No Afrocentric claims Catholicism or mentions Saint Augustine or Donatus, Bishop of Carthage. I know that Catholics were pro slavery, but so were Muslims(NOI), Egyptians (Coptic Christians), Jews(Hebrew Israelites). Here’s some facts :
• Donatism, which began in North Africa, taught that Christians were called to asceticism and personal purity and that holiness was proved in one’s faithfulness in enduring persecution. Those whose faith wavered under threat of death were impure and not worthy of being members of the church. The Donatists considered theirs as the only true church and refused to acknowledge ordinances administered in other churches.
• The background of Donatism involves the Roman persecution of the church. In AD 303 Emperor Diocletian mounted a severe persecution against all Christians. All churches and Christian Scriptures were to be destroyed. During the persecution, many Christians betrayed other Christians to the Romans or handed over their copies of the Bible. These traitors became known as “traditores,” or Christians who turned in other Christians to the government.
• By the 2nd century CE Christianity was divided into two driving forces in the West, theRoman and North African churches, with the latter the more dynamic of the two. Themindsets of each were fundamentally different. The Christianity of North African was very different to any other form.
• A brilliant early father, Tertullian of Carthage write prodigiously on hisinterpretation of Christianity. His tracts bear comparison with many recent tracts by uncompromising Islamists but are free of violence. His position on dress reflected Roman beliefs on clothes expressing virtue, and while also immersed in the Roman concern withclothes and sexual virtue symbolized his belief in salvation of the flesh. Although clearly influenced by Classical thinking and Stoic ideas, he attacked both repeatedly claiming his only influence was Jerusalem or Judea.
• Donatism, which began in North Africa, taught that Christians were called to asceticism and personal purity and that holiness was proved in one’s faithfulness in enduring persecution. Those whose faith wavered under threat of death were impure and not worthy of being members of the church. The Donatists considered theirs as the only true church and refused to acknowledge ordinances administered in other churches.
• The background of Donatism involves the Roman persecution of the church. In AD 303 Emperor Diocletian mounted a severe persecution against all Christians. All churches and Christian Scriptures were to be destroyed. During the persecution, many Christians betrayed other Christians to the Romans or handed over their copies of the Bible. These traitors became known as “traditores,” or Christians who turned in other Christians to the government.
• By the 2nd century CE Christianity was divided into two driving forces in the West, theRoman and North African churches, with the latter the more dynamic of the two. Themindsets of each were fundamentally different. The Christianity of North African was very different to any other form.
• A brilliant early father, Tertullian of Carthage write prodigiously on hisinterpretation of Christianity. His tracts bear comparison with many recent tracts by uncompromising Islamists but are free of violence. His position on dress reflected Roman beliefs on clothes expressing virtue, and while also immersed in the Roman concern withclothes and sexual virtue symbolized his belief in salvation of the flesh. Although clearly influenced by Classical thinking and Stoic ideas, he attacked both repeatedly claiming his only influence was Jerusalem or Judea.
