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Church Unearthed in Ethiopia Rewrites the History of Christianity in Africa
The Smithsonian ^ | December 10, 2019 | Andrew Lawler

Posted on 06/03/2020 4:01:16 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

In the dusty highlands of northern Ethiopia, a team of archaeologists recently uncovered the oldest known Christian church in sub-Saharan Africa, a find that sheds new light on one of the Old World’s most enigmatic kingdoms—and its surprisingly early conversion to Christianity.

An international assemblage of scientists discovered the church 30 miles northeast of Aksum, the capital of the Aksumite kingdom, a trading empire that emerged in the first century A.D. and would go on to dominate much of eastern Africa and western Arabia. Through radiocarbon dating artifacts uncovered at the church, the researchers concluded that the structure was built in the fourth century A.D., about the same time when Roman Emperor Constantine I legalized Christianty in 313 CE and then converted on his deathbed in 337 CE...

According to Ethiopian tradition, Christianity first came to the Aksum Empire in the fourth century A.D. when a Greek-speaking missionary named Frumentius converted King Ezana. Butts, however, doubts the historical reliability of this account, and scholars have disagreed over when and how the new religion reached distant Ethiopia.

“This is what makes the discovery of this basilica so important,” he adds. “It is reliable evidence for a Christian presence slightly northeast of Aksum at a very early date.”

While the story of Frumentius may be apocryphal, other finds at the site underline how the spread of Christianity was intertwined with the machinations of commerce. Stamp seals and tokens used for economic transactions uncovered by the archaeologists point to the cosmopolitan nature of the settlement. A glass bead from the eastern Mediterranean and large amounts of pottery from Aqaba, in today’s Jordan, attest to long-distance trading. Woldekiros added that the discoveries show that “long-distance trade routes played a significant role in the introduction of Christianity in Ethiopia.”

(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: africa; aksum; aksumempire; aksumitekingdom; ancientchurch; archaeology; christianity; constantine; ethiopia; godsgravesglyphs; romanempire; trade
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Islam is not Abrahamic. They just made up a connection to him. The other two are from his direct descendants.


21 posted on 06/03/2020 11:46:00 PM PDT by Defiant (I hope the Russians trick me into voting for Trump again in 2020.)
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To: Defiant
The Abrahamic religions, also referred to collectively as Abrahamism, are a group of Semitic-originated religious communities of faith that claim descent from the Judaism of the ancient Israelites and the worship of the God of Abraham. The Abrahamic religions are monotheistic, with the term deriving from the patriarch Abraham (a major biblical figure from the Old Testament, who is recognized by Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others).[2]

Abrahamic religions spread globally through Christianity being adopted by the Roman Empire in the 4th century and Islam by the Islamic empires from the 7th century. Today the Abrahamic religions are one of the major divisions in comparative religion (along with Indian, Iranian, and East Asian religions).[3] The major Abrahamic religions in chronological order of founding are Judaism (the base of the other two religions) in the 7th century BCE,[4] Christianity in the 1st century CE, and Islam in the 7th century CE.

22 posted on 06/03/2020 11:59:45 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Is that supposed to be a dispute to my point? Because it doesn’t address my point.


23 posted on 06/04/2020 12:03:21 AM PDT by Defiant (I hope the Russians trick me into voting for Trump again in 2020.)
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To: Defiant

You don’t have a point considering Christianity came about through the belief of Christ.


24 posted on 06/04/2020 12:06:36 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

What grade are you in? Christianity is Abrahamic because God fulfilled Jewish prophecy through Christ, who was Jewish. Christians adopt all that came before Christ as the word of God, as well as the Gospel.

Islam made up a religion and invented a claim 700 years later that Abraham was the ancestor of Arabs. No one had ever suggested any such thing prior to him.

Identity theft does not make you into the person you pretend to be. Islam is not Abrahamic, it is only Muhammadan.


25 posted on 06/04/2020 7:20:58 AM PDT by Defiant (I hope the Russians trick me into voting for Trump again in 2020.)
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To: Defiant
What grade are you in?
Obviously above your third grade level as you run from your original idiotic statement that "The other two are from his direct descendants."
Christianity is a universal religion that anyone, like Islam, can become.
Christianity is Abrahamic because God fulfilled Jewish prophecy through Christ, who was Jewish.
You just blew off your "direct descendants" argument.
Christians adopt all that came before Christ as the word of God, as well as the Gospel.
Christians supersede The Old Testament with The New Testament but that means absolutely nothing in regard to your ridiculous "direct descendants" claim. Jewish people reject the Gospel so your difference in beliefs on what came after is not relevant to Abrahamic religions.
Islam made up a religion and invented a claim 700 years later that Abraham was the ancestor of Arabs. No one had ever suggested any such thing prior to him.
Seven hundred years after Christ you mean. Abraham was thousands of years before, which is who we are discussing here, not Jesus Christ which has nothing to do with Abrahamic religions.
Identity theft does not make you into the person you pretend to be. Islam is not Abrahamic, it is only Muhammadan.
OK, so you are a badly confused Liberal crying "identity theft".

