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The Orthodox Church of Ethiopia: A History Paperback – November 30, 2018

by John Binns (Author)

4.3 19 ratings

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Surrounded by steep escarpments to the north, south and east, Ethiopia has always been geographically and culturally set apart. It has the longest archaeological record of any country in the world: indeed, this precipitous mountain land was where the human race began. It is also home to an ancient church with a remarkable legacy. The Church of Ethiopia is the only pre-colonial church in sub-Saharan Africa; today it has a membership of around forty million and is rapidly growing. This book is the first major study of a community which has developed a distinctive approach different from all other churches. John Binns explains how its special features have shaped the life of the Ethiopian people, and how political changes since the overthrow of Haile Selassie have forced the Church to rethink its identity and mission. He discusses the famous rock-hewn churches; the Ark of the Covenant (claimed by the Church and housed in Aksum); medieval monasticism; relations with the Coptic Church; centuries of co-existence with Islam; missionary activity; and the Church's venerable oral traditions of poetic allegorical reflection.

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About the Author

John Binns is Visiting Professor of Eastern Orthodox Studies at the University of Cambridge and Vicar of Great St Mary’s, Cambridge. He serves also as Chairperson of the charity Partners for Change Ethiopia. His previous publications are An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches (2002) and Ascetics and Ambassadors of Christ: The Monasteries of Palestine, 314–631 (1994).

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ I. B. Tauris; New edition (November 30, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 178831395X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788313957
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches

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Wendy L Belcher

Scholarly and sympathetic history of the EOTC

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2019

Dr. Binns has written an excellent account of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, considering both its narrative about itself along with the scholarship on it. He eschews the racist ideas that have marred some previous accounts. He puts the church in its larger global context, aided no doubt by his previous writing on eastern orthodoxy. The style of writing is clear and accessible. It would work well for an intro undergrad course on Ethiopia or world Christianities.

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Arthur Digbee

An interesting history with a weak organization and sources of uncertain reliability

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2024

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This book offers an interesting introduction to a Christian nation that the West has long failed to understand, or even recognize. Binns explains the history of Judaism in Ethiopia, which seems to have helped pave the way for Orthodox Christianity. Disputes that other churches have resolved, such as the choice of the Jewish Sabbath or Christian Sunday as the day of rest, have remained alive here - and the church recognizes both. It also sees itself as neither Chalcedonian or non-Chalcedonian, but pre-Chalcedonian. I recommend that you look that one up.

Binns frames this story by arguing that Ethiopia has defined itself by monarchy, language, and faith for over two millennia. It dates its Christian history to a thousand years before Christ, when Ethiopia’s queen visited King Solomon and returned with the Hebrew Bible (and their son Menelek in her womb). One tradition maintains that the Ark of the Covenant is still in Ethiopia. Binns has talked with some of its keepers. Ethiopia saw a break in that history of faith, language, and monarchy with the 1974 coup. Another era began in 1991, when a new government brought about a multi-faith, multi-language federation.

Binns is most interested in comparing Ethiopian orthodoxy with other Orthodox traditions, Roman Catholicism, and Judaism. He also wants to highlight shared features with Islam. This interest reflects his work on ecumenism. That is a worthy project, though it may lead him to exaggerate similarities and minimize differences. The same is true of his faith-language-monarchy theme, which clearly overstates the continuities in Ethiopian history.

In addition to these biases, which you will find in any history, the book has two significant flaws. The first concerns sources. Binns relies heavily on his own travels in Ethiopia and on the oral accounts from the people he lives among – who are apparently all men. He does not think critically about cultures and oral traditions as an anthropologist might, though he does describe the tradition of oral learning and memorization that gives one confidence in the country’s ability to transmit history across the generations. At times, Binns navigates the church’s oral traditions, myths, and modern scholarship in such a way so as not to offend his friends. This results in some inconsistencies. I think that recognizing alternative views - about the Ark of the Covenant, say – would help.

Second, Binns chose to organize the book not chronologically but thematically. As you might expect, this leads to some repetition across chapters as he sets the stage anew for some historical periods. To take only one example among many, we get the story of Emperor Téwodoros’s suicide twice. In addition, this thematic approach can lead to chronological backtracking even within chapters as he tries to build the story around his themes without giving priority to the sequence of events. Sometimes this weakens the coherence of the narrative as Binns begins a chapter in one period and then reaches back to tell the history behind that period.

Quite aside from chronology, this approach also weakens his thematic approach. For example, Binns argues that many doctrinal debates also connect to political struggles among regions or clans. Once Islam arrives, politics and religious differences become closely connected. That means he separates the themes of politics and religion while arguing that they are also closely connected with one another.

In short, the problem of sources affects the “what,” the reliability of the facts Binns presents, while his organizational choices undercut the “why,” the factors that explain the history. As a kind of travel story, “things I have learned about Ethiopian religion,” it hangs together well enough. However, I did not find the overall account entirely satisfactory.

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