Associate Tutor and Honorary Research Fellow
I studied theology first at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) and then at the University of Manchester in the UK, where I did my PhD under the supervision of Prof. Graham Ward. The title of my doctorate was ‘The Politics of Metanoia: Towards a Post-Nationalistic Political Theology in Ethiopia.’ After completing my PhD in 2013, I returned to Ethiopia to serve as a lecturer in theology and ethics at EGST. In addition to teaching, I also served in educational administration in various capacities, including Dean of Students, Dean of Studies, and PhD Programme Coordinator for the joint doctoral programme with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam). During my tenure at EGST, I took the initiative to set up the Centre for Christianity and Society, under whose auspices I organised conferences and edited books on ethnic diversity and moral responsibility, focusing on the ethics of cohabitation. After moving to the UK in 2022, I taught part-time on the Religion Programme at the University of Stirling for 4 semesters (2023-2025) and have given guest lectures at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh.
Qualifications
PhD 2013 University of Manchester
PGDip 2006 Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology
MA 2005 Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology
BSc 1991 Addis Ababa University
Roles within Queen’s
- Honorary Research Fellow
- Associate Tutor
Research interests and supervision areas
In theological research, I am committed to relating theological insights to ethical dilemmas, drawing on perspectives from philosophy, political theory, and Christian theology. I also have broader interests in religion and its relationship to race, gender, ethnicity, nationalism, and postcolonialism. My current research aims at constructing an African theology of reconstruction that responds to politically induced trauma and therapeutic governance in post-conflict societies.
I have supervised doctoral and master’s dissertations on a wide range of topics in theology and ethics. I would be willing to support research students working on doctoral dissertations in areas such as theological anthropology, political/public theology, African theology, and theological ethics related to ecological crisis, gender relations, traumatic experiences, ethnic and national identities, migration, and economic poverty.
Selected Publications
Books
(ed.) Moral Pedagogies for Africa: From Ethnic Enmity to Responsible Cohabitation. London & New York: Routledge, 2021.
(ed.) Ethnic Diversity, National Unity: Moral Pedagogies of Togetherness for Ethiopians. Eugene, OR., Wipf and Stock, 2021.
The Politics of Metanoia: Towards a Post-Nationalistic Political Theology in Ethiopia, Frankfurt am Main. Peter Lang Publishers, 2014.
Journal articles and book chapters
- ‘Theology and Poverty’, in St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology, ed. by Brendan N. Wolfe et al., University of St Andrews, 2024, <https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/TheologyandPoverty>
- ‘Displaced People and Public Mercy: A Theological Account’, International Journal of Public Theology, Volume: 16, Issue: 1, 2022, pp. 7-22.
- ‘Palaver as a Model of Multiethnic Recognition’, in Theodros A. Teklu (ed.), Moral Pedagogies for Africa: From Ethnic Enmity to Responsible Cohabitation, London, Routledge, 2021, pp. 113-134.
- ‘Politics as the Hatred of the Ethnic Other’, in Theodros A. Teklu (ed.), Ethnic Diversity, National Unity: Moral Pedagogies of Togetherness for Ethiopians, Eugene, OR., Wipf and Stock, 2021, pp. 9-27.
- ‘The State’, in SB Agang, DA Forster, HJ Hendriks (eds.), African Public Theology, London, Langham Publishing, 2020, pp. 267-278.
- ‘Recasting Golden Rule Reasoning: Claude Sumner’s Philosophical Contribution Reconsidered’, Ethiopian Journal of the Social Sciences and Humanities, 15, Issue 1 – Special Issue, 2019, pp. 41-57. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ejossah.v15i1.5
- ‘Scarcity and Corruption in Africa: A Moral-Philosophical Approach’, in M. Christian Green et al (eds.), Law, Religion, and Human Flourishing, Stellenbosch, South Africa, SUN MeDIA, 2019, pp. 171-183. DOI: 10.18820/9781928314592/11
- ‘Economic Scarcity, Divine Fecundity: Moral Considerations’, Philotheos: International Journal for Philosophy and Theology, Vol. 18, Issue 1, 2018, pp. 161-174. DOI: 10.5840/philotheos201818111
- ‘Meritocracy and Inequality: Moral Considerations’, Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4, no.1, 2018, pp. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-017-0059-3
- ‘Mirror of Memory: Some Thoughts on the Ethiopian Red Terror’, in Girma Mohammed (ed.), The Healing of Memories: African Christian Responses to Politically Induced Trauma, Lanham, Lexington Books, 2018, pp. 77-94.
- ‘Religious Pluralism and Cohabitation in Ethiopia: Some Critical Notes’, in Pieter Coertzen, M. Christian Green, Rosalind I. J. Hackett, L. D. Hansen, and Francois Venter (eds.), Religious Pluralism, Heritage, and Social Development in Africa, Stellenbosch, South Africa, SUN MeDIA, 2017, pp. 33-47.
- ‘Metanoia as a Perspective of Human Development’, in Niclas Blåder and Kristina Helgesson Kjellin (eds.), Mending the World? Possibilities and Obstacles for Religion, Church, and Theology, Eugene, Oregon, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017, pp. 299-315.
- ‘Female Genital Mutilation as a Risk Factor for HIV Transmission: A Theological Anthropological Critique’, in Edwina Ward and Gary Leonard (eds.), A Theology of HIV & AIDS on Africa’s East Coast, Uppsala, Sweden, Swedish Institute of Mission Research, MISSIO Series 25, 2008, pp. 112-126.
