1. The western idea of the University was conceived in Alexandria.

2. Christian Exegesis (biblical interpretation) first matured in Africa.

3. African biblical interpreters powerfully shaped most of the important Christian doctrines.

4. Africa was the region that first set the pattern and method for seeking wider ecumenical consent on contested points of scripture.

5. The African desert gave birth to worldwide monasticism.

6. Christian Neo-Platonism emerged from Africa.

7. Rhetorical and Dialectical Skills were sharpened in Africa for the Europe’s benefit.

​

Other Scholarly Reflection on the Seven Ways Africa Shaped the Christian Mind

​

(1)   See above Alexandria

 

(2)   On Africa’s influence on a Christian reading of the Old Testament

Origen assured the Old Testament a permanent place in the Christian church not by an abstract theory but by working his way through the entire Old Testament, book by book, sentence by sentence, and word by word. Origen provided the church with the first Christian commentary on virtually the entire Old Testament. Seldom, if ever again, would there be any doubt that this book had its proper and rightful place in the Christian Church… Origen’s work made it certain that the church would retain the Old Testament as part of its Bible. He also provided the first real Christian interpretation of the Old Testament. His interpretation influenced other interpretations for centuries
--Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J.

​

(3)   The Importance of African Biblical Interpreters

Although I cite many writers….I found that I turned constantly to four: Origen (Alexandria) in the third century, Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth, Augustine in the fifth, and Maximus the Confessor in the seventh. In the early church these four stand out as the most rewarding, the most profound, and the most enduring. They can be read as living interpreters, not just as historical sources. Yet few will quarrel with the conventional wisdom that Augustine stands at the summit. He is the most discerning, his thought flows at a deeper level, his range of interests is greater, he wrote with more elegance, and he has been most influential, at least in the West.
Robert Louis Wilken, “Introduction” The Spirit of Early Christian Thought

​

(4)    Patterns of Ecumenical Consent

Councils were formal gatherings of bishops that appeared early in the history of the church as a responsible means to address pressing issues concerning faith and practice. Tertullian mentions in On Fasting (13) that churches, in Asia Minor gathered together to discuss the deeper questions for the “common benefit.” At the insistence of Pope Victor (African by birth) councils were gathered in Syria, Palestine, and Pontus to settle the issue of the date of Easter. Cyprian refers to two councils that gathered before his tenure. Seven councils were held during his tenure. The following is an excerpt from Cyprian (Letter 55)

 

According, however, to what had been before decided, when the persecution was quieted, and opportunity of meeting was afforded; a large number of bishops, whom their faith and the divine protection had preserved in soundness and safety, we met together; and the divine Scriptures being brought forward on both sides, we balanced the decision with wholesome moderation, so that neither should hope of communion and peace be wholly denied to the lapsed, lest they should fail still more through desperation, and, because the Church was closed to them, should, like the world, live as heathens; nor yet, on the other hand, should the censure of the Gospel be relaxed, so that they might rashly rush to communion, but that repentance should be long protracted, and the paternal clemency be sorrowfully besought, and the cases, and the wishes, and the necessities of individuals be examined into, according to what is contained in a little book, which I trust has come to you, in which the several head s of our decisions are collected. And lest perchance the number of bishops in Africa should seem unsatisfactory, we also wrote to Rome, to Cornelius our colleague, concerning this thing, who himself also holding a council with very many bishops, concurred in the same opinion as we had held, with equal gravity and wholesome moderation.

​

(5) Origins of Monasticism:

Origen, the great Alexandrian theologian, was not a monk, but not a few historians have, with good reason, regarded him as the precursor of monasticism and even father of the religious life. In fact, we find in his life and writings the principal elements that have distinguished the monastic life from others. Evagrius of Pontus, Cassian, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, that is some of the greatest witnesses in the history of monasticism, were truly his disciples in the spiritual life. To a special degree, the monks of Egypt were fervent practitioners of the spirituality of Origen….
The Historical Atlas of Eastern and Western Christian Monasticism (p.30)

​

From New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia:

 

The introduction of monasticism into the West may be dated from about A.D. 340 when St. Athanasius visited Rome accompanied by the two Egyptian monks Ammon and Isidore, disciples of St. Anthony. The publication of the "Vita Antonii" some years later and its translation into Latin spread the knowledge of Egyptian monasticism widely and many were found in Italy to imitate the example thus set forth. The first Italian monks aimed at reproducing exactly what was done in Egypt and not a few -- such as St. Jerome, Rufinus, Paula, Eustochium and the two Melanias -- actually went to live in Egypt or Palestine as being better suited to monastic life than Italy.