Introduction-The-Ethiopian-Pentecostal-Movement-History-Identity-and-Current-Socio-Political-Dynamics

Introduction: The Ethiopian Pentecostal Movement – History, Identity and Current Socio-Political Dynamics Article in PentecoStudies · December 2013 DOI: 10.1558/ptcs.v12i2.150 CITATIONS

Introduction: The Ethiopian Pentecostal Movement – History, Identity and Current Socio-Political Dynamics

Article  in   PentecoStudies · December 2013

DOI: 10.1558/ptcs.v12i2.150

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Jörg Haustein

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Emanuele Fantini IHE Delft Institute for Water Education

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/ptcs.v12i2.150 PentecoStudies (online) ISSN 1871-7691

Introduction: The Ethiopian Pentecostal Movement – History, Identity and Current Socio-Political Dynamics

Jörg Haustein

School of Oriental and African Studies Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG

UK Joerg.Haustein@soas.ac.uk

Emanuele Fantini

University of Turin Department of Cultures, Politics and Society Lungo Dora Siena 100 A, 10153 Turin

Italy emanuele.fantini@unito.it

The expansion of the Pentecostal movement represents one of the most relevant religious and social phenomena in contemporary Ethiopia

In a country traditionally associated with Orthodox Christianity and with a historically rooted presence of Islam, official statistics about the religious affiliation of the population are increasingly marked by the rise

of Protestantism While estimated to account for less than 1 per cent

The 2007 Population and Housing Census counts almost 14 million Protestants, namely 18.6 per cent of the population, next to 43.5 per cent

1 Tibebe Eshete, The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: Resistance and Resilience

(Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2009), p 2.

2 Office of the Population and Housing Census Commission, The 1984 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa: Office of the Population and Housing

Census Commission, 1991), p 60; Office of the Population and Housing Census

Commission, The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa:

Office of the Population and Housing Census Commission, 1998), vol 2, p 129.

of Orthodox Christians and 33.9 per cent of Muslims.3 The Demographic and Health Survey of 2011 suggests that growth of Protestantism has

These figures indicate that Protestantism is the fastest-growing religious group in Ethiopia and that it is home to “one of the fastest growing

African states with the highest numbers of Evangelicals and Pentecostals

in absolute terms, next to countries more often associated with these groups, like Nigeria, Kenya or the Democratic Republic of Congo Pentecostal groups are among the main protagonists behind this rise of Protestantism in Ethiopia, contributing also to the spread of Charismatic theological notions and spiritual practices among mainline Evangelical Churches

This expansion has undoubtedly benefited from the new institutional climate of religious freedom inaugurated since 1991 under the current political regime dominated by the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) In particular, the 1995 Federal Constitution affirms the separation of religion and state as well as the principle of no interference by the government in religious matters and vice versa (art 11), guarantees the freedom of religious belief, expression and association (art 27), and acknowledges the possibility of official recognition of religious marriage ceremonies and religious courts’ rulings on personal and family issues (arts 34 and 78) However, the EPRDF’s accommo-dating attitudes have also been matched with a political strategy aiming at controlling spiritual institutions, either by seeking to influence or co-opt religious leaders, or limiting religious activities to carefully delimited and

government and Pentecostalism has taken on a new dimension with the leader of the country, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, for the first time being not an Orthodox Christian, but a Pentecostal himself

3 Population Census Commission, Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census (Addis Ababa: Population Census Commission,

2008), p 17.

4 Central Statistical Agency, Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey 2011

(Addis Ababa: Central Statistical Agency, 2012), p 36.

5 A Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p 115.

6 Cf J Haustein and T Østebø, “EPRDF’s Revolutionary Democracy and Religious

Plurality Islam and Christianity in post-Derg Ethiopia”, Journal of Eastern African Studies 5.4 (2011), pp 755–72.

Within this context, the expansion of the Ethiopian Pentecostal movement is widely perceived as introducing several elements of novelty and originality and as challenging traditional power structures and relationships This is partially related to the increasing visibility and influence of neo-Charismatic groups advocating a more active and influential Christian presence in public affairs, challenging the secular approach and the epistemological foundations of the contemporary Ethiopian state In addition, Pentecostals are usually associated with processes of economic development and social transformation that are reshaping contemporary Ethiopia, not only in urban areas, where they are seen as particularly effective in attracting “modern”, educated and dynamic people, particularly among the youth, but also in rural contexts

