Part -5 - Christianity and the Claim That It Is a “Colonial Religion”
The claim that Christianity is a “colonial religion” contains an important historical truth but becomes inaccurate when applied to Christianity's origin. European colonial powers did sometimes use Christian institutions, missionary activity, and Christian rhetoric within colonial systems. But Christianity itself originated in first-century Judea, spread into Africa during antiquity, and had established African Christian communities many centuries before modern European colonialism.
1. Christianity Did Not Originate in Europe
Jesus was born into the Jewish world of the eastern Mediterranean. His earliest disciples were Jewish, and the earliest Christian movement emerged from Second Temple Judaism, not from a European colonial empire.
The New Testament itself begins Christianity's expansion from Jerusalem:
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” — Acts 1:8, KJV
The historical sequence is therefore:
Israel → Jesus Christ → Jerusalem → surrounding regions → Africa, Asia and Europe
rather than:
Europe → Christianity → Africa.
2. Africa Appears in the New Testament Before European Colonialism
Africa is already present in the New Testament narrative.
Jesus and Egypt
Matthew records Joseph taking Jesus and Mary into Egypt:
“Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt...” — Matthew 2:13, KJV
Simon of Cyrene
Simon, who was compelled to carry Jesus' cross, was from Cyrene in North Africa:
“And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name...” — Matthew 27:32, KJV
Africans at Pentecost
Acts records people associated with:
“Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene...” — Acts 2:10, KJV
These events belong to the first-century Christian story, not to modern colonial expansion.
3. The Ethiopian Official Received the Gospel in Acts 8
Acts 8 is particularly significant.
The Ethiopian official was returning from Jerusalem when Philip encountered him reading Isaiah.
“Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” — Acts 8:35, KJV
Notice what the text describes.
The movement is:
Ethiopian official → Hebrew prophet Isaiah → Jesus Christ → faith → baptism
There is no European colonial government in this narrative.
The Gospel reaches this African official through the interpretation of Israel's Scriptures in the apostolic period.
However, Acts 8 alone should not be used to claim that this individual founded the later Ethiopian Orthodox Church. That is a later historical question requiring separate evidence.
4. Ancient Africa Became a Major Center of Christianity
Christianity developed important African centers during the Roman period, particularly in Egypt and North Africa.
Alexandria became one of the major intellectual centers of ancient Christianity.
African Christianity also produced major figures associated with the development of Christian theology, including:
Clement of Alexandria
Origen
Athanasius
Tertullian
Cyprian
Augustine of Hippo
Their precise ethnic and cultural identities should not be flattened into modern racial categories, but geographically they demonstrate something important:
Africa was producing Christian theology during antiquity.
Christian intellectual history is therefore not exclusively European.
5. Christianity Reached Aksum in Antiquity
The Kingdom of Aksum, centered in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea, became officially Christian during the fourth century AD, particularly in connection with King Ezana and Frumentius.
That is roughly a millennium before the major period of European colonial expansion into Africa.
Aksumite Christianity subsequently developed its own Geʽez-speaking Christian civilization.
This is one of the strongest historical problems with the blanket statement:
“Christianity came to Africa through European colonialism.”
For some African regions, European missionary Christianity arrived much later.
But for Africa as a continent, Christianity was already ancient.
6. Ethiopia Is Especially Important to the Colonial Argument
Ethiopia presents an especially interesting case because its Christian tradition developed over many centuries within an African political and cultural environment.
It preserved:
Geʽez Christian literature
distinctive liturgical traditions
an ancient ecclesiastical structure
Old Testament imagery
Ark/tabot traditions
1 Enoch
Jubilees
a broader biblical canon
Whatever theological conclusions someone reaches about Ethiopian Orthodoxy, its existence demonstrates that African Christianity cannot historically be explained simply as the product of modern European colonialism.
7. But Colonialism Really Did Use Christianity
We should not correct one historical distortion by creating another.
Beginning especially in the early modern and modern periods, European expansion brought:
colonial governments
commercial interests
missionary organizations
schools
churches
European languages
European cultural expectations
into many African societies.
Sometimes missionaries opposed particular colonial abuses or defended African communities.
At other times missionaries, churches, and colonial governments were closely entangled.
Christian rhetoric was also sometimes used to portray African cultures as inferior or to justify European “civilizing” projects.
Therefore two propositions can simultaneously be true:
Christianity did not originate in colonialism.
and
Christianity was sometimes used within colonial systems.
Those are different historical claims.
8. Christianity and European Culture Are Not Identical
Colonial Christianity sometimes packaged the Christian message together with European cultural expectations.
That can create the impression:
Christian = European.
But the New Testament does not make European ethnicity or culture a prerequisite for Christianity.
