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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Some Aspects of Dependence and Independence of the Orthodox Church on the Feudal Class of Ethiopia |
Author: | Heyer, Friedrich |
Year: | 1982 |
Periodical: | Northeast African Studies |
Volume: | 4 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 33-38 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Ethiopia |
Subjects: | Ethiopian Church Church and State Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft History and Exploration |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/43660073 |
Abstract: | When speaking about dependence and Independence of the orthodox church on the feudal class in Ethiopia, the historian Is using criteria originating in western analytical thinking and the western emphasis on separation of church and state. A more suitable approach would give more consideration to the integration of ecclesiastical and feudal figures and groups into the one unity of 'salvation empire'. When the church supported the king in stabilising Ethiopian society, the king and the feudal class on their part accepted the orthodox ethics. Seven aspects of the problem of the dependence and Independence of the church on Ethiopian feudalism are considered. The author concludes that the feudal class has not regained consistent in itself over the 1600 years of Ethiopian Christian history. In the last 90 years in particular the structures of feudal society have changed and, in the process, the traditional symphony between church and state has been replaced by an increasingly one-sided dependency of the church on the state, and the church was used to consecrate and stabilise exploitive conditions. However, the historian may not project criticism thereof onto earlier centuries. Notes. |