In fact, Pentecostalism in Ethiopia remains foremost a rural phenomenon, scoring the highest rates of percentage growth among the population in the southwestern peripheries of the former Ethiopian empire, currently incorporated in the regional states of Gambella, Benishangul-Gumuz, and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region, and in western Oromia zones like Welega The fact that these are also the fastest-growing regions in terms of overall population contributes to explaining the rise

of Protestantism in official national statistics

Given its relevance for Ethiopian society and the broader religious dynamics in the Horn of Africa, in the last few years the Ethiopian Pentecostal movement has begun to attract increasing attention from the academic community This is confirmed by the fact that for the first time in its comparatively long history, the International Conference of

Ethiopia in 2012, dedicated an entire panel to the Ethiopian Pentecostal movement Three of the five papers presented there (Tibebe, Fantini and Freeman) have been revised and edited, and are now published in this issue Jörg Haustein’s introductory remarks have been worked into this editorial, and he has contributed a new article to this volume The editors would like to thank the contributors for the high quality and timely submission of their articles, and to thank the editorial board of

PentecoStudies for taking up this special issue.

As will be seen, the four articles collected here represent the latest research in Ethiopian Pentecostalism, exploring many facets of the movement There are three recurrent themes throughout this collection, namely the history of the movement, how to delineate the identity of the Pentecostal movement within Ethiopian Christianity, and what the socio-political dynamics of the movement entail for present-day Ethiopia This

editorial will elaborate on these three themes as a way of introducing the articles and their connections

History

The beginnings of Ethiopian Pentecostalism can be traced to Finnish and Swedish Pentecostal missionaries in Ethiopia, who entered the country in 1951 and 1959 respectively The most important centres of the Pentecostal missions were the Finnish work centre in the Addis Ababa Merkato area, opened in 1956, and the Swedish Philadelphia Church Mission in Awasa in southern Ethiopia, which was established in 1960 and became known for its annual summer conferences gathering youths from all over Ethiopia In the 1960s an Ethiopian Pentecostal movement arose, partially directly connected to the missions and partially through independent student groups that were inspired by stories about these

led to the formation of the first Ethiopian Pentecostal church in 1967, the Full Gospel Believers’ Church (FGBC), or Mulu Wongel Church as it is often called by its abbreviated Amharic name

Only a few months after its foundation, the FGBC applied for regis-tration as a religious association, being the first religious body to test the very new legislation on this matter The request was turned down, resulting in the closure of all Pentecostal meeting places The FGBC now relied on house meetings, hoping to negotiate a better outcome with the help of Swedish missionaries From the end of 1971 onward, the government increased its pressure on the secretly-operating Pentecostal cells while the latter were getting more defiant and insisted on their constitutionally granted rights of freedom of religious practice The rising conflict culminated in the arrest of approximately 250 worshippers on Sunday, 27August 1972 The legal and political aftermath of this incident did not turn out in favour of the Pentecostals, and they had to rely on

7 See Tibebe Eshete, The Evangelical Movement, pp 154–62; J Haustein, Writing Religious History: The Historiography of Ethiopian Pentecostalism (Wiesbaden:

Harrassowitz, 2011), pp 90–125.

8 For all the related events see T Engelsviken, Molo Wongel: A Documentary Report on the Life and History of the Independent Pentecostal Movement in Ethiopia 1960–1975 (Oslo: Free Faculty of Theology, 1975), pp 50–118, 142–225; Tibebe Eshete, The Evangelical Movement, pp 175–88; Haustein, Writing Religious History,

pp 137–87.

Following a short period of initial freedom after the Ethiopian revolution, the military regime of the Derg soon turned against Pentecostals, who now were subject to long-term imprisonment, torture, closure of almost all churches and dispossession of their meeting places

Pentecostals relied on decentralized underground cell structures Moreover, they now shared their lot with the majority of Evangelicals, who also suffered the closure of chapels, arrests of their leaders, and even murder Pentecostalism spread considerably in the underground, both in terms of numbers and with regard to its spread to mainline Protestants, laying the foundation for the further growth of the movement after the Derg was abolished in 1991 On account of the new government policies, Pentecostals now successfully reclaimed their dispossessed estate and were allowed to officially register their denominations, umbrella organi-zations and ministries as faith-based organiorgani-zations Their overall numbers

This points to the remarkable proliferation of Pentecostalism in the past twenty years, which is manifest in the establishment of numerous new churches and denominations, as well as in the rise of the Charismatic movement in the mainline Protestant churches, which have centrally accommodated Pentecostal practices and theology in their liturgies and

The academic evaluation of this recent development is only just beginning There are only two monographs exploring the history of

publi-cations mentioning the movement in connection with the history of

9 Regarding the activities of the Finnish and Swedish Pentecostal missions during

the Derg, see Haustein, Writing Religious History, pp 200–209.

