3. Binyam Mekonnen - Critique and Emancipation in the Religious Sphere: the Däqiqä Ǝsṭifanos as a Foundation of Ethiopian Critical Theory

Published: Nov. 11, 2022, 2:31 p.m.

The Däqiqä Ǝsṭifanos is one of the medieval Ethiopian texts which predates the Hatatas of  Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob and his disciple, containing profound ideas regarding the relationship between the public and private spheres, the critical role of religion as a redemptive form of discourse and a utopian imagination that radically interrogates existing human relations. The text shows the remarkable effort of individuals that revolted against the dogmatic emphasis in the religious thoughts and practices of fifteenth century Ethiopia, and thus, it can be read as a revolutionary document which problematized the way Orthodox Christianity has been perceived in Ethiopia. The paper argues that the study of Ethiopian philosophy needs to be grounded in these precursors of modernity and that there is a need to extend the foundations of Ethiopian philosophy beyond the Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob's Ḥatäta. Though the Däqiqä Ǝsṭifanos are historically associated with the medieval geist of valuing religion as an ideological weapon of defining life with metaphysical abstractions, there is a concerted social critique which is disclosed in a revolutionary and systematic manner. There is a secret philosophical attitude among Abba Ǝsṭifanos and his followers where we can find both historical and ahistorical potentials for refuting the irrationally imposed by authorities of the medieval and modern societies. This paper seeks to explore the historical significance of the Däqiqä Ǝsṭifanos’ movement, the philosophical relevance of the text in redefining both Ethiopian and African critical traditions and searching for its relation with the liberation discourses of religion in the contemporary world.