Culture Change in Ethiopia: An Evangelical Perspective

Alemayehu Mekonnen in Cultural Change in Ethiopia has brought a keen Christian perspective on the sweeping cultural change which has accompanied Ethiopia from Haile Selassie to the present. Be prepared to enter into the full emotion of several tragic chapters in Ethiopian history which can only be fully understood by someone who has lived through it with all of the accompanying angst about not only what happened, but what might have been. Mekonnen is a keen observer of both leadership dynamics and culture change. Drawing from his keen knowledge of cultural anthropology, Mekonnen delivers insights and a closing practical section which will be helpful to all who long to see Ethiopia thrive. With its ancient Christian history and its strategic placement as the bridge between N. Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, what happens in Ethiopia should interest all Christians everywhere.

Dr Timothy Tennent, President Asbury Theological Seminary

Growing up in the 1960s, I was vaguely aware of Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia, if only because I had heard that some believed he was semi-divine. As a young adult in the 1970s, I definitely read about the Marxist coup but had no clue why it happened. And what Westerner, alive during the horrible droughts and famines of the 70s and 80s, can forget the images of emaciated Ethiopians having to await foreign aid if they were even to survive? But how are these events linked? What was the West’s role in them all? What is Ethiopia like today and what is the role of the various branches of the Christian church there? What is the way forward? Ethiopian missiologist, Alemayehu Mekonnen, answers all these and related questions in a riveting account of key events of the last 70 years of his homeland’s history. Must reading for anyone who wants to be a truly global Christian!

Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament,

Denver Seminary

This is a book born out of the author’s deep love for his country and his people. Mekonnen wrestles with Ethiopia’s conflictive history and complex culture, as he tries to articulate a contextualized faith for Christian leaders and to chart a direction for a different future. The book is an informative and comprehensive introduction to Ethiopia that is laced with a passionate vision for authentic African Christian voices to be heard.

M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas), Distinguished Professor of Old Testament,

Denver Seminary

While sharing his fascinating journey from prison to freedom, Alemayehu Mekonnen exposes the chaotic history of Ethiopia pre-1974 under Emperor Haile Selassie and post-1974 under the Marxist-Leninist regime. The author leads the reader through the historical, anthropological, educational and religious changes that took place in Ethiopia during those years. He concludes the book with significant recommendations for the Ethiopian Evangelical church today and highlights the only solution to peace in the country (individual and national) – the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hélène Dallaire, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Director of Messianic Judaism Programs, Denver Seminary

REGNUM STUDIES IN MISSION

Culture Change in Ethiopia

An Evangelical Perspective

Series Preface

Regnum Studies in Mission are born from the lived experience of Christians and Christian communities in mission, especially but not solely in the fast growing churches among the poor of the world. These churches have more to tell than stories of growth. They are making significant impacts on their cultures in the cause of Christ. They are producing ‘cultural products’ which express the reality of Christian faith, hope and love in their societies.

Regnum Studies in Mission are the fruit often of rigorous research to the highest international standards and always of authentic Christian engagement in the transformation of people and societies. And these are for the world. The formation of Christian theology, missiology and practice in the twenty-first century will depend to a great extent on the active participation of growing churches contributing biblical and culturally appropriate expressions of Christian practice to inform World Christianity.

Series Editors

Julie C. Ma        Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford, UK

Wonsuk Ma      Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford, UK

Doug Petersen  Vanguard University, Costa Mesa, CA, USA

Terence RangerUniversity of Oxford, Oxford, UK

C.B. Samuel       Emmanuel Hospital Association, Delhi, India

Chris Sugden    Anglican Mainstream, Oxford, UK

A full listing of titles in this series

appears at the end of this book

REGNUM STUDIES IN MISSION

Culture Change in Ethiopia

An Evangelical Perspective

Alemayehu Mekonnen

Copyright © Alemayehu Mekonnen 2013

First published 2013 by Regnum Books International

Regnum is an imprint of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies

St. Philip and St. James Church

Woodstock Road

Oxford, OX2 6HR, UK

www.ocms.ac.uk/regnum

09 08 07 06 05 04 03 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The right of Alemayehu Mekonnen to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying. In the UK such licenses are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-908355-39-3

Typeset by Words by Design

Dedication to Roman K. Mekonnen

My wife, a colaborer, a true friend, and a treasured gift from God. In the last 29 years of our marriage, she has lived her Christian faith in word and deed and taught me invaluable truth about life, family, and ministry.

