The Early Church in Asia and Africa

Most Christians know the story of the early church as a journey west, from Jerusalem to Rome and on into Europe. But from the very first years, the gospel also traveled east and south. By AD 800 there were churches from Ethiopia to China, a patriarch in Baghdad, and Christians on the coast of India who traced their faith to the apostle Thomas.

The Early Church in Asia and Africa tells this little-known story in plain, readable language. It follows the Christians of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, North Africa, Arabia, India, Central Asia and China, from the apostles to the age of the Mongols.

In these pages you will meet

• the church at Antioch, where believers were first called Christians
• Armenia and Georgia, two of the first kingdoms to turn to Christ
• Frumentius, a young captive who became the first bishop of Ethiopia
• the desert fathers and mothers of Egypt
• the Persian martyrs who died under King Shapur II
• Augustine and the church of Roman North Africa
• Patriarch Timothy of Baghdad, who explained the Christian faith to the caliph
• the monks who carried the gospel along the Silk Road to China
• Sorghaghtani Beki, the Christian mother of Kublai Khan
• Rabban Sauma, a monk from Beijing who traveled to Europe and met the pope and the kings of France and England

The book also asks why so many of these churches disappeared, and why others, such as the Copts of Egypt, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Thomas Christians of India, have lasted to this day.

Every chapter has a "What We Actually Know" box that separates the historical evidence from later legend. Ancient places are always given with their modern names and countries, so you always know where you are. The book includes 31 maps, a timeline, a glossary and a list of ancient and modern place names.

Written for readers new to this history, it is an easy introduction to a part of the church's story that belongs to every Christian.