Gudina Tumsa (Bodji, Wallaga, Oromia Ethiopia, 1929 – 28 July 1979) was an Ethiopian Lutheran and Evangelical Christian theologian and General Secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus.
He helped form the Council for Cooperation of Churches in Ethiopia, an ecumenical and interdenominational council, and was elected its first chairman. Tumsa “gave his church a decisive push towards independence in theological thought and church practice”, criticizing many aspects of Western Christianity. Much of his theology is contained in the letters he wrote to church leaders and the general public, as well as in the addresses he gave at various conferences around the world in the 1960s and 1970s.
Theology
Gudina Tumsa, Emmanuel Abraham, and Holistic Theology
Gudina Tumsa is in many regards the father of the indigenous theological thought of the EECMY, and especially its Holistic Theology also known as "Serving the Whole Person" theology. In fact, a study of his theology and the theology of Emmanuel Abraham (a colleague, contemporary, and friend) comprises a large portion of the EECMY theology. Tumsa studied theology in the United States, and because of this gained a relatively broad understanding of mission and the church. Upon returning to Ethiopia, he "gave his church a decisive push towards independence in theological thought and church practice", criticizing many aspects of Western Christianity. Much of his theology is contained in the letters he wrote to church leaders and the general public, as well as in the addresses he gave at various conferences around the world in the 1960s and 1970s.
The main points of his theology center on a holistic hermeneutic that not only encompasses a broad ontology, but which also applies itself to both the life in this world and in the next. His theology can be portrayed as a type of liberation theology, but cannot be categorized strictly in this class; indeed, it contains a uniquely Ethiopian flavor, “a theology of liberation in the Ethiopian context”, as Tasgara Hirpo describes it. Tumsa describes his own theology as a “holistic theology”, writing in a memo to Abraham that “western theology has lost the this-worldly dimension of human existence”; according to him, his holistic theology is merely “an effort in rediscovering total human life” in all its width and breadth. It does not allow the suffering of this world to eclipse the joy of the next – the physical reality to overtake the spiritual – but instead he says that both are in need of redemption, salvation, and liberation.
In this regard, Abraham and Tumsa differ in their approach to state involvement. For several years, Abraham held a position in the government that allowed him significant sway within political circles, all the while remaining faithful to the EECMY, of which he was president for 22 years. He tended toward unity with the central powers rather than ‘rocking the boat,’ even though he saw his people suffering oppression. Tumsa was more willing to part with the central powers in favor of the oppressed people of his church, as evidenced by his omission of Emperor Haile Selassie’s name from the normal intercessions in the Sunday liturgy in the months leading up to the socialist revolution in response to the feudal system that Tumsa saw as an instrument of oppression.
Yet, however divergent their perspectives on church-state relations may appear, there was unity in that they both supported the creation of quasi-public institutions of education, health, and vocational training that the government not only supported, but also maintained when the network of institutions outgrew the administrative capability of the EECMY. They were both dedicated to a church that worked in conjunction with the state for the development of better lives for their countrymen; where they differed was the measure of allegiance they meted out to the government or to the people. Either way, the EECMY took seriously their commission to carry their message into the world.