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Introduction Toward a Half Billion African Christians An Epic Story Out of Africa The Pivotal Place of Africa on the Ancient Map Two Rivers: The Nile and the Medjerda--Seedbed of Early Christian Thought Affirming Oral and Written Traditions Self-Effacement and the Recovery of Dignity The Missing Link: The Early African Written Intellectual Tradition Forgotten Why Africa Has Seemed to the West to Lack Intellectual History Interlude Part One: The African Seedbed of Western Christianity 1 A Forgotten Story Who Can Tell It? Pilgrimage Sites Neglected Under Sands: The Burial of Ancient Christian Texts and Basilicas 2 Seven Ways Africa Shaped the Christian Mind How the Western Idea of a University Was Born in the Crucible of Africa How Christian Exegesis of Scripture First Matured in Africa How African Sources Shaped Early Christian Dogma How Early Ecumenical Decision Making Followed African Conciliar Patterns How the African Desert Gave Birth to Worldwide Monasticism How Christian Neoplatonism Emerged in Africa How Rhetorical and Dialectical Skills Were Refined in Africa and Introduced to Europe Interlude: Harnack’s Folly Overview 3 Defining Africa Establishing the Indigenous Depth of Early African Christianity The Stereotyping of Hellenism as Non-African Scientific Inquiry into the Ethnicity of Early African Christian Writers The Purveyors of Myopia The African-Priority Hypothesis Requires Textual Demonstration The South-to-North Hypothesis A Case in Point: The Circuitous Path from Africa to Ireland to Europe and Then Back to Africa A Caveat Against Afrocentric Exaggeration 4 One Faith, Two Africas The Hazards of Bridge Building The Challenge of Reconciliation of Black Africa and North Africa Overcoming the Ingrained Lack of Awareness The Roots of the Term Africa Excommunicating the North Arguing for African Unity Defining "Early African Christianity" as a Descriptive Category of a Period of History How African Is the Nile Valley? 5 Temptations The Emerging Task of Historical Inquiry The Catholic Limits of Afrocentrism The Inflexible Habit of Ignoring African Sources The Cost of the Forgetfulness Overlooking African Voices Already Present in Scripture How Protestants Can Celebrate the Apostolic Charisma of the Copts The Christian Ancestry of Africa Part Two: African Orthodox Recovery 6 The Opportunity for Retrieval Surviving Modernity The Steadiness of African Orthodoxy The New African Ecumenism Pruning Undisciplined Excesses Burning the Acids of Moral Relativism Orthodoxy: Global and African Historic Christian Multiculturalism Reframing Modern Ecumenics Within Classic Ecumenics 7 How the Blood of African Martyrs Became the Seed of European Christianity Whether Classic Christian Teaching Is Defined by Power How the History of African Martyrdom Shaped Christian Views of Universal History Recalling the Exodus as an African Event Amassing the Evidence The Challenge of Young Africa 8 Right Remembering Remembering the Scripture Rightly Through the Spirit The Heart of African Orthodoxy Transcending Material Worldliness Avoiding Racial Definitions of Apostolic Truth 9 Reshaping the Relation of Christianity and Islam Through Historical Insight The Risks Scholars Take Empathizing With Sub-Saharan Suspicions of the North Conjointly Studying the History of Islam and Christianity The Rigorous Language Requirements of African Research Arabic Christian Studies Learning from Primary Sources Appendix: The Challenges of Early African Research Three Aims of Future Research The Precedent The Scope The African Center of the International Consortium The Consortium of Scholars Assembling the Pieces of the Puzzle Academic Leadership Maximizing Digital Technologies Publishing Outcomes Conclusion Read more: http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/toc/code=2875#ixzz3V0h34i3x