Theosis in the Ethiopian Tradition: A Preliminary Assessment

This essay represents the first formal attempt to identify themes of theosis within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawāḥǝdo Church (EOTC). The first half explores four historical phases in the development of the doctrine of theosis: Ancient Pagan, Biblical, Patristic, and Medieval and Modern. It is argued t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transformation
Main Author: Samuelson, Calum (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2023
In: Transformation
IxTheo Classification:KAA Church history
KBN Sub-Saharan Africa
KDF Orthodox Church
NBK Soteriology
Further subjects:B Eastern Orthodoxy
B Deification
B Theosis
B Hagiography
B Ethiopia
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This essay represents the first formal attempt to identify themes of theosis within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawāḥǝdo Church (EOTC). The first half explores four historical phases in the development of the doctrine of theosis: Ancient Pagan, Biblical, Patristic, and Medieval and Modern. It is argued that theosis finds strong support in the biblical corpus but that it is best to clarify which historical type one has in view due to its complex development. The second half of the paper considers themes of theosis within three genres of Ethiopic literature: Hagiography, Liturgy, and National Epic. New discoveries and insights are leveraged in order to demonstrate that although theosis lacks a precise equivalent in Classical Ethiopic, the literature of the EOTC demonstrates a strong familiarity with the basic contours of the doctrine of deification.
ISSN:1759-8931
Contains:Enthalten in: Transformation
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/02653788221139564