Tähadiso Movement a Myth or Reality? Inter-Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church Rivalries

Abstract

Religious reformist movements are often described to have lasting socio-economic and political outcomes in a given setting. This paper aims to understand the development of the Tähadiso movement within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church and the complexity of rivalries emerging. The paper will further try to show the populist representation of reformist concepts of the Tähadiso movement within and outside the church by drawing on discourses regarding the contentions, the struggles, and the controversies surrounding the Tähadiso reformist groups as raised by different actors. The central questions to be dealt with in this paper include: what is Tähadiso? How does the movement evolve through time? How can Tähadiso movement be best understood, as an established reformist movement, a sect within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church (EOTC), or a myth? Who has an active agency in the reformist movement? What effects and implications do such movements have on the church? By expounding on these questions, this paper will sketch out the understanding of the embryonic idea of Tähadiso and its place within the contemporary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church.