10 Cf Haustein, Writing Religious History, p 17; Samson E Hailegiorgis:

“Contemporary Evangelicalism in Ethiopia”, paper presented to the Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in Ethiopia panel, 18th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, 30 October 2012.

11 See Haustein, Writing Religious History, pp 19–22; J Haustein, “Charismatic

Renewal, Denominational Tradition and the Transformation of Ethiopian Society” In

Evangelisches Missionswerk Deutschland (ed.), Encounter Beyond Routine: Cultural Roots, Cultural Transition, Understanding of Faith and Cooperation in Development – International Consultation, Academy of Mission, Hamburg, 17th–23rd January

2011 (Hamburg: EMW, 2011), pp 45–52.

12 Tibebe Eshete, The Evangelical Movement; Haustein, Writing Religious History.

other churches.13 The historical memory of the churches themselves reveals a contested field, with Ethiopian Pentecostals seeking to define their relationship with the Pentecostal missions, the place and role of the different revival movements forming the FGBC, the spiritual legacy

of their political oppression, and the reasons and implications of the Pentecostal proliferation to other Protestant denominations This leaves

a rich field for historical explorations, both in terms of history proper and of the negotiation of historical memory

One important historical arena in need of further clarification is the proliferation of Pentecostalism into the mainline Protestant Churches, the largest of which are the (Lutheran) Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (ECMY) and the (largely Baptist) Kale Heywet Church (KHC) While this

hardly any material with regard to the larger KHC This lack is addressed

by Tibebe Eshete’s pioneering article in this volume, which details the proliferation of Pentecostal theology and practices in the KHC while seeking a new historical model of understanding this phenomenon Tibebe shows that there was a wide and interconnected scope of student revival groups in the 1970s, beyond those which are typically acknowl-edged by Pentecostals as historical roots It is this fertile ground, he argues, which explains the early spread of Pentecostal ideas among Protestant youths, leading to the success of the Charismatic movement

later on Tibebe’s notion of nekekit (interconnectedness) is helpful for

understanding the informal and dynamic character of the movement

as a whole, since it points to the need for a thick historical description focused on personal interaction, as exemplified by Tibebe’s treatment Another area in need of more detailed exploration is the growth of Pentecostalism in the rural areas of Ethiopia, as most historical treatments tend to focus on the urban youth movements Dena Freeman’s contri-bution to this volume delineates precisely this process of Pentecostal success in the Gamo highlands in southwestern Ethiopia She shows how Pentecostals were present early on, but fairly unsuccessful in winning

13 See especially B Fargher, The Origins of the New Churches Movement in Southern Ethiopia, 1927–1944 (Leiden: Brill, 1996); Ø Eide, Revolution and Religion

in Ethiopia: Growth and Persecution of the Mekane Yesus Church, 1974–85, 2nd edn (Oxford: James Currey, 2000); J Launhardt, Evangelicals in Addis Ababa (1919– 1991): With Special Reference to the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus and the Addis Ababa Synod (Münster: Lit, 2004).

14 See especially Haustein, Writing Religious History, pp 226–47; Haustein,

“Charismatic Renewal”.

converts This all changed when the economic success of Pentecostals through a development project highlighted their cultural independence from traditional means of economic redistribution and caused others to take a closer look at the movement This is far from a simple functionalist argument, because Freeman shows that the economic success and liberty

only opens up the possibility of Pentecostal norms and practices to be

considered in traditional communities, which in turn is only the first stage in a longer conversion process Freeman’s findings therefore point

to two important facets of the historical process of Pentecostal spread First, as she shows in her example, the acceptance of Pentecostalism can happen very rapidly based on economic or cultural triggers, such

as the apple-growing business, which fuels already existing Pentecostal endeavours in a process of cultural change Second, in drawing on Joel Robbins’s understanding of conversion as a two-stage process, the long-term success of Pentecostalism is seen as far from certain, since this depends on whether converts proceed to an intellectualist appropriation

of the fairly demanding religious regime of Pentecostalism, or whether Pentecostalism just functions as a way of disconnecting individual entre-preneurs from their traditional communities

