Ethiopian Religious Politics and the Rise of Pentecostalism
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:00 PM to 6:30 PM
- Venue
- Faber Building, 23/24 Russell Square
- Room
- FG01
About this event
Jörg Haustein, Study of Religions, SOAS
This paper looks at the political and historical parameters for the significant rise of Pentecostal Christianity in the traditionally Christian-Orthodox Ethiopia. Beginning with the origins of the movement under Haile Selassie's reign and ending in the current political and religious configuration under a Pentecostal Prime Minister, the paper traces Pentecostal interaction with the Ethiopian state and its politics. I will argue that the ostensibly a-political narrative of "persecution" espoused by much of Pentecostalism proved to be a robust political paradigm for times of oppression, but even guides Ethiopian Pentecostal politics in its present state of religious freedom.
Organiser: Dr Marie Rodet
Contact email: mr28@soas.ac.uk