Many people who know a lot about the Bible know little about what happened right after the time of the Bible, after Jesus and His apostles. This is the period of time from A.D. 100 to A.D. 500. Few Christians are aware that the very greatest of all thinkers, scholars, and leaders of this time were found on the continent of Africa. The five individuals selected [and discussed below] all lived in North Africa.
Athanasius [ath-uh-NAY-shuss]
This black African was one of the most important people in the history of Christianity. He lived about A.D. 296-373. The truth about who Jesus really is was being wrestled with during that time in history, and opinions went back and forth like a seesaw. A man named Arius [AIR-ee-us] came into power and claimed that Jesus was someone less than God, made by God, and was not eternal.
Thank God that Athanasius was raised up to defend the New Testament truth that Christ is God (John 1:1; 20:28; Heb. 1:8). Jehovah's Witnesses hold that Christ is a created being and not fully divine. Also Orthodox Jewish people and Unitarians do not accept Jesus as deity (or truly, uniquely the eternal Son of God). However, Athanasius (in his book about the Incarnation) taught that Jesus is God the Son who was also fully human. Athanasius wrote that book, which was his masterpiece, when he was only in his twenties. Also Athanasius's "Easter Letter" (A.D. 367) provides us with the earliest surviving list of the 27 New Testament books that we have now.
Because his beliefs at first were unpopular, Athanasius had to escape his home base on at least five different occasions, covering a period of 17 years. Even the Roman Emperor Constantine [KAHN stun-teen] who was supposedly a Christian, was against Athanasius. Yet, by the time of the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381, the orthodox view of Athanasius about Christ won out. Historic Christianity owes an immense debt to this brave black believer.
Augustine [AW-guss-teen]
Others pronounce this man's name as [aw-GUSS-tin], accenting the second syllable. Either way, he was the greatest theological thinker for 1,000 years betweeen the apostle Paul and Thomas Aquinas [uh-KWEYE-nuss] in the mid-A.D. 1200s. He lived from A.D. 354 to 430.
Augustine was born in a place called Tagaste in the northern part of Africa (now Krarnas, Algeria). He was like Timothy of the New Testament-with a Christian mother and a non-believing father.
Like a lot of wayard sons, Augustine drifted from God - living for 13 years with a mistress and fathering an illegitimate son (whom he named "Gift of God"). Augustine left Africa for a while to become Communications Professor at the State University of Milan (Italy). There he was impacted by the blockbuster preaching of a man named Ambrose.
Augustine is one of those rare people who had a miracle experience by the drop open method of using the Bible. One day he heard a child's voice close by saying "Take up and read. Take up and read." He concluded that he was being told to pick up the Bible and read where it landed. It landed on Romans 13:13-14, which told him to get rid of his wild lifestyle and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. This experience changed Augustine's life.
Eventually Augustine became a church bishop in Africa and continued in that position for 33 years until his death. Today we talk about vandalism. That word goes all the way back to a group of terrorizing barbarian people called the Vandals who overran the place where Augustine lived in North Africa one year after he died.
Because Augustine's people faced this threat, he wrote a masterpiece, still read today entitled the City of God. He also wrote about his turning to Christ in his book entitled Confessions. "True confession is good for the soul!"
Tertullian [turr-TUHL-yuhn]
Lived about A.D. 170-215 and was a native of Carthage in North Africa. Tertullian was a sharp-minded lawyer who was converted to Christ as an adult. Tertullian was an apologist [uh-PAH-luh-jist]. An apology- in this meaning of the word - is not sayin gyou're sorry for something, but defending it, so Tertullian was a champion for the Christian cause, a lawyer for the Lord.
- Tertullian was the first major Christian to write in the Latin language (of the Roman Empire)
- Tertullian is considered to be the one who came up with the term "Trinity" to refer to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Ghost)
- Tertullian appears to be the first Christian thinker to write on the subject of psychology
- Tertullian left a famous saying-that "the blood of the martyrs is [the] seed [of the church]." In other words, as Christians lay down their lives for Christ, other Christians spring up to take their place
- Tertullian seems to have been a red-hot preacher with whom there was rarely a dull moment!
Clement [KLEH-mint]Clement lived about A.D. 155-220. He is considered to bee the first truly great Christian scholar. Church historian, Burce Shellley, in Church Histor in Plain Language, page 96, called Clement "a pastor to philosophers" because he as like a missionary to the intellectuals of that time. Although he was apparently from the country of Greece, he settled in Alexandria, Egypt, where he waas the head of a Christian school for more than 10 years. Clement was sort of like a Christian leader today who might work evangelically with students on a large secular university campus.
Since Clement worked among people who were heavily into head-stuff, tried to show them how Christ is the source of all true reason. True "knowledge" for Clement came from the revelation found in the Bible.
Origen [OAR-ih-jin]
He lived about A.D. 185-254 probably surpassed Clement when he took over the same school that Clement had headed up. Origen wsa a native to Africa, in Egypt.
Origen became the greatest Christian scholar of his time and wrote even more books than Clement had written. He was in charge of the school at Alexandria for 28 years. Origen wrote commentaries on just about every book in the Bible. He also wrote the equivalent of a four-volume set of book on Christian teaching (or doctrine). Today it would be called systematic theology.
Origen wasn't what some people today call an "ivory tower" scholar. He couldn't escape persecution. As a teenager, Origen's own father had been killed because his father believed in Christ. The only reason the teenage son also didn't die was that his mother hid his clothes from him so he couldn't leave the hous! Again and again (like Paul in Acts 9:23-25 and 2 Corinthians 11:32-33) Origen was forced to flee for his life. In fact, eventually he was put in prison and tortured, and after several years he died for his faith.