Bottom-line is Muslims believe in the tradition of the God that revealed himself to Abraham. Therefor Islam is an recognized Abrahamic religion.

26 posted on 06/04/2020 9:29:18 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Defiant

Defiant, let’s do a little quiz:
Name the two Abrahamic religions that don’t believe in Jesus Christ as The Son Of God.
A) Judaism
B) Christianity
C) Islam


27 posted on 06/04/2020 9:43:28 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Name the two Abrahamic religions that don’t believe in Jesus Christ as The Son Of God

Right there is your mistake, accepting the false claim that islam is an Abrahamic religion. I don't. Are you also Muslim by chance? If a stranger falsely claimed to be descended from your grandfather, would you welcome him as a relative? I guess you probably would.

28 posted on 06/04/2020 12:18:45 PM PDT by Defiant (I hope the Russians trick me into voting for Trump again in 2020.)
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To: Defiant
If a stranger falsely claimed to be descended from your grandfather, would you welcome him as a relative? I guess you probably would.
What you posted is so simple and so wrong. As my quiz for you shows, Judaism doesn't believe in Christ as The Son of God either. Which you were saying was crucial for Christians to be an Abrahamic religion.

Muslims with their religious worship of the God of Abraham is not dependent on who they are descendant from.
Just like my Christian belief is not dependent on who I am descendant of. Anyone can become a Muslim like anyone can become a Christian. Since you dropped your argument about Christ, I'll take it you are not big enough to admit your error.

29 posted on 06/04/2020 4:35:06 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Defiant
Right there is your mistake, accepting the false claim that islam is an Abrahamic religion. I don't. Are you also Muslim by chance?
Was Pope John Paul II a Muslim?
John Paul II, address to the Catholic community of Ankara, Turkey, November 29, 1979

“Faith in God, professed by the spiritual descendants of Abraham–Christians, Muslims and Jews–when it is lived sincerely, when it penetrates life, is a certain foundation of the dignity, brotherhood and freedom of men and a principle of uprightness for moral conduct and life in society. And there is more: as a result of this faith in God the Creator and transcendent, one man finds himself at the summit of creation. He was created, the Bible teaches, ‘in the image and likeness of God’ (Gn 1:27); for the Qur’an, the sacred book of the Muslims, although man is made of dust, ‘God breathed into him his spirit and endowed him with hearing, sight and heart,’ that is, intelligence (Surah 32.8).

“For the Muslims, the universe is destined to be subject to man as the representative of God: the Bible affirms that God ordered man to subdue the earth, but also to ‘till it and keep it’ (Gen. 2:15). As God’s creature, man has rights which cannot be violated, but he is equally bound by the law of good and evil which is based on the order established by God. Thanks to this law, man will never submit to any idol. The Christian keeps to the solemn commandment: ‘You shall keep no other gods before me’ (Ex 20:30). On his side, the Muslim will always say: ‘God is the greatest.’

“I would like to take advantage of this meeting and the opportunity offered to me by the words that St. Peter wrote to your predecessors to invite you to consider every day the deep roots of faith in God in whom also your Muslim fellow citizens believe, in order to draw from this the principle of a collaboration with a view to the progress of man, emulation in good, and the extension of peace and brotherhood in free profession of the faith peculiar to each one.”

Note: "...the spiritual descendants of Abraham–Christians, Muslims and Jews..."
30 posted on 06/04/2020 4:47:07 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Defiant
Is President Trump a Muslim?
President Trump announced Friday that all houses of worship would be considered “essential services” and urged governors to “do the right thing” and reopen them immediately — adding that he would “override” them if they didn’t.

“Today, I am identifying houses of worship, churches, synagogues, and mosques, as essential places that provide essential services,” Trump declared in a sudden White House briefing.

“At my direction, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is issuing guidance for communities of faith,” he said.


31 posted on 06/04/2020 4:50:44 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Defiant
Sorry to pee in your descendant punch bowl...
Âdam or Aadam (Arabic: آدم‎, romanized: ʾĀdam) is believed to have been the first human and nabi (Arabic: نَـبِي‎, prophet) on Earth, in Islam.[1] Adam's role as the father of the human race is looked upon by Muslims with reverence. Muslims also refer to his wife, Haawa (Arabic: حَـواء‎, Eve), as the "mother of mankind".[2] Muslims see Adam as the first Human on Earth, as the Quran states that all the Prophets preached the same faith of Islam (Arabic: إِسـلام‎, 'Submission' (to God)).

32 posted on 06/04/2020 4:56:58 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

+1!


33 posted on 06/05/2020 8:19:42 PM PDT by KC_Lion
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To: SunkenCiv

That was Haile Selassie of you.


34 posted on 06/05/2020 8:20:49 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator
:^) Rasta la vista!

35 posted on 06/05/2020 8:22:01 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Great Thread, thank you for posting C.P.!


36 posted on 06/05/2020 8:33:03 PM PDT by KC_Lion
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