The Unsung Inspiration for the Protestant Reformation: the Ethiopian Church

[Disir]

Protestants engaged with both the Eastern Orthodox tradition and Oriental Orthodox traditions in a few consistent ways. To Protestants, it mattered immensely that Eastern branches of the church did not follow the Catholic practices of preaching purgatory, selling indulgences, or observing petrine supremacy. Luther marveled at how the churches of Armenia, Ethiopia, and India had avoided the private masses that developed in the West since Gregory the Great’s time. Luther also regarded it significant that, before there was a “pope,” there were the bishops of Ethiopia, Syria, Antioch, and Rome. The Orthodox branches were a link back to a purer, more apostolic era.

The church of Ethiopia, especially, was mentioned among early modern Christians. Reformation scholar David Daniels estimates that Luther referenced Ethiopia at least 85 times in his written works. (It was a common though mistaken belief to view Ethiopia as the first Christian kingdom. That belief was based on a particular reading of Acts 8.) Luther’s esteem only grew after he was visited by Michael the Deacon, an Ethiopian cleric, in 1534. As Daniels explains,

For Luther, the Church of Ethiopia had more fidelity to the Christian tradition. ... Thus, the Church in Europe needed to be reformed in the direction of the Church of Ethiopia. Possibly for Luther the Church of Ethiopia was proof that his reform of the Church in Europe had both a biblical and a historical basis.

To Luther, “Ethiopia” symbolized the church, and one of the most valued legacies that the Reformers identified within the Ethiopian church was its insistence on maintaining the Bible in the common language.

An Unsung Inspiration for the Protestant Reformation: the Ethiopian Church

For the Reformers, renewing the church was a Pentecost moment tied to the global body of Christ.

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I have always found the church of Ethiopia a bit fascinating. I am not sure why.

 

[Sunni Man]

Both the Ethiopian Christian Church and the Ethiopian Jews are like a sterile time capsule to the religious past. They were not tainted by the crazy ecumenical reforms and wars their european coreligionists went through. ...

 

[Thors Provoni]

TheTewahedo church has a handful of books in the NEW Testament that Protestants, Catholic and other Orthodox do not. Some or all never translated into English.

 

[Thors Provoni]

I used to have the book of Enoch, both in Laurence and Charles translations, I no longer have them. Ethiopians had Enoch in their OT Canon.

Another weird thing about Ethiopia is that some people think the Ark of the Covenant is hidden there, rather than the warehouse in the Indiana Jones movie.

Copts, Tewahedo - an unexplored area of Christianity.

 

[Picaro]

They are rather unique. I still think the Protestants choice of canon is the better one, though, as are their translations. 'Canon' isn't really a good word as a description, but it will do until something better comes along. I trust the ancient pre-exilic Jews in their own selections of 'canon' and Orthodoxy. They were on the right track toward the 'universalism' the covenant was shooting for. One problem with modern scholarship is it seems to avoid any mention of or totally ignores both the Roman wars before and after Jesus and the violent factionalism created among Jews themselves, as if they played no role in the New Testament teachings or in why Christianity was such a relative 'success' early on.