Gudina Tumsa (Bodji, Wallaga, Oromia Ethiopia, 1929 – 28 July 1979) was an Ethiopian theologian and General Secretary of the

Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY; also called Mekane Yesus Church) is a Lutheran denomination in Ethiopia. It is the largest individual member church of the Lutheran World Federation. It is a Lutheran denomination with some ...

He helped form the Council for Cooperation of Churches in Ethiopia, an ecumenical council, and was elected its first chairman.Jodock, Darrell
Gudina Tumsa Awarded the Christus Lux Mundi

Luther Seminary Luther Seminary is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is the largest seminary of the ELCA. It also accepts and educates students of 41 other denominations and traditions. It is accredite ...

Story Magazine, Third Quarter, 2004. Retrieved on 13 February 2013. Tumsa “gave his church a decisive push towards independence in theological thought and church practice”,Eide, Øyvind.
Revolution and Religion in Ethiopia: Growth and Persecution of the Mekane Yesus Church, 1974-85
'' 2nd ed. Oxford: James Currey, 2000. Print; Urga, Abeneazer G.
The Bonhoeffer of Africa: Rev. Gudina Tumsa's Life, Theological Emphases and Contributions to the Ethiopian Church
' (Ethiopian Theologians and Their Contributions) (Volume 1). 2018. Print; Deressa, Samuel Yonas and Hinlicky Wilson (eds.).
The Life, Works, and Witness of Tsehay Tolessa and Gudina Tumsa, the Ethiopian Bonhoeffer
' (Lutheran Quarterly Books). Fortress Press, 2017. Print. 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.

Death

Tumsa was abducted and killed by Derg soldiers on 28 July 1979, and has been called the “

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world hav ...

of Africa” in the years following.

Gudina Tumsa Foundation

Inspired by Tumsa's life, the Gudina Tumsa Foundation was founded in 1992 to help people who are "suffering physically as well as those longing for justice and freedom."

Gudina Tumsa Theological Forum

In 2008, a group of youth Ethiopian theologians formed the Gudina Tumsa Theological Forum to "provide a platform for sound theological reflection on developments within the church and society at large."Luther Seminary,
Gudina Tumsa Theological Forum
,'' retrieved on 13 February 2013.

References

External links

The Gudina Tumsa Foundation website
1929 births 1979 deaths Ethiopian Lutherans Ethiopian Lutheran theologians People from Oromia Region 20th-century Lutherans {{lutheranism-stub