Elias Kifon Bongmba holds the Harry and Hazel Chair in Christian Theology and Professor Religion at Rice University and serves as President of the African Association for the Study of Religion.

• Notes on Contributors. Acknowledgments. Introduction: Elias K. Bongmba. Part I: Selected Historical Perspectives. 1. Christianity in North Africa: Elias K. Bongmba. 2. Christianity in Egypt–The Coptic Church: Youhanna Nessim Youssef. 3. Early Christian Discourses and Literature in North African Christianities in the Context of Hellenistic Judaism and Greco-Roman Culture: Gerhard van den Heever. 4. Historical Perspectives on West African Christianity: Robert Baum. 5. Early Central African Christianity: Prophets, Priests and Kings: Sara Fretheim. 6. Christianity in East Africa: Loreen Maseno. 7. The Cross in Ethiopian Christianity: Ecclesial Symbolism and Religious Experience: Jon Abbink. 8. The Bible in an African Christianity: South African Black Theology: Gerald West. 9. Christianity and Translation in Colonial Context : Inventing Globalization: Musa W. Dube. 10. Women in African Christianities: Esther Mombo. Part II: Modern Developments and Interreligious Encounters. 11. Mission Theory and Practice in Africa: Frans Wijsen. 12. Evangelicals: Rereading Ethiopian Pentecostals and Evangelism: Tibebe Eshte. 13. African Christianity in the Post Vatican II Era: Clement Majawa. 14. Ecumenism in African Christianity: Jesse N.K. Mugambi. 15. Christianity and African Religion: Historical Dynamics of the Encounter: Laurenti Magesa. 16. Muslim-Christian Relations in Africa: An Overview of Centuries of Personal Encounters: Festo Mkenda. Part III: African Initiatives in Christianity. 17. African Initiated Christianity in Southern Africa: Ezra Chitando. 18. Pentecostalism in Eastern Africa: Martina Prosén. 19. Pentecostalism in Southern Africa: Allan H. Anderson. 20. African Christianity and Transnational Religious Networks: From Africa to America and back to Africa: Moses Biney. Part IV: Christianity, Politics, and Development. 21. Christianity and Politics in West Africa: J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu. 22. Christendom in Crisis: The Catholic Church &Postcolonial Politics in Central Africa: J.J. Carney. 23. Christianity and Politics in Southern Africa 1960-2013: James N. Amanze. 24. Christianity and Apartheid in South Africa: Robert Vosloo. 25. The African Church and Development: Richard S. Maposa. 26. Approaches to Religion and the Environment in Africa: Ernst M. Conradie. Part V: Ecclesial Life and Lived Experience. 27. Church Music in Africa: Space for Enculturation and Transformation: Emily Achieng Akuno. 28. Christianity and Sexuality in Africa: Matthews A. Ojo and Adewale J. Adelakun. 29. Christianity and Same-Sex Relationships in Africa: Adriann van Klinken. 30. From Medical Missions to Church Health Services: Elias K. Bongmba. 31. Christianity and Healing in Africa: The Anglican Church’s Holy Cross Community in Zimbabwe: Tabona Shoko. 32. Religion, Human Rights and the Future of Humanity: Some Reflections: N. Barney Pityana. Conclusion: Studying African Christianity: Future Trajectories: Elias K. Bongmba. Select Bibliography. Index.

"[This] is the most comprehensive scholarly treatment of the major historical and current trends in the academic study of Christianity in Africa."Dwight N. Hopkins, University of Chicago, USA"Christianity is a common denominator of the astonishing diversity of Africa’s fifty-four countries and more than two thousand ethnicities, languages, and indigenous religions. Elias Bongmba and his excellent collaborators—many of them African scholars—cannot hope to capture all that Christianity has been and is over the many hundreds of years it has been an African faith, yet their targeted insights offer readers both broad views and deep revelations."Allen Roberts, University of California, Los Angeles, USA