African Roots in Black American Catholicism

African Roots in Black American Catholicism

• Black history in America finds its roots in Africa, particularly in the religious experiences and figures.
• Black Catholics in America trace their roots to the early Church and its African saints.
• Both Protestant and Catholic Americans found their roots in black Africans represented in the Bible.
• Origen, a prominent Church father of the third century, interpreted the "Song of Songs" through the lens of African beauty and the Ethiopian queen of Sheba.
• Origen saw the "Song of Songs" as a love poem between Solomon and the Ethiopian queen of Sheba, symbolizing the love between Christ and the Church.
• The Septuagint version of the Bible refers to the queen of Sheba as "black and beautiful."
• Origen used this figure to illustrate the Church's universality and the beauty of inclusivity with people of all nations.
• Origen also refers to the wife of Moses and Ebed-Melech, a Kushite who saved Jeremiah's life, as examples of blackness in the Old Testament.
• Kush, in the Old Testament, often referred to Nubia, a region south of Egypt.
• The black-skinned people of Nubia were influenced by Egyptian civilization, acting as a conduit between Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa.
• Nubia was a powerful black African nation, with its own pharaohs, pyramids, temples, writing system, and empire.
• The Nubian culture, though influenced by Egypt, was distinct and developed its own unique identity.
• By the 8th century BC, Nubia became the dominant power, with King Kashta assuming power in Upper Egypt.