The Covenant's Veil - (Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought) by Alexandra Sellassie Antohin

Book Synopsis

An exploration of how contemporary Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity preserves and protects sacred ideas and relationships

"Ethiopia stretches her hand upon God," the narrative of Sheba and Solomon, the material presence of the Ark of the Covenant in Axum. For Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, these classic understand-ings of the covenant are prized narratives. For historical and scriptural scholarship, a central focus is to explain the characteristics of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity as retaining key "Old Testament" qualities to demonstrate a wide chasm with post-Enlightenment, secular societies. By widening the lens of analysis to include a body of knowledge best accessed through Orthodox Christian devotional culture, The Covenant's Veil offers an interpretation that challenges the reader to adopt a novel understanding of these well-established ideas.

The multiple, complex ways that the covenant idea appears as ideas, idioms, customs, symbols, and articulations in the lifeworld of Ethiopian Orthodox are the starting point for The Covenant's Veil. Ethiopia's story of the covenant is a domain of nested reference points that inspires celebrants, through their devotional activities, to expand and elaborate upon a network of meanings. Covenant refractions within Ethiopian Orthodox devotional culture not only demonstrate the established pat-tern of magnifying spiritual importance through symbolic similes and analogic pairings, but perform a vital function for keeping traditional knowledge alive and current. Detailed ethnographic material arranges devotional activities such as mahaber rituals of communing and processions of tabots on feast days. It describes habits of making vows, presenting oneself at church, and telling stories of saints and their covenants. Thinking about the covenant concept as refracting--the bending motion of points encountering a common surface--is a way to conceive how these reference points reveal a connective thread, what is theorized as an Ethiopian Orthodox method of elaboration. Identifying when and where elaboration of tradition is happening provides an opportunity to demonstrate how Orthodox Christianity is integral to the lives and actions of its faithful. By reframing covenant as expanding beyond Ethiopian religious and political exceptionalism, The Covenant's Veil provides us with a timely reappraisal of this concept in light of increased social fragmentation and the urgency for negotiating harmony in a country with many forms of diversity.

Review Quotes

Antohin has produced an exciting and important work that is also a pleasure to read. The ethnographic vignettes that Antohin offers draw the reader in and make tangible her complex theoretical interventions. These ethnographic insights are further enhanced by her attention to and analysis of her own positionality in relation to her fieldwork and interlocutors. Her rich descriptions of the tabots, rituals, and other unique aspects of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity are unique and evocative, and are described with precision and superb contextualization, making this a valuable book for scholars and non-specialists alike---Andreana Prichard, University of Oklahoma, author of Sisters in Spirit: Christianity, Affect, and Community Building in East Africa, 1860-1970

Antohin's The Covenant's Veil is a delight to read and a valuable contribution to the anthropological study Christianity. In exquisite ethnographic detail, the author teaches novel perspectives on Ethiopian Orthodoxy and everyday devotional culture more broadly.---James S. Bielo, Northwestern University

A holistic approach to studying the multi-faceted features of EOTC worship, from the calendric organization to descriptions of lay devotional engagement, The Covenant's Veil, by the great-great-granddaughter of the last emperor of Ethiopia, attempts to tell a story, albeit indirectly, of finding one's self in tandem with a scholarly dedication to studying the history and realities of Ethiopian religiosity and the covenant. A gratifying effort!---Hewan Semon Marye, Junior Professor of Ethiopian Studies at Universität Hamburg and author of Jesting the Lion: Humor in Modern Ethiopia

About the Author

Alexandra Edjigaheu Sellassie Antohin is an independent researcher and holds an academic affiliation with the George Washington University. A former Postdoctoral Fellow at the Truman Institute at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Alexandra has published widely on topics related to Orthodox Christianity.