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One

Establishing the Context

Chapter Two

Culture and Cultural Change

Concept of Culture

Culture Change

Worldview Theory and Worldview Change

Worldview and Religion

Change Agents

Summary

Chapter Three

Cultural Leadership Values

Supernatural Power

Heredity

Orality

Bravery

Summary

Chapter Four

Cultural Leadership Patterns in Ethiopia

The Family

Modernists

Students

Military Leaders

Modern Military

Ethiopian Army under the United States’ Patronage

Mutiny

The Ethiopian Army under the U.S.S.R.’s Patronage

Recruitment and Training

The Prelates

The Emergence of Pentecostal / Charismatic Leadership

Summary

Chapter Five

The Impact of Haile Selassie’s Modernization Program

Modern Education under U.S. Tutelage

Haile Selassie’s Role

Modern Education and Culture Change

Transferred Education

The Impact of Modern Education

Church in a Changing Culture

A Call for Christian Transformation

Summary

Chapter Six

Change in the Area of Christian Faith

The Religious Environment

Ethiopians and the Spirit World

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Foreign Missions

The Rise of Ethiopian Pentecostalism

The Need for Religious Change

Focus among Students

Worship Style

The Involvement of Women

Homogeneity in the Heterogeneous Context

Costly Faith

The Pitfalls of the Pentecostal Movement

Summary

Chapter Seven

The Challenge of Marxism in the Economic Structure

Economy under Haile Selassie: The Role of the U.S.

Socialist Revolt

Economic Consequences of Eritrea’s Secession

The Issue of Poverty

Summary

Chapter Eight

Current Contextual Factors

Population Characteristics

Religious Composition

Protestant Christian Growth

The Spread of Islam

Ethnic Composition

Changes in the Area of Education

Education in the Mother Tongue

The Impact of the Ethiopian National Literacy Campaign (ENLC)

Achievements of the Literacy Campaign

The Law of Protection of Regional Languages

Political Environment

After the End of the Mengistu Era

Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front

A Call for Contextualization

Summary

Chapter Nine

An Important Question Every Leader should ask: What is Man?

Chapter Ten

The Way Forward

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Foreword

All cultures are inherently predisposed to change and at the same time to resist changes. There are dynamic processes operating that encourage the acceptance of new ideas and things while there are also others that encourage the maintenance of status quo. It is likely that socio-cultural changes induced, internally or externally, through pushes and pulls bereft of systematic deliberations can be costly with intended and unintended consequences. They can precipitate psychological chaos and cultural dislocations affecting individuals and the society at large. Ethiopia is a land of paradox. It is a land of deep traditions that has also experienced rapid change. Over the last half a century beginning from the attempted military coup d’état of the 1960 to the establishment of the current EPRDF leadership, Ethiopia has experienced gut-wrenching political changes with serious spill overs on the cultural arenas.

The Ethiopian people have experienced an identity crisis due mainly to the ontological disequilibrium engendered by the sudden, intense, and intrusive political changes that have occurred over a short span of time. One can think of the Ethiopian Diaspora, the millions of Ethiopians scattered across the globe – and who would have thought of this to happen a few decades ago? The generation of Ethiopians who lived in the immediate years of the post-Italian conquest would have a hard time to recognize the current disfigured socio-cultural landscape of the country.

The Ethiopian society saw the fall of the monarchy with deep roots in the nation’s history and the Ethiopian tradition at large, the coming of the military junta under the garb of Marxism declaring Scientific Communism as the doctrine of the state in a deeply religious society, and finally the establishment of an ethnic based federal government with massive disorienting impact on national identity. Through all these, the nation went through a fast-track progression of traumatic developments unparalleled in its history.

To my knowledge, no one has attempted to address seriously what these rapid changes meant to the Ethiopian nation, to its people at large, to the individual citizens, and to all of us as Ethiopians. Alemayehu has taken the challenge to task himself to examine the complex dimensions and issues of changes from multiple perspectives. He goes deep-down into the history of Ethiopia to set the context of his book by examining the place of the Solomonic Dynasty in the history of Ethiopia, investigating the causes and implications of its demise, analyzing the socio-economic conditions that led to the military rule and the devastating impacts it left on the country, and finally looking into the emergence of the EPRDF and the ethno-politics it has espoused as its political frame.

In tackling the theme of change, Alemayehu goes further in providing a contextualized analysis of the issue of world views and nuancing its connections with change in the framework of Ethiopia drawing fresh insights from various disciplines, particularly from the realm of cognitive Anthropology.

