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Research Project: Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements in Ethiopia
An overview of goals, methods, research interests and current state of a doctoral research project on Ethiopian Pentecostalism
Goals
Academic research on Ethiopian Pentecostalism is fairly limited. There are very few dissertations on this topic and the history and present state of the Pentecostal/Charismatic churches in Ethiopia largely remain to be explored. At the same time a considerable amount of English and Amharic resources can be found in Ethiopia (books, bachelor and master theses, audio and video cassettes) and many of the early pioneers of Ethiopian Pentecostalism are still alive and available for interviews. Moreover, a large spectrum of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches has developed in recent years, both underground in the years of the Derg regime, as well as in the public sphere after the fall of the Derg in 1991.
My research project aims at creating an overview of the history and present situation of the Ethiopian Pentecostal and Charismatic movements by accessing these largely unexplored resources. Research is mostly conducted in Addis Ababa and two regional towns: Awasa in the predominantly Protestant south, and Bahir Dar in the predominantly Orthodox north. The material acquired in these four places often points to other regions as well, due to church connections and the mobility of the Pentecostal movement. However, a study that is representative of the whole country is hardly possible and not intended by this research project.
Research methods
- Interviews
- Much of the research relies on narrative interviews, largely dwelling on the "testimony" narrative, complemented by a specific set of questions pertaining to history, theology and organizational structures. Due to my primary research interest, most interviews were conducted at leadership levels: pastors, head quarters, bible school teachers, or missionaries. The average interview duration is roughly 1.5 hours.
- Participant observation
- Participant observation is conducted in worship programs, public meetings, bible studies, prayer groups, and other church-related meetings. Ritual formations (exorcisms, speaking in tongues, prophesy) and sermon content are of special interest here, but also the state of the building, the size of a church community and the dress code of worshipers can be of interest here, e.g. in order to evaluate the social setting of a church. Personal contacts in the field help to review the experiences and complement them with additional information.
- Collecting written resources
- Buying books and working in college libraries or archives are the third focal point of my research activities. Publicly unavailable material (letters, bachelor and master theses) is photographed digitally and stored electronically, allowing the accumulation of a helpful research archive in a short time.
Research interests
- What is Pentecostalism?
- The close cooperation between Pentecostal and Non-Pentecostal churches, the prominence of charismatic movements in mission churches, and certain debates on theological topics make it difficult to describe or structure Ethiopian Pentecostalism in classical definitional frameworks. How can Pentecostalism be described and understood in a way more compatible with the complexities of church networks in Ethiopia? Which role do classical Pentecostal topics play in the construction and relations of these networks? Which churches are of primary interest here, which ones are peripheral?
- Historiography
- The predominantly oral sources, the multiple beginnings of Ethiopian Pentecostalism, conflicting accounts by missionaries and Ethiopians, and the "race" for historical primacy with regard to the Holy Spirit movement pose some challenges to a Western historical account. Archival research can help to clarify some of the debated issues, but thick descriptions of the debates themselves and related historical constructs is equally important. How is history constructed by the actors in the field, what issues and value systems are transported in these accounts?
- Dynamics of the organizational and theological networks
- Systematic descriptions of Pentecostal organizations or faith statements often don't account for the dynamics in these churches and theologies. Perhaps the field can be better understood by analyzing common questions, rather than answers. Which topics dominate the theological and organizational differences? With regard to which issues is a neutral stance impossible for these Pentecostals? Which answers are accepted, which aren't? How are theological differences used to construct church identities?
Current State (July 2008)
So far I have spent roughly six months researching in Addis Ababa, Awasa, and Bahir Dar during three research visits (September/October 2003, February-April 2004, January-April 2005). In the summer of 2004 I visited archives of Pentecostal missions in Sweden and Finland, and in the fall of 2007 the WCC archives in Geneva.
Material obtained so far:
- 120 interviews (Amharic and English)
- notes from 64 participant observations
- more than 10,000 pages of digital copies
- about 150 Amharic books
- multiple tracts, church constitutions, faith statements
- more than 280 contacts in address book
- list of registered churches by the ministry of justice
- diverse statistical data (obtained by the Ethiopian government and the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia)
Evaluation of the material has been an ongoing process, parallel to these research visits. The thesis will be completed in 2009.
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