Africa and the First Echoes of Resurrection: Mike Glerup

In this episode of The Rising, Melanie welcomes scholar Mike Glerup to help widen our understanding of how the resurrection story spread in the earliest days of the church. Together they trace how the news of Jesus’ rising didn’t remain confined to Jerusalem but moved outward quickly, taking root across Africa and shaping communities, languages, and even entire cultures long before Christianity became established in the West. Mike shares why the first documented convert outside Jerusalem was an African official, how early Christian movements grew in places like Nubia and Ethiopia, and how African theologians played a vital role in preserving and interpreting the story of the risen Christ. If you’re curious about how the resurrection spread and how African Christianity helped carry the story forward, this episode offers a fresh and eye-opening look.Thought-Provoking Quotes:“I think the existence and spread of the community kind of proves the Bible, and then the Bible proves the existence of the community. It's kind of a self-reinforcing loop.” - Mike Glerup “You see that the second oldest Christian country in the world is Ethiopia, that it's been praying in an African language to God for almost 17 centuries.” - Mike Glerup “Africans have been confessing Jesus as Lord, that he died, he rose again, and he will come again, he will rise and will come in African languages for much longer than we've been doing it in English.”  - Mike Glerup“In a lot of ways, Christianity is the history of trade routes, wherever people traveled, they brought the gospel with them.” - Mike GlerupLinks, Products, and Resources Mentioned In This Episode:Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture by Thomas C. OdenNicene CreedClassical Christianity: A Systematic Theology by Thomas C. Oden *Watch this interview on the YouTube channel!  *All episode music is by Melanie Penn. Guest’s Links:Mike Glerup’s ProjectConnect with Melanie:The Rising (Album)WebsiteFacebookInstagramYouTubeSpotify*The Rising Podcast is a production of Four Eyes Media.