Review of book, "Pentecostalism and Orthodox Christianity"

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Matthew
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Review of book, "Pentecostalism and Orthodox Christianity"

Post by Matthew »

I have seen a review of what might be a very interesting read for anyone who may have been a convert from Evangelicalism to Orthodoxy.

The book is calling Monophysite Heresy church "Orthodox" , and the author is a convert from the Ethiopian Monophysites to the Pentecostalists, but be that as it may it will likely be very interesting to read. Here is a small sample from the review:

Even if we find here and there praises and blames, the book remains a scholarly work intent on providing understanding rather than eulogy. This restraint to an objective account is all the more remarkable, given the personal dimension of the book to the author, who is himself a convert from Orthodox Christianity to evangelical faith.

The first purpose of the book is Tibebe’s intention to correct the dearth of scholarly studies on the evangelical movement in Ethiopia. Misinformation and bias explain the neglect: many Ethiopianists still consider the movement as marginal and foreign-inspired, which is typically summed up by the Amharic term of “mete haymanot.” The label of “imported religion” gave the justification for covert persecution during Haile Selassie’s reign and overt persecution after the establishment of the Derg and socialism. Through its cadres, the Derg used all means, including violence and coercion, to eradicate the movement. The tangible result of this systematic attempt to eradicate was, however, a phenomenal growth of the movement. From one percent of the population in the early 1960s, the movement grew to 6 million in 1994 (some estimates put the number at 12 million). Hence the main question of the book: what explains this remarkable expansion in a country fraught with adverse forces to the faith?

which can be viewed here:

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/33150

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