The Orthodox Church of Ethiopia: A History

In time.

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.

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.

I enjoyed the book. The weakness was that it was written by Baines, something he could not help. What I refer to is that Baines is an outsider looking at the inside. Such a book will be better written by someone inside (an Ethiopian or other son of Cush) about the inside. However a strength of the book is that Baines did conduct careful research on the topic. Also, the western world is still in the dark about Africa, and specifically, Ethiopia/Sudan/Kenya Christian history that indeed goes back as far as two weeks after Jesus’ ascension. I do congratulate Dr. Baines and appreciate the good work he has done on this crucially significant topic.