In Genesis chapter 2, the Garden of Eden is described as having a river that separates into four headwaters, with one—the river Gihon—” winding through the entire land of Cush”.

Assuming this is the same Cush now identified with parts of the Sudan and Egypt, Genesis 2 is the first reference in the Bible to Africa.

It shouldn’t be surprising that Africa pops up this early in the biblical story.

Sometimes referred to as the “cradle of humankind,” Africa has evidence of human habitation so ancient that it’s the only part of the world where fossilised remains of homo sapiens have been found.

Put simply, humans have a long history in Africa, and this is reflected in biblical history. 

Egypt, in particular, is referenced hundreds of times across the Old and New Testaments. 

Abraham goes to Egypt, Moses escapes from Egypt in the Exodus, Joseph (and his coat of many colours) rises to prominence in Egypt, and Jesus Himself lives there for a time as a child. 

Ethiopia and Put (modern-day Libya) are also mentioned several times in the Bible, and several key Biblical characters are African (for example, the Queen of Sheba, the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts, and Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus’ cross). 

In the centuries following Jesus’ resurrection, North Africa became a centre for early church theology. 

Cyprian, Augustine, Lactantius, and Tertullian all hailed from what is now modern-day Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia, while the church was thriving as far south as Ethiopia. 

There’s a perception in some places that Christianity was a byproduct of colonialism in Africa – but in truth, it flourished on the continent for over a millennium before Europeans arrived.

The need for an African Biblical perspective

Sadly, modern Christian literature barely reflects this rich African history.

In 2019, the Society of Biblical Literature, the world’s largest body of biblical scholars, found that 86 per cent of college or university faculty members were of European or Caucasian descent.

That means that the teaching voices of Christianity are overwhelmingly culturally skewed.  

‘Christianity is just a white-man’s religion’ is what some critics might say – and to be fair, it’s biblical scholars mostly who are.

But this is a stark contrast to your typical Christian today.

Jesus in modern Africa

One of the striking points made by American historian and sociologist Gina Zurlo, who appeared on Undeceptions episode 75, ‘Global Church,’ was the profile of the modern Christian believer.

“The typical Christian today globally is a poor, young, uneducated woman in Sub-Saharan Africa”, Gina said, adding that this was “totally different from what it was a hundred years ago, when it was an affluent upper-class educated white, Anglo Protestant male”. 

The statistics show that the African church is booming.

According to a 2020 Statista report, 60 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa now calls itself Christian—an unbelievable shift from 2000, when that number was around 25 per cent.

A Pew Research Centre report notes how Africa is defying global religious trends.

It reads:

“Much of Christianity’s future growth is likely to be in the global South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa – the only region where natural increases in the Christian population are expected to grow even larger in the coming decades.”

The centre of gravity for the church today is in Africa.

But what makes African Christianity different?

Seeing Jesus through African eyes

What do Africans see in Jesus that other cultures might not?

“Africa is not monolithic, but I think there are enough commonalities that we can say that we hold certain things in common,” notes Elizabeth Mburu, speaking on Undeceptions episode 159 ‘African Jesus’.

“(In the west) there’s a lot of individualism, a lot of reading the Bible and saying, ‘Okay, this is for me as an individual’, as opposed to an African reading that would ask first, ‘What does this say to us as a community of faith?’”

“We might ask, ‘How are we responsible for each other within the community of faith? How are we accountable to each other within the community of faith?’”

In addition to this communal emphasis, Elizabeth notes that an African might find the spiritual world in the Bible much more familiar than a Western reader.

“The spiritual and the physical dimensions are very real, so if you come to an African church and somebody says, ‘Oh, last Sunday there was an exorcism in church’, it’s just a regular part of it.

“The movement and activity of the Holy Spirit are so real in our churches.

“It’s biblical, not for primitive people who don’t know science … it has nothing to do with that worldview.”

Some critics might argue that viewing the Bible through a specific lens—racial or otherwise—is a way to make it say whatever we want it to and suit our context.

But – this critique assumes that we haven’t already done that in our own context.

“I don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” Elizabeth said. 

“I accept that I come from a historical tradition and I accept that there are ways in which the Bible has been read in the past that are useful, but I also accept that those ways were framed in a context with the assumptions of that context, and I can bring my own particular way of reading that pays attention to my context and hold the two together intentionally.”

We all have ways of hearing stories and reading texts (like the Bible) that are entirely shaped by culture.

There’s much to be gained from seeing Jesus from another perspective—after all, we already see Him through our own unique lens.

So, why not give the African lens a go and see … what you see.

Adapted by Alasdair Belling from Undeceptions episode 159 ‘African Jesus’. Listen here.

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