Church in Africa, 1450-1950

"I can merely admire his courage in tackling so complex and difficult a subject; he should succeed in stimulating a fresh generation of research... this well-written, intelligent and lively study will greatly stimulate anyone fortunate enough to read it."Christianity provided the constitutive identity of historic Ethiopia. From the sixteenth century, and increasingly from the nineteenth, it entered decisively into the life and culture of an increasing number of other African peoples. In the course of the twentieth century, African Christians have become a major part of the world Church, and arguably modern African history as a whole is not intelligible without its powerful Christian element. Yet despite the great advance in Africanhistoriography over the last forty years, this is the first major volume to consider the historical development and character of the Christian Church in Africa as a whole, linking together Ehtiopia Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and the numerousm 'Independent' churches of modern times. The bookfocuses throughout on the role of coversion, the shaping of Church life and its relationship to traditional values, and the impact of political power. Professor Hastings also compares the relation of Christian history to the comprable development of Islam in Africa.

This first comprehensive history of the church in Africa ... is a magnificent contribution to the Oxford History of the Christian Church and will be welcomed by Africanists as well as by church and mission historians., splendid volume...frequently challenging...genuinely illuminates the issues with which he deals, `Adrian Hastings has established a challenging framework with exceptional clarity. His overall strategy is masterly, often strikingly original; and the framework is indubitably African ... he should succeed in stimulating a fresh generation of research, especially by Ethiopian scholars.' Times Literary Supplement, Splendid history of African Christianity. Very few people are better qualified to compile it...He writes with great fluency and authority,...This is, in the proper sense of an overused word, a magisterial book, and despite the wealth of its detail it does not drag., This is a magisterial work ... extraordinarily wide-ranging, racy and idiosyncratic, swinging from detailed analysis to synthetic reflection with hardly a pause ... I cannot recommend this book too highly for those who want either to begin reading about African Christianity, or to widen their knowledge. There can be few who will not here find something new.

Adrian Hastings is Professor of Theology and Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds. Dr. Hastings also edited Modern Catholicism: Vatican II and After (OUP, 1990).