The
Wholeness of Life as Christian Mission:
Reading the Epistle of James in Contemporary Ethiopia
Youdit Tariku Feyessa, PhD
Candidate
(Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Abstract: This article explores the concept of "wholeness of life" in
the Epistle of James, arguing that it is a foundational principle for Christian
mission, encompassing terms like "completeness,"
"perfection," "integration," and "maturity."
It draws parallels between James's teachings and the holistic mission
advocated by Qes Gudina Tumsa, a prominent Ethiopian
church leader. Tumsa emphasized a holistic ministry that addresses
socio-political, cultural, and economic issues, urging the church to engage
proactively in its mission. The article examines the significance of
wholeness in James, Tumsa's holistic theology, and
the relevance of these concepts for contemporary Ethiopia, which faces numerous
challenges such as poverty, conflict, and religious extremism. It
concludes that understanding and applying the notion of wholeness in Christian
mission is crucial for addressing the complex issues in Ethiopian society today.
This article argues that the wholeness of life in James is not merely a central, overarching theme