His contribution is unique in the sense that he makes through personal, theological, and anthropological reflections through a painstaking exploration of the macro and micro contexts of socio-cultural changes in Ethiopia by paying attention to the various, vectors/forces operating behind them: including modernity/modernization, Western style education, globalization, the proliferation of pernicious radical ideologies (religious or secular), the rapid expansion of the evangelical faith, particularly its most potent variant, Pentecostalism. In so doing, he challenges us to think judiciously in assessing the collective impacts of these developments on the cultural constitution of the Ethiopian society and its people. He provokes us to consider along the lines of continuity and change – what are aspects of our culture that have either been lost or undermined and what are the elements that have survived the test of time and continue to inform us?

Beyond this, Alemayehu weaves several themes in his larger narratives such as the culture of violence that has crept in our modern day politics which have been promoted in the name of justice under the dress of liberation movements and various political organizations with dire outcomes as was evidenced in the fratricidal strife between the left under the pretext of the Red and White terror. The unfortunate war between the left led to the disappearance of the cream of the emerging elite in ten and thousands and the resultant loss of trust among the Ethiopian intellectuals.

He also tackles the paramount issue of leadership crisis in Ethiopia. He observes that the conception of leadership in Ethiopia, which drives from the monarchical system and its feudal values, has not substantially changed because of its deep cultural roots. This is true for the secular and spiritual arena. Leadership values in Ethiopia tend to be patriarchal and often require compelling obedience. Alemayehu insists this model of leadership needs to change. Ethiopian leaders, apart from Haile Selassie, came to power blown by the wind of social and political conflicts and history. This is becoming a pattern. He questions how long should Ethiopians have to withstand this and when will they need to put a full stop to it. In his opinion, Ethiopians are desperately looking to see the emergence of a magnanimous leader in the statures of men like Nelson Mandela.

In his last chapter, The Way Forward, he develops an inclusive vision for Ethiopia by making a strong appeal for its children to make capital out of their accumulated, rich and diverse cultural archives from which they have drawn the wisdom and energy to survive in the midst of formidable odds, learning from the mishaps of their recent past, reinvigorating their spirits with passion and energy, embracing enterprising spirits, making the best use of modern technological advancements, and taking the best efforts to be globally relevant and engaging. These, he believes, will open for the present generations of Ethiopians new vistas to re-dream a new Ethiopia free from the perils of uncritically absorbing of radical ideologies and parochialism/ localism. In all these, he stays anchored in his strong Christian faith convictions and rich spiritual resources of his nation cultural repertoires, such as the fear and love of God that have the capacity to foster civility, mutual harmony, respect for each other and the appreciation of the dignity of people.

Alemayehu is not a pessimist. He makes this clear in his concluding remark. He unequivocally believes in the resilience of the Ethiopian people. Ethiopia is an undying message. Mistakes have been committed, failures, perhaps in the right direction, have also been encountered, yet he has the firm belief that redemption is possible. He declares that he is quintessentially Ethiopian for he has hugely drunk from the wellspring of its rich culture and surplus history. In making his case, he identifies all his heroes that have shaped and influenced his life beginning from his yeneta that fed him Ha Hu (ABC) to literary rebels like Abe Gubegna always insisting that the center of gravity of his life being his Master, Jesus Christ.

He wrote the book for those who gave so much for the nation whom they passionately love, for the present generation and for posterity. He is unafraid of assigning blame to those who deserve it but he is more futuristic in his position. In this, he does not exempt his own fellow believers. He wants all of us to pose, reflect critically and consider the road ahead taking into account the heavy sacrifices our fathers and all those who loved Ethiopia, have paid as children of the nation no matter what the differences. That is the only way we can meet the dreams, cries, and yearning for those who gave us their ultimate lives.

It seems to me that Alemayehu’s book triumphantly meets the intellectual demands and shows a detailed undressing of the diversity of conditions that have eventuated critical changes in Ethiopia particularly over the last five decades. What he offers is not only a synthesis but a guide and a challenge for all of us to be wise and cautious as we engineer the political space in the hope of bringing change without paying serious regard to the collateral damages.

Anyone who reads his book will realize that he is not prey to sweeping generalization to facile hopes or fears but someone who roots his work in extremely pertinent literatures concerning the multi-layered issues of culture change in Ethiopia. He wrote the book not only with thorough academic research but from his own existential, missiological, and theological perspectives. Culture Change in Ethiopia: An Evangelical Perspective is written from an intersection of faith and engagements. It is an urgent and compelling book for all Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia to read.

In this book Alemayehu has amply demonstrated that his love and commitment for his country dispelling the often-held assumptions that evangelical Christians are aloof and unpatriotic. This book is about a very crucial subject of culture change written engagingly from a holistic perspective. He is the first scholar who addressed well-rounded issues pertinent to Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, and to the countries that have undying interest in the region. Alemayehu’s work, I hope, will inspire many from his faith circles to pursue his path.

