The Anglo-Ethiopian Society
Lecture - Ethiopian Religious Politics and the Rise of Pentecos
Jörg Haustein
Wednesday 21st May 2014
5:00pm, Room G3, Main Building, SOAS, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG
Part of the SOAS African History Seminar series. The discussion is expected to finish by 6:30pm.
Free event, all welcome.
This paper looks at the political and historical parameters for the significant rise of Pentecostal Christianity in the traditionally Christian-Orthodox Ethiopia. Beginning with the origins of the movement under Haile Selassie's reign and ending in the current political and religious configuration under a Pentecostal Prime Minister, the paper traces Pentecostal interaction with the Ethiopian state and its politics. I will argue that the ostensibly apolitical narrative of "persecution" espoused by much of Pentecostalism proved to be a robust political paradigm for times of oppression, but even guides Ethiopian Pentecostal politics in its present state of religious freedom.
For more details see the SOAS website.