The Decline in the North African Church with reference to the state of the Church from 100 AD to 640 AD
- Johannesburg, South Africa South African Seminary Press 2012
- 146 p PDF A4 Abstract, TOC
Includes bibliographical references (p. 140-146) and abstract.
The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the reasons for the decline in the North African Church. It is generally considered that the spread of Islam brought about the destruction of the North African Churchbetween the seventh and the eighth centuries. The Churchbegan its history with encouraging growth and its message and witness spread through the Roman world. This culminated in Christianity being more readilyacceptedas ‘one of the many religions’through the declaration of the Edict of Milan by Constantine in 313AD.Difficulties also, soon arose, both externally and internally to the Church. The external pressures came through persecution (notably Decius in 250AD and Diocletian in 303AD). The internal pressures came about as different theologians and Churches argued over matters of polity and doctrine. Some of these tensions arose from such issues as Churchgovernance, worship andthe relation of the Churchto State.This thesis seeks to analyse the various reasons for the decline of the Churchin North Africa during the period 100AD –642AD.What social, political, cultural and religious reasons might have impacted on the decline of the Church?What role did doctrinal ‘heresy’ play in this decline?Was it because of the coming of Islam in the seventh century?My objective is to note that there were a variety of factors that influenced the decline of the Churchduring this period of time. I will have shown that the rise of Islam during this timehad little or no influence upon the decline of the Churchfor this period.