Dr. Tibebe Eshete

Visiting Assistant Professor,

Michigan State University

Acknowledgments

A writing of this nature could not be achieved by the endeavour of only one person – especially by one who started life in exile thirty two years ago with 75 American cents in his pocket. Had it not been for the encouragement, generosity and kindness, teaching and mentoring, of many godly brothers and sisters in Christ, I would not be here today, let alone the book. It is impossible to list all of the names that have positively impacted my life and enabled me to think and write with academic integrity. But I will mention some.

American Christians funded one hundred percent of my undergraduate and ninety-five percent of my graduate studies. I am forever grateful for the investment that these people made in me. All of the intellectual wealth that I gained is because of them. The late professor Norm Arnesen, who met me in my late twenties while I was teaching at East Africa School of Theology, saw my potential and worked hard to open doors of opportunity for my doctoral studies in the U.S., will never be forgotten. He was the reason for a major turning point in my academic career. I am thankful to the late Dr. Paul Hiebert, who acted as a model for a healthy blend of piety and scholarship, and challenged me to sharpen my anthropological knowledge. My good friend, professor Victor Cole, who in word and deed, demonstrated to me what godliness means, showed me the discipline of life as an African scholar, reinforced in me a healthy pride in my African heritage and deep love for the continent of Africa and has been pivotal in my professional life. My years of interaction with African and American students, their sincere questions, their pursuit of truth, and their gracious comments and challenging remarks have made an enormous contribution to the writing of this book.

As I went through my intellectual struggle in the early nineties, to reconcile the irreconcilable differences between Ethiopia and the United States, to make meaning out of life between the country of my birth and adopted country, my relationship with the Evangelical Free Churches of America as a missionary, under the leadership of Benjamin Swatsky, mended my soul that could have been torn apart. My eight years of missionary experience in Kenya and my interaction with and observation of the Evangelical Free Church Christians in America enabled me not to stereotype Americans. It is through this experience that I realized every culture has its own wheat and tares. My involvement in an almost exclusively white mission agency helped me to develop a healthy and balanced view of people. I am so grateful to them for my internal healing and I appreciate pastor Mel Loucks for introducing me to the denomination.

Had it not been for the encouragement and gentle nudging of Dr. Tibebe Eshete, this book could have not seen the light of the day. His affirmation of the content and timeliness of the message gave me the necessary energy and focus to complete the writing task. I am so grateful for the role he played in the progress of my research and his willingness to write the Foreword.

Last but not least, my gratitude goes to David Bass for proofreading. His corrections, comments, and suggestions were invaluable.

Preface

Anthropologists concur that the locus of culture is the human mind. The research or writing of culture change is not something one can do as a biologist or a chemist in the laboratory detaching oneself from the subject matter. In fact, if the student of culture is an outsider, the discipline of anthropology requires and in some circumstances demands that the researcher should involve in participant observation for a sufficient period of time so that he/she can have an emic/insider’s perspective. The Culture Change in Ethiopia is written as academic research and with a good balance of using foreign and national resources. Intentionally, I decided not to divorce myself from the study matter for three reasons: 1) I am part of the cultural change process in Ethiopia, 2) the cultural change is the reason that led me to do the research by raising ultimate questions about the meaning of existence, 3) to this day and until I die, I am directly and indirectly affected by the cultural changes in Ethiopia. Therefore, I want the reader to understand that some of my personal reflections are not intended to compromise the academic rigour the book requires but to reinforce and enlighten the findings of the research.

As I immersed myself in studying the cultural change in Ethiopia and attempted to unravel why we are where we are and why the country is lagging behind many colonized African countries, I have discovered that Ethiopian culture is wounded and needs many kinds of physicians. Many times, the war against foreign aggressors has caused the loss of lives and resources and social disintegration, and a lack of trust towards outsiders and among the nationals. The freedom that we Ethiopians boast about was costly and has kept us as one of the poorest nations in the world.

The cultural wounds that were inflicted on the Ethiopian people that led the country to search for a new identity were caused by atheistic intellectuals who were proponents of capitalism and by those who had materialistic assumptions and were protagonists of Marxism. Initially, under the guise of democracy, both groups started to fight for their ideas to prevail through their writing. Eventually, their pens turned into swords and they killed each other on the streets, at home, in schools, offices and motels, and outside in forests.

A nation so victimized by centuries of internal and external strife, conflict and struggle, came to the brink of disintegration during the Marxist revolution. As an eyewitness of this self-inflicted injury, I have seen millions thrown into jail without due process, languishing for years in starless nights and sunless days. Tears were more common than laughter. The whole nation became like a cornered animal or a bird in a cage gasping for freedom and joy. In addition, drought and starvation caused suffering for millions of Ethiopians. People were starved and thirsty for words of kindness, love, commitment, care, and justice. Our souls were darkened by fear and the inhumanity of man. Life became nothing.

