1809
. From Craig S. Keener, “The Aftermath of the Ethiopian Eunuch,” The A.M.E. Church Review
118
(
385
, January
2002
):
112–24
. Reprinted by permission from Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown, Historiographer of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
. See Scott, “Horizon,” esp.
533–38
.
. In this article I adapted some of my research that I also cited for different purposes in two of my books with Usry and Keener, Religion; Keener and Usry, Faith.
. To simplify the text I have here treated the various Nubian kingdoms under the general rubric of “Nubia” (“a common practice”—Snowden, Color Prejudice,
3
).
. Ebedmelech (possibly a prominent officer; see Adamo, “Africa,”
198–206
) and possibly “Jehudi, son of Nethaniah . . . son of an African” (Jer
36
:
14
,
21
,
23
) testify to the presence of Africans in the royal court of Judah (Adamo, “Africa,”
190–97
). That Zephaniah’s ancestry might include an African in the household of Hezekiah (Zeph
1
:
1
) might suggest that some Judean kings secured Nubian wives for members of their family, probably as royal alliances with members of the family of the then-Nubian pharaohs (Rice, “Roots”).
. The Egyptian and Hebrew terms “Kush” seem to reflect the indigenous African name for an African people south of Egypt (Hansberry, Africa,
8–9
), whereas the Greek term “Aethiopia” is later.
. Snowden, Blacks in Antiquity,
110
,
132–33
, on an earlier period; cf. Du Bois, World,
140
; Hakem, “Civilization,”
302–4
. Bion of Soli in the Aethiopica contended that Candace was a dynastic title (like Pharaoh) rather than a personal name, applied to the ruling queen mother (Lake and Cadbury, Commentary,
96
); but it may be “a corruption of a Meroitic title” for all Nubia’s “royal consorts or queen mothers” (Adams, Nubia,
260
); queen mother was a prominent office in Nubia (Oliver and Fage, History,
32
).
. Bruce, Acts
¹
,
190–91
. Meroë probably achieved its wealth by exporting “traditional African products—ivory, slaves, rare skins, ostrich feathers, ebony and possibly gold” (Oliver and Fage, History,
27–28
).
. On the Blackness of “Ethiopians,” cf. e.g., Petronius Sat.
102
; Seneca Dial.
5
.
27
.
3
; Sextus Empiricus Eth.
3
.
43
; Philo Alleg.
2
.
67
; Apoc. Mos.
35
:
4
—
36
:
3
; Genesis Rabbah
73
:
10
;
86
:
3
.
. Cf. Crocker, “Meroe and Eunuch,”
46–48
; Leclant, “Napata and Meroe” (
700
s BCE to
300
s CE); Hakem, “Civilization,”
298–321
.
. Taylor, Egypt and Nubia,
54
.
. Oliver and Fage, History,
28–29
.
. Oliver and Fage, History ,
29
.
. Snowden, Blacks,
212–14
; cf. Michalowski, “Christianity in Nubia.” As Isichei, History, 30–31
, suggests, the rapid conversion of Nobatia in northern Nubia (
543
CE) may indicate a considerable prior Christian presence.
. Taylor, Egypt and Nubia,
63
, citing archaeological evidence as well as historical records. The same dates appear in Trigger, “Ballana Culture,”
117
.
. Snowden, Blacks,
209–11
. Many medieval saints in Egyptian art were also dark-skinned (e.g., Stewart, Pyramids,
93
).
. Taylor, Egypt and Nubia,
64
. As long as possible, they also maintained contacts with Egypt’s Copts, with Armenian, Syrian, and Palestinian Christians, and very likely Ethiopian Christians (Jakobielski, “Christian Nubia,”
223
).
. Davidson, Africa in History,
102
; see more fully Adams, Nubia, passim.
. Adams, Nubia, p.
435
; Isichei, History,
31
.
. Isichei, History,
31
.
. Cf. Williams, Destruction,
145
; Hasan, Arabs and Sudan,
17–41
. Some writers cited in this chapter, including Williams, have been controversial, but their reports on matters cited here remain largely consistent with those of less debated historians.
. Isichei, History,
31
.
. Taylor, Egypt and Nubia,
64
. Gordon, Slavery,
108
, reports that
442
slaves were to be sent to Cairo annually.
. Gordon, Slavery,
108
.
. Isichei, History,
43
. For early Coptic churches, see Kamil, Coptic Egypt,
76–92
; for monasteries,
116–39
.
. Estimates range from
5
to
15
percent, with
10
percent probably being a modest estimate.
. Bianquis, “Egypt,”
164
; Kamil, Coptic Egypt,
39
.
. Kamil, Coptic Egypt,
40
.
. Kamil, Coptic Egypt,
41
.
