Ethiopian Ecclesiology

A colleague recently asked me for sources on the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and I expressed my frustration that studies, at least in English, continue to be few and to emerge rather slowly. One I just discovered was published in 2010 and has at least some bearing on both ecclesiology and ecumenism: Nequisse Andre Dominic,The Fetha Nagast and its Ecclesiology (Peter Lang, 2010), 263pp.

About this book we are told:

In the field of comparative legal history, Ethiopia is still an unknown country. One of its treasures is the Fetha Nagast, a book of law which had a great influence in the history of Ethiopia and still has great consideration in the society, with its richness in Biblical and Christian principles. This book presents for the first time an ecclesiological and missiological reflection on the Fetha Nagast. The first part of the work is focused on the origin, structure and content of this book of law. In the second part, the author presents the ecclesiology of the Fetha Nagast and its implications and prospectives in Ethiopian Catholic Church. Other aspects studied are brotherhood ecclesiology, the role of the Holy Spirit in the past and present and the notion of Church in the Fetha Nagast, as well as the history of Christianity in Ethiopia.

We are also given the table of contents:

Contents: The «Fetha Nagast» - The structure and the content of «Fetha Nagast» - The Ecclesiology of «Fetha Nagast» - Assessment of the Ecclesiological elements of Vatican II with «Fetha Nagast» and today in Ethiopian Catholic Church - The Ecclesiological/Missiological implications based on the root of the past and the present towards the future of Ethiopian Catholic Church.