The Faithful Forebearers

As Ethiopia entered the 20th Century, there was trouble and hope. After a brutal invasion of the Italians just before World War 2, and after Italy’s defeat in the war, Ethiopia recovered and modernized. But in the late 1970s, a political stagnation led to Communist Revolution. It was then that one of Ethiopia’s great theologians took a stand. Gudina Tumsa, after a short but brilliant career as a church leader, would give his life as a witness of Jesus Christ. Learn how his life and death shaped the Ethiopian Lutheran Church, and gives inspiration to Christians everywhere.

Today the Lutheran Church in Ethiopia is the largest Lutheran Church body in the World.  That is thanks to the service of Onesimus Nesib, and many other faithful missionaries like him.  Onesimus was born in 1856 in a remote part of Ethiopia.  At 4 years old he was captured and enslaved.  He was then bought, sold, escaped and recaptured multiple times.  After being freed by a Swedish missionary, Onesimus would become a Christian at 16 years old.  For the rest of his life he would work to return to his home region of Ethiopia to bring the Gospel to his homeland.

After Ethiopia survived near destruction at the hands of Gragn, a different battle began. Instead of a military battle, it was a battle of ideas for Ethiopia’s identity. Catholic missionaries began to arrive in Ethiopia in the late 1500s. And while some, like a man Petro Paez, legitimately hoped to find unity between Roman Catholics and Ethiopian Orthodox, others simply wanted Ethiopia become European. Walatta Petros was a brave and sometimes impetuous Ethiopian nun who resisted these attempts and helped preserve Ethiopia’s heritage.

While Ethiopia had thrived under Zara Yaqob, it had dark days ahead. Ethiopia, always surrounded by hostile nations, would have to fight for its life as their neighbors grew stronger. Its very existence hung in the balance. But thanks to some new allies, and two kings who would spend their lives defending their nation and the church, Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian church, were saved from total annihilation.

Estifanos (1380-1454) is sometimes known as Africa’s first protestant, even though he lived 70 years before the Reformation. He believed that the Bible should be the measure of all else in the Church, and that salvation was already won fully by Jesus. His radical commitment to the authority of Scripture would cause a serious conflict with Zara Yaqob, the King of Ethiopia from last episode.

With Frumentius and Ezana, the Ethiopian church got off to a great start, but things did not stay that way. After 1,000 years, and centuries of setbacks, the nation and the church made a great comeback. It culminated in the reign of King Zara Yaqob in the mid 1400s. While his legacy is still felt in both the church and the nation, he is remembered both as a reformer and as a despot.

This next series we will be learning all about the church of Ethiopia. This church is far more ancient than most in Europe and has a rich history of over 1,000 years, and yet is almost totally forgotten by the western Church. It all began with a captive turned accidental missionary, and a young prince in the early 300s AD.

Welcome back! Yes, the podcast is coming back! Today’s episode is really just an update. I’ll introduce the new format for the show of “seasons,” and what that will look like. But as a bonus, along with this announcement is a mini episode on the author of the podcast’s official hymn: “For All the Saints,” a man named William Walsham How.

While Rudolph may be the most famous reindeer of all, Nicholas very well might be the most famous saint of all. Except while he’s very famous, you probably don’t know much about him. While he is not all holly and jolly, he certainly was a man who cared deeply for families, and who should be remembered for his humble generosity.

We continue our time in Ireland. Once Patrick was gone, the next generations would carry on his work. And before long, Ireland would be a powerhouse of Christian learning. Soon they would not be receiving missionaries, but sending them out to Scotland, England and the world beyond.

Everybody knows the name St. Patrick, but few people know about the actual man. While there are many legends around Patrick, he was a historical person, and a fascinating one at that. His life is an adventure story. He didn’t drive out any snakes, and there are no mentions of clovers, but he worked tirelessly to bring Christianity to the pagan Irish people.

You have probably never heard of Jean Gerson, and that is a shame. Most students of Church History do not even know him. But you certainly should know about Jean Gerson. Gerson is a towering figure in the 1400s, and in the history of the whole Church. In great part, he was the one able to heal the Western Schism. But because he occupies a space in between modern Protestants and Catholics, he often gets forgotten by both.

The fate of Jan Hus is a great tragedy in the history of the Church. He was an ardent follower of our friend John Wycliffe from last episode, although the two never met. He was opposed to the corruption he saw in the church, and he believed that all people should hear the Bible in their own language. But the church authorities were not willing to listen to the reforms and ideas of Hus or Wycliffe. Sadly at the Council of Constance in 1415, he would be executed for his beliefs. His bravery and his commitment to the truth is an inspiration for many even today.

John is known to some as the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” and to others, as the “Master of Error”. In a lot of ways, he is the forerunner of Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin: the more famous reformers of the 1500s. He believed that the Papacy had become corrupt, and the only pure standard for the church was the Bible. This inspired him to start the first ever full translation of the Bible into English. He certainly caused quite a stir in England and across Europe, and continued to do so even after his death.

It’s fitting this episode comes out the day after Mother’s day, as Christine was a good mother. She was also a poet and the first professional female writer of the Middle Ages. She wrote about a very wide span of topics, from love to warfare, and was not afraid to challenges the ideas of her time. Through her writings she always encouraged virtue and tried to spur people to actually live out what they claimed to believe.

This is the second part of the interview with Christian, so don’t listen to it until you’ve finished Part 1.

Today is a special interview episode! My friend and PhD candidate Christian Guebert will join us to take a look at Guillaume de Machaut, a man who changed church music forever. If you enjoy singing in church that is more than chanting, then at least to some degree you should thank Machaut. He helped bring new beauty and complexity into sacred music. And he was a soldier, priest and poet as well. Note: While there is an abrupt stop at the end of the episode, the next episode picks up directly where this one ends.

This episode we will learn about a king, known as “St. Louis”. Louis IX is one of only a few monarchs to be officially sainted, and I think he deserves it. Louis was a thoughtful, humble and capable leader. But while he was noble, he still had a tragic flaw that would ultimately lead to his early death.

Today we will learn about our most famous forebearer yet: Francis of Assisi, also known simply as St. Francis. He is a man who was devoted to simplicity, poverty, nature, and most of all, his faith. He’s pretty hard not to like, which is why he was so honored then, and still is today.

Today we will discover a woman who defies categorization. Hildegard was a mystic, a theologian, an administrator, a composer, a playwright and a doctor. And she did all of this in the 1100s.