ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY ON WEST AFRICA

Argumentative Essay on West Africa

Argumentative Essay on West Africa

Introduction

The Christian religion was founded in what is today Israel and Palestine 2000 years ago at the beginning of the Common Era. Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, a Jewish teacher and prophet. Early Christians (followers of Christ) believed that Jesus was divine in that he was the son of God. This is a major difference between Christianity and Judaism and Islam, the two other major monotheistic religions. Judaism does not hold that any of their great prophets were divine. And although God spoke directly to Mohammed through the angel Gabriel, Islam does give him the status of being divine.

Argumentative Essay on West Africa

Although the early Christian church suffered persecution at the hands of Roman officials, the fact that Palestine was part of the Roman Empire facilitated the rapid spread of Christianity. Christianity, like Islam, is a proselytizing religion. This means that followers of these religions believe that it is their duty to share their religion and try to convert others to their religion. Early Christians came from the Jewish tradition, but they believed that the message and teachings of Jesus were meant for all people, and they used the transportation networks (roads, shipping routes) to spread the message of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire-or the Mediterranean World-areas of western Asia, North Africa, and southern Europe that bordered the Mediterranean Sea.

Look at the Map Christianity in Africa, notice how close Africa is to Palestine where Christianity started. Given this proximity, it is not surprising that Christianity spread to Egypt and North Africa in the first century C.E. Indeed, Egypt, particularly the city of Alexandria, became an important center of this new religion. Unfortunately, Christians today don't know much about the rich tradition of Christianity in Egypt and North Africa. This is because of the divisions that developed in Christianity in the first centuries of its existence.

In many religions in the centuries following the death of the founder of the religion, their followers quarrel over issues of belief and practice. This is what happened in the case of Christianity. Unlike the case with Islam, in the early centuries of Christianity, there was no sacred text of the teachings and revelations of Jesus. Moslems had the Quran to guide them after the death of Mohammed. Jesus left no such written testament. There ...