Research Events

Research Events
THE RESEARCH OFFICE

The Research Office facilitates the research, publication, dissemination, and archival initiatives of the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology. To contact us, please write to researchofficeegst@gmail.com

EGST hosts a monthly Academic Seminar that provides a platform for EGST faculty and local and international scholars to present their research. Recent lectures have included:

  • Desta Heliso, “Is Grace Free?” February 2018.
  • Sigurd Grindhem, “Was Jesus Liberal or Conservative?” December 2017.
  • Andrew DeCort, “The Obedience of Disobedience: Political Violence, the Bible, and Romans 13.” November 2017.
  • Matthew Robinson, “Befriend: Theology of Friendship and Hospitality in Global Society.”

EGST organizes an annual lecture series in March which invites a scholar of distinguished reputation to present original research on a relevant topic. The introduction to the Frumentius Lectures below is adapted from Dr. Desta Heliso’s opening remarks to the 2015 lectures:

Frumentius was a Syro-Phoenician Greek who was shipwrecked on the shores of Ethiopia and became Ethiopia’s Apostle. For Ethiopians, Frumentius is the missionary par excellence. He died over 1600 years ago, but the feast of St. Frumentius is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church on October 27, by Eastern Orthodox churches on November 30, and by the Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox churches on December 18. EGST joins this tradition by celebrating the feast of Frumentius through our annual Frumentius lecture in March.

Frumentius’s tasks were not limited to philosophical study, initiating the cultural and linguistic adaption of Greek Christianity’s biblical-liturgical texts to Ge’ez symbols and language. Nor were they limited to theological and ecclesiastical activities such as building churches and fighting Arianism. Nor were Frumentius’s tasks limited to tutoring the crown prince upon the death of King Ezana and ensuring freedom of religious expression to visiting merchants from the Roman Empire. Frumentius – as a prominent civil servant at the court of King Ezana, then as the royal administrator upon Ezana’s death, and later as the first Bishop of the Ethiopian Church – probably worked very hard to shape the public life of the kingdom through Christian faith. Frumentius seems to have believed that Chris an faith should shape and guide the royal administration, businesses and societal life in general. If he lived today, this would be the task that Abuna Frumentius or Abba Salama Kassate Berhan – “the Father of Peace and the Illuminator of Light” – would call us to.

With this history in mind and towards this end, EGST has organized the annual Frumentius Lectures since 2000.

2018 – Professor Alan Torrance, Divine Perfection and the Reality of God’s Self-Disclosure.

  • Lecture 1 The Continuing Priesthood of Christ and its Implications
  • Lecture 2: The Priesthood of Christ and our Understanding of God
  • Lecture 3: The Priesthood of Christ and Christian Ethics

2017 – Professor John Samuel Mbiti, Theological Seedlings of Christology in African Christianity.

  • Lecture 1: Oral Christology: Jesus in Praise and Song by Afua Kuma (1900-1987) of Ghana.
  • Lecture 2: Christology of Liberation Theology: The Case of South Africa and Takatso Mofokeng.
  • Lecture 3: Initiation Christology: Jesus Christ as the Master of Initiation, and as the Tree of Life.

2016 – Professor Steve Delamarter, Ethiopia and the Bible: The Social Lives of the Ethiopian Psalter.

  • Lecture 1: On Christian Identity and Book Culture in Ethiopia.
  • Lecture 2: On the Special Forms of the Ethiopian Psalter.
  • Lecture 3: On the Theological Controversies in the Ethiopian Psalter.

2015 – Professor Richard Bauckham, Who is God? Key Moments of Revelation.

2014 – Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, Christian Faith and Public Life.

2013 – Professor John Walton, Origins Today: Genesis through Ancient Eyes.

2012 – Professor Loren Stuckenbruck, Faith, Politics and Environment.  

2011 – Drs. Anne and Edward Wimberly, Christianity and Politics.

2010 – Dr. Elaine Storkey, Christianity, Poverty and Development.

2009 – Professor Lamin Sanneh, Religious Identity and Nationalism.

2007 – Professor Dudley Woodberry, Dr. Tukumbo Adiemo, and His Grace Abune Samuel, Millennium Lectures.  

2006 – Dr. Chris Wright, ‘Salvation Belongs to our God’: Salvation in Biblical Perspective.

2004 – Dr. Mikre-Silassie Gebre-Ammanuel, The Septuagint and the Early Translation of the Bible into Ethiopic/Geez.

2003 – Dr. John Stott, God’s Word for God’s World.

2002 – Professor Richard Bauckham, The Bible and Mission: A Hermeneutic for the Kingdom of God.  

2001 – Professor Kwame Bediako, The Universality of the Gospel and the Challenge of Mother-Tongue Theology.

2000 – Professor Andrew Walls and Dr. Jonathan Bonk, Inaugural Frumentius Lectures.