"The Sacred and the Profane - Environmental Anthropology of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity"

Download or read book "The Sacred and the Profane - Environmental Anthropology of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity" written by Gebrehiwot Gebreslassie Zesu and published by Anchor Academic Publishing (aap_verlag). This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Orthodox Tewahedo Christian doctrine in Ethiopian practice has different possibilities: (a) within church compounds the protection of nature (respect of creation), (b) outside the submission of nature, as the Bible demands – both are Christian behaviors! Church is not pro-nature. The Church itself has set up a partition into sacred and profane, with different rule for both spheres; both systems of rules exist parallel. The followers respect the plants and animals in the church compound as end by themselves than a means to their economic objectives; they respect them not for their economic value rather for their perceived duty; respect to God as Church is the house of God. The people do not consider the plants and animals in the Church as simply normal animals rather they are believed to have a metaphysical divine power. Hence, it is impossible to put the follower's ethical perspective in exclusive manner rather it is both anthropocentristic and deep ecological which can be determined by the nature of the space occupied by the recourses.