Accidental Environmentalists
In the highlands of Ethiopia, the only remaining stands of native forest are around churches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. Though hailed as community-conserved areas by environmentalists, we argue that the conservation of such forest is not intentional, but rather an indirect result of...
| Authors: | ; |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2018
|
| In: |
Worldviews
Year: 2018, Volume: 22, Issue: 2, Pages: 113-142 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Äthiopische Kirche
/ Sanctuary
/ Forest
/ Meaning
/ Custom
/ Protection magic
|
| RelBib Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality CH Christianity and Society KBN Sub-Saharan Africa KCD Hagiography; saints KDF Orthodox Church NBA Dogmatics NCB Personal ethics RB Church office; congregation |
| Further subjects: | B
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church
Ethiopia
church forests
sacred natural sites
sacred groves
sacred geography
community-conservation area
|
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | In the highlands of Ethiopia, the only remaining stands of native forest are around churches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. Though hailed as community-conserved areas by environmentalists, we argue that the conservation of such forest is not intentional, but rather an indirect result of the religious norms, beliefs and practices surrounding the sites. In actuality, the religiosity surrounding church forests maintains the purity of the most holy space in the center of the shrine, the tabot, a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, which ensures that the church is a legitimate and effective portal to the divine. An underlying cultural logic of purity and pollution structures the spatial organization of the site outward into a series of concentric circles of diminishing purity and shapes the social order into an elegant hierarchy. This article seeks to understand the norms, beliefs and practices of this sacred geography in its social and religious context, arguing that ignorance of or inattention to these can undermine the conservation goals that have brought these forests, along with so many other sacred natural sites, to the attention of environmentalists around the world. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1568-5357 |
| Contains: | In: Worldviews
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685357-02201101 |