place in Egypt, and so a large portion of his argument rests on it. So my follow-up and more precise question would be “how African do Egyptians consider themselves?”
I was wrecked by this thought, and so I sought out to personally investigate further and to get as close to real information as I could get by asking people who have actually lived in Egypt.
- To my Egyptian American friend, who moved to the USA as an adult, I asked him if he considered himself African and if most Egyptians consider themselves African. He replied, “Of course, I’m African. I’m not black though.” He understood why I was asking though and he went on to explain that in his experience, many Egyptians try not associate themselves as being called African out a sense of prejudice, but in his experience many of those people tend to be the uneducated of Egypt.
- To my friend serving as a Missionary in Egypt, I asked the same question, and this is the example she gave to best describe common opinion in Egypt. She said, “We were living in Cairo and we told our Egyptian friends we were going to visit Kenya. Every friend we told said ‘oh you are going to Africa!?’ So they definitely don’t see themselves as Africans. I would say most identify themselves as Egyptians first and then Arabs.”
And if you think about it, it’s really not that crazy for people to garner most of their identity from their country and not their continent. Do people of other countries define their identity by their continent? In the USA, we only call ourselves “American” because America happens to be in our countries name. When I say I’m proud to ab American, I’m referring to being from the USA, not that I’m a citizen of the western hemisphere. Do the English gather a lot of their identity from being “European”? Do Panamanians call themselves or even care that they are “North American”? Do we see Brazilians calling themselves American? Can Canadians share credit and be celebrated for thought that has come from Costa Rica?
To point out more problems, we could consider who defined Africa and see that the definition of continents are just conventions. They are just things, and continent lines have differed between cultures (some even label the total world continent count as low as four). Ironically even the initial geographical label of Africa came from the ‘the north’. There are many more inconsistencies beyond this. So considering all of this I think it is a fair question to ask, that it may not be entirely fair to give credit to a whole continent for something done in a particular corner of Africa.
Although I have probably side-stepped away from Oden’s main point in the book, it was the concept that most stretched my mind into thinking globally. It sent me down a path where I began to see how different cultures view themselves within global and continental frameworks. Whether Egyptians are or consider themselves unanimously African or not, Oden’s points challenged many of my western assumptions in a way I am grateful for.
[1] Thomas C. Oden, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2010), 25.
[2] Ibid., 31.
Works Cited
Oden, Thomas C. How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2010.
6 responses to “How African is Egypt?”
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Welcome to LGP, Kyle!
Kyle, I had a similar thought to you but chose not to pursue it in my blog post. I wondered about whether the early Africans cited really saw themselves as Africans or could we perhaps label their culture as Mediterranean? At times it appeared Oden was grasping at straws to reinforce his thesis.
That said, Oden seems to overstate his case in order to make a point that we need to pay attention to: our Eurocentric faith is neither the beginning nor the end of the story.
Kyle, You bring out some great arguments on whether they would consider themselves African or a product of their nation. One thing I try to help people who have never gone on mission trips outside of the U.S. is to not call themselves just American, but to be more specific. Especially when I have gone to Venezuela and Canada. I agree with the idea but not sure how it would play out in Oden’s mind (guess we will never know). I really appreciate the perspective you brought to the discussion in speaking with friends of yours from that area.
Hi Kyle,
I’m looking forward to meeting you!
I appreciate your perspective. Years ago (like a million years ago) my grandmother (now deceased) was in the Peace Corps in Brazil, and a local man asked her where she was from and she replied “I’m an American.” And he said, “I think you mean a NORTH American, because I, too, am an American.”
For that reason, when I am asked where I am from (which happens a lot because I live in France and I speak fluent but accented French) I rarely say I am American, but rather that I come from the United States. I wish there was a term like “United Statesian.” But there isn’t.
All that to say, I really do appreciate the point that you are making. And I’m wondering if Oden would have compromised the thrust of his book by being more specific about that. Isn’t it just as valuable to recognize the Egyptian influence on Christianity as the rest of Africa’s influence? What do you think?
I thought the same things as you Jennifer. I have thought most recently about why we don’t call ourselves North Americans and how no one considers Mexicans Americans though they are.
Kyle, thanks for reaching out to your friends for their insight. I think asking your friends about their lived experience creates some interesting nuance to Oden’s argument, both in favor of and in opposition.
Kyle, please let me start out by saying I think you are going to be a fun one to be around. Plus, your wife has already been thru year one? No fair my man (grin).
Plus, you already know how to cite sources properly? I wrote my whole blog without citations, then I read yours. I feel like such a heel.
Talk to you next Monday!