"Old Testament influences and reflections probably reached Ethiopia even before the introduction of Christianity in the fourth century and before the translation of the Bible. Monophysite Christianity, once it had taken root, became not only the official religion of the Ethiopian empire but also the most profound expression of the national existence of the Ethiopians. In its peculiar indigenized form, impregnated with strong Hebraic and archaic Semitic elements as well as pagan residua, Abyssinian Christianity constitutes a storehouse of the cultural, political and social life of the people. In speaking of this distinctive conglomerate one has to bear in mind three major manifestations in Ethiopia --Judaism, paganism, and Islam--which are either genetic ingredients of Abyssinian Christianity or at least elements of a long historical symbiosis."
P.15, "Introduction," ETHIOPIA AND THE BIBLE by Edward Ullendorff (Oxford U Press: 1967)
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
ETHIOPIA AND THE BIBLE
"Old Testament influences and reflections probably reached Ethiopia even before the introduction of Christianity in the fourth century and before the translation of the Bible. Monophysite Christianity, once it had taken root, became not only the official religion of the Ethiopian empire but also the most profound expression of the national existence of the Ethiopians. In its peculiar indigenized form, impregnated with strong Hebraic and archaic Semitic elements as well as pagan residua, Abyssinian Christianity constitutes a storehouse of the cultural, political and social life of the people. In speaking of this distinctive conglomerate one has to bear in mind three major manifestations in Ethiopia --Judaism, paganism, and Islam--which are either genetic ingredients of Abyssinian Christianity or at least elements of a long historical symbiosis."
P.15, "Introduction," ETHIOPIA AND THE BIBLE by Edward Ullendorff (Oxford U Press: 1967)