The sword that caused the horrifying bloodshed also cut off the maker that brought us into existence. Life had to be understood, defined and lived with a new Godless theory or principle. If one does not embrace this ideology voluntarily, it will be enforced and people will be coerced to believe in it. Rejection of Marxism can cause imprisonment, torture, and even death.

Intentionally and unintentionally, the leadership in Ethiopia has conditioned the people to the pursuit of misery. As I stated in the book, the effect is manifested in all aspects of life to this day. Growing up in this cultural background, I came to the United States in my early twenties, a country that crafted her constitution to enable her citizens to have a pursuit of happiness. The two countries, economically, technologically, politically, and culturally are a world apart. However, it was a startling discovery to me how the two are connected, and how the political, economic, academic, military, and diplomatic relationship impacted Ethiopians. It was during the journey of my life in these two countries that I was determined to understand the meaning of my existence. Even if people live under the guise of poverty and affluence, without the knowledge of Jesus Christ, despair is a common phenomenon for all mankind. When life itself is death-bound, neither atheistic democracy nor materialistic philosophy can give ultimate hope to people. That is what we are trying to scrutinize in this book.

In a subject as wide-ranging as this one, a person cannot muster every argument in one book. As I researched the Culture Change in Ethiopia, I decided to approach it from the anthropological, theological and missiological angles. Hence, the book is not dealing with a systematic study of the Marxist revolution or the Evangelical movement in Ethiopia. For an analytical study of the Marxist revolution, I strongly recommend to readers the two books brilliantly written by Messay Kebede: Ideology and Elite Conflicts: Autopsy of Ethiopian Revolution, and Radicalism and Cultural dislocation in Ethiopia, 1960-1974. For an understanding of the Ethiopian Evangelical Movement, I recommend Tibebe Eshete’s The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: Resistance and Resilience as a mine of historical information.

Introduction

Life seldom unfolds as we planned. Circumstances beyond our control often block our progress and divert our direction. For some, such crises are opportunities to be creative and innovative. For others, the interference in their goals and plans puts them in a quandary that can lead them into the doldrums. I experienced neither innovation nor depression as a result of the abrupt and drastic change that happened in my country of origin, Ethiopia. I was often on the brink of death with no capacity for making a long-term plan in the last five years of the 1970s. No matter how unbearable my circumstances were, those experiences under the Marxist government left me with lifetime questions – questions that led to the writing of this book. Hence, the anthropological concepts, theology, and Christology that I developed are a reflection of my praxis in a given historical and cultural context. Just as Paul repeatedly referred to his experience on the road to Damascus in the New Testament, I have no option but to begin in the context where God revealed his son, Jesus Christ, to me – that is, my home country, Ethiopia. Our Christology cannot be divorced from our Christo-praxis, the story of our Christian life, our society and our culture.

In order to make sense, the history of the church in Africa must be written, taught and understood in the light of the historical, political, and socio-economic context of the entire continent and of each individual country. If one desires to understand the present situation of the Congolese church, one must start before the time of colonialism and be willing to be brutally honest about the involvement of Belgium, the United States, France, and others. If one wants to understand the history of the Ethiopian church, one has to start around the beginning of the second century and analyze the influence of the Middle East, North Africa, the United Kingdom, the Italian invasion, the involvement of the United States, and finally, of the Soviet Union. Neither Christianity nor culture happens in a vacuum. Andrew Walls rightly said; It is our past which tells us who we are; without our past we are lost. The man with amnesia is lost, unsure of relationships, incapable of crucial decisions, precisely because all the time he has amnesia he is without his past. Only then when his memory returns, when he is sure of his past, he is able to relate confidently to his wife, his parents, or know his place in a society (2002:13). When done with academic integrity, history is like a good mirror. It shows the naked truth of those who are involved and teaches a valuable lesson to the present generation.

From 1973 until I left the country through the Kenyan border to seek asylum in December 1979, living in Ethiopia was like driving a car with a shattered windshield through an impenetrable fog. Or, if you grew up in Africa like I did, it was like riding a horse in a dense forest in darkness. You could hardly see anything, near or far. But because you were alive, you moved on. Yet you moved toward an immeasurable goal and an undetermined destiny. In those days, there were few choices and they were mostly negative. They included torture, imprisonment, hunger and poverty. The lucky ones were forced into exile.

At the age of seventeen in Bale, Goba, with