At Pentecost, the Gospel immediately crosses linguistic and geographical boundaries.
Acts 2:8 asks:
“And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?”
The direction is significant.
The people are not first required to become culturally identical.
They hear God's works proclaimed in their own languages.
9. Paul Confronted Ethnic Superiority Within the Church
Paul explicitly rejects ethnic status as a basis for superiority before God.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek... for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” — Galatians 3:28, KJV
This does not mean ethnicity disappears.
It means ethnicity does not determine a person's standing in Christ.
Therefore racial superiority cannot legitimately be made a requirement of the Gospel.
10. The Bible Was Sometimes Misused to Defend Slavery
Another reason some people associate Christianity with colonial oppression is that biblical passages were historically used by some Christians to defend racialized slavery.
One notorious example involved the so-called “curse of Ham.”
But Genesis 9 does not say:
“Cursed be Ham.”
It says:
“Cursed be Canaan...” — Genesis 9:25, KJV
Canaan was one of Ham's sons.
Furthermore, Genesis does not state that this curse created a permanent racial hierarchy in which Europeans were authorized to enslave Africans.
That interpretation was imposed upon the text and became useful to people seeking religious justification for racial slavery.
This provides an important distinction for biblical interpretation:
What people did with Scripture is not necessarily what Scripture says.
11. Christianity Should Be Distinguished from “Christian Empire”
Another helpful distinction is between:
the teachings of Jesus Christ
and
everything governments calling themselves Christian have done.
Once Christianity became associated with imperial governments, political power and Christian identity sometimes became deeply intertwined.
That produced complicated histories involving:
empire
warfare
political coercion
missionary expansion
colonization
education
translation
humanitarian work
cultural suppression
and resistance to oppression.
These histories should be examined individually rather than assuming that every missionary supported colonialism—or that missionary work and colonial government were always unrelated.
12. Christianity Was Already African Before Modern European Colonization
A useful timeline makes the distinction clear:
1st century AD — Christianity begins within the Jewish world. (The 12 Tribes of Israel)
↓
1st century — Egypt, Libya/Cyrene and an Ethiopian official appear in the New Testament Christian narrative.
↓
2nd–4th centuries — Major Christian communities flourish in Egypt and North Africa.
↓
4th century — Aksum becomes an established Christian kingdom.
↓
Following centuries — Ethiopian Christianity develops a distinctive Geʽez Christian civilization.
↓
15th–19th centuries — European overseas expansion dramatically increases.
↓
19th–20th centuries — European colonial rule encompasses much of Africa.
The chronology matters.
Ancient African Christianity precedes modern European colonialism by many centuries.
13. A Better Question
Instead of asking only:
“Is Christianity a colonial religion?”
historical study benefits from separating several questions:
Where did Christianity originate?
In the Jewish world of the first-century eastern Mediterranean.
When did Christianity reach Africa?
During Christianity's ancient period; African connections already appear within the New Testament itself.
Did Africans develop indigenous Christian traditions?
Yes. Ancient African Christian traditions developed in Egypt, North Africa, Nubia, Ethiopia and other regions at different times.
Did European colonial powers sometimes use Christianity?
Yes.
Did every African society encounter Christianity before European expansion?
No.
Were missionaries and colonial governments always pursuing identical goals?
No. Their relationships differed substantially according to place, denomination, missionary society and historical period.
These distinctions produce a much more accurate history.
Reflection
Read Acts 8:26–40.
1. What was the Ethiopian official reading before Philip approached him?
2. From what Scripture did Philip preach Jesus?
3. What does this passage reveal about Christianity's relationship to Israel's Scriptures?
Read Acts 2:5–11.
4. Which African regions are represented?
5. What does Pentecost reveal about language and the spread of the Gospel?
Historical Reflection
6. Why is it historically inaccurate to say Christianity first entered Africa through modern European colonialism?
7. Why is it also inaccurate to deny that Christianity was sometimes entangled with European colonialism?
8. What is the difference between the teachings of Scripture and later uses—or misuses—of Scripture?
Personal Application
When someone describes Christianity as a “white man's religion” or “colonial religion,” the strongest response is not to erase the painful history of colonialism.
Instead, separate the histories carefully.
Christianity originated before European colonialism.
Christianity existed in Africa before modern European colonialism.
African Christians helped shape ancient Christian history.
And later European empires sometimes used Christianity, Christian institutions, and biblical language within colonial systems.
Those statements can all be historically true at the same time.
For the Bible student, this leads to an important principle:
Do not judge Scripture solely by what later societies claimed Scripture authorized.
Return to the text.
Ask:
What does the passage actually say?
What was its historical context?
What interpretations were added later?
Does the claimed doctrine actually follow from the text?
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