. Kamil, Coptic Egypt,
42
, also noting evidence for the successive plunder and destruction, then rebuilding, of monasteries. Isichei suggests the Mameluks acted partly in reprisal for Europe’s Crusades and attributes the decline also to Arab immigration (Isichei, History,
43
).
. Sanneh, West African Christianity,
16
.
. Du Bois, World,
186
.
. Williams, Destruction,
148
.
. Hasan, Arabs and Sudan, 92–93
.
. Hasan, Arabs and Sudan,
93
.
. The earliest Arab sources knew only Ethiopians and some Nubians (Lewis, Race and Slavery,
23
). The earliest Arabic texts know of Africans as either Habash (Ethiopians and their neighbors) or Sudan (an Arabic designation for “Black,” covering Africans in general); see Lewis, Race and Slavery,
50
.
. Williams, Destruction,
149
.
. Hasan, Arabs and Sudan,
90–123
, especially
90
.
. Du Bois, World,
147
; on the overthrow of Christian Nubia, see also Hasan, Arabs and Sudan,
124–27
. On temporarily successful revolts of African slaves against Arab rulers in the east, see Du Bois, World,
187
.
. Adams, Nubia,
539–44
; on Islam’s role in Nubia’s fall, see also Du Bois, World,
215
.
. Hasan, Arabs and Sudan,
131
;
400
churches in
1203
had declined to
150
by
1520
.
. Adams, “Nubia,”
125
.
. Hasan, Arabs and Sudan,
125
.
. Hasan, Arabs and Sudan,
127
.
. Hansberry, Pillars,
60
,
66–67
,
71
; Isaac, Ethiopian Church,
20
. On Ezana, see further Pankhurst, Chronicles,
1–7
. Both the Ethiopian account and the European account of Rufinus Hist. eccl. Book
1
(from Edesius himself) agree (see Jones and Monroe, History of Ethiopia,
26–31
).
. Ethiopian Christians continued to praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (e.g., Emperor Amda Tseyon, in Pankhurst, Chronicles,
20
,
25
).
. Isaac, Ethiopian Church, 28
. Controversy regarding Chalcedon (
451
), shared with many other Eastern churches, may be partly semantic; and despite Rome’s opposition to its own Monophysites, it maintained strong alliances with Ethiopia (Isaac, Ethiopian Church,
22
).
. Isichei, History,
18
,
31
.
. Hansberry, Pillars,
74
(noting inscriptions on
80–82
). On Ethiopia’s emergence as a Christian state, see especially Hansberry, Pillars,
60–82
; on its early development as a Christian state, see
83–109
(the African church became the central cultural and unifying agent of Ethiopian society).
. Adams, Nubia,
386
,
388
. On its power in general, including archaeological and literary data, cf. Jones and Monroe, History of Ethiopia,
21–25
; Anfray, “Civilization”; Kobishanov, “Aksum.”
. Rashidi, “Africans,”
28–29
, reports that six Arabian bishops were present at the Christian Council of Nicea in
325
. Through the Axumites, Christian influence grew in South Arabia until the Jewish community there reportedly massacred many Christians (Mekouria, “Christian Aksum,”
412–13
).
. Hansberry, Pillars,
131
. For more on Amda Tseyon (
1314–44
), see Pankhurst, Chronicles,
13–28
, including his prayer for victory in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, quoting the Old Testament, as he defended Ethiopia against approaching Arab armies.
. Hansberry, Pillars,
132
; Sanneh, West African Christianity,
16
.
. On its distinctly Christian literature, see e.g., Mekouria, “Horn of Africa,”
568–69
; in general, see Mekouria, “Christian Aksum.”
. See Du Bois, World,
203
; Isaac, Ethiopian Church,
26
, on Prester John; in more detail, see Hansberry, Pillars,
110–50
.
. See Isaac, Ethiopian Church,
24
.
. Isichei, History,
47
. In general, see Cerulli, “Relations.”
. Isichei, History,
46–47
.
. Sanneh, West African Christianity,
16
.
. Sanneh, West African Christianity,
16
.
. Isaac, Ethiopian Church,
26–27
. Isaac, Ethiopian Church,
26–27
; on Lebna Dengel’s vivid conflict with invading Muslims, full of firsthand acquaintance with Islam, see Pankhurst, Chronicles,
49–69
(noting also a Muslim who became a Christian,
67
). When the Portugese discovered the legendary kingdom of “Prester John,” they unsuccessfully tried to convert it to Catholicism (see Jones and Monroe, History of Ethiopia,
59–107
).
. Isaac, Ethiopian Church,
18
.
. Egyptian rather than Axumite (Ethiopian) missionaries birthed the church in Nubia (Davidson, Africa in History,
100–101
).
. Hasan, Arabs and Sudan,
131
, including an eyewitness report where they virtually begged Ethiopia to send them more clergy, but Ethiopia had none to spare.