The ascendency of Hailemariam Desalegn to the office of the Prime Minister last year points to another area in desperate need of historical elucidation Hailemariam belongs to the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia (ACE), which is part of the controversial wing of Oneness Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostals reject the teaching of the Trinity and water baptism under the Trinitarian formula, instead promoting a unitarian concept of Jesus as God, and consequently baptism in the name of Jesus only This entails a very deep divide between the ACE and all other Pentecostals, which began very early on in the Ethiopian movement and continues to the present day Both sides consider each other as heretics and aggres-sively proselytize among each other’s following This of course puts Hailemariam’s ascendency in quite a different religio-political context than simply labelling him a Protestant as is often done Jörg Haustein’s paper in this volume details the missionary roots of the movement in Ethiopia, the external and internal controversies it encountered early

on, and how it weathered the political regime changes of the past forty years to become one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Ethiopia In

so doing Haustein provides the first academic history about this church, drawing on the many sources he has collected from this movement over the years, including his interviews with its founder He thus lays

the ground for further explorations of this movement, which is likely to continue to impact the country quite strongly

Identity

As these historical explorations make clear, Pentecostalism in Ethiopia

is hardly a uniform phenomenon, but a network of ideas and organi-zations collaborating with and contesting each other at the same time This network spans all of Ethiopia’s Protestantism and even extends

to Charismatic movements in the Orthodox Church In Ethiopian vernacular, there is one term to address this conglomerate: the word

originated in the late 1960s as a derisive name applied to Pentecostals, who themselves rejected its use at that time During the military regime

of the Derg, this word was increasingly applied to all Protestants as a way

of alienating and oppressing their more revivalist elements and eventually

all Protestants has survived the Derg regime, and it is increasingly used

as a self-designation as well A strong indication for this latter tendency is

contained in the recent Pew Report entitled Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, in which almost all respondents

outside of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church classified themselves as

“Pentecostal” (16 per cent), rather than as Lutheran or Baptist, which in

a representative survey in Ethiopia should have formed the majority of

the census, and the only significant umbrella organization gathering the

churches contained in this category is called the Evangelical Churches

Fellowship of Ethiopia, the term “Pente” actually points to an Ethiopian cultural practice of identity demarcation As such, it is open to multiple interpretations as it may be taken to imply organizational, confessional, theological, and/or cultural similarity, if not identity itself

Emanuele Fantini’s contribution to this volume highlights precisely this problem Embarking from the notion of a “Pente” community, he

15 For a detailed discussion, see Haustein, Writing Religious History, pp 229–32.

16 Cf Donald L Donham, Marxist Modern: An Ethnographic History of the Ethiopian Revolution (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999), pp 144,

164 Donham has documented one of the earliest uses of the term in this fashion.

17 See Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (ed.), Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center,

2010), p 140 All denominational labels come up empty; 1 per cent responded with

“Just a Protestant”.

asks whether there is any such thing as a common trajectory with regard

to public affairs, such as the engagement in politics or civil vectors of development Fantini convincingly shows that there are multiple and mutually contradictory itineraries of “Pentes” in public affairs, which not only boil down to different denominational approaches, but to contradic-tions inherent in the movement itself, built on an ambiguity of rupture and continuity or of transgression and discipline As such, the different organizations identified as “Pente” in public discourse may collaborate with the government in development or seek to improve governance without making a systemic critique At the same time they represent one

of the government’s most important structural challenges by transposing political issues into a spiritual arena, in which they claim moral and interpretative authority

The other articles in this volume address this issue as well Haustein points to the initial use of the term “Pentecostal” by the Oneness movement and the efforts of Trinitarian Pentecostal missionaries to avoid any common identification under this term Tibebe’s paper shows

how the ideological spread of ideas he labels as nekekit transcends any

notions of classical Pentecostalism and mainline Protestantism And Freeman details how the Pentecostal acceptance of traditional concepts

of evil spirits has not only bridged the gap between traditional culture and Protestantism, but also that between Protestants and Pentecostals in

a common notion of spiritual development

The point here is that “Pente” is a label encompassing both unity and difference within the Ethiopian movement, since it delineates a field of religious propositions, discussions and practices which are integrally connected, but naturally not unified This is the reason why the impact

of the movement on Ethiopia’s politics, economics and culture remains difficult to judge

Current Socio-Political Dynamics

The specificities of the Ethiopian State – namely its ethnic federalist architecture and its development model – contribute to the peculiarity of the Ethiopian Pentecostal movement’s impact on current social, political and economic processes, questioning other paradigms in Pentecostal studies in Africa

The federal structure of the Ethiopian state introduced by EPRDF with the 1995 Constitution institutionalizes ethnicity as the main criterion for political legitimacy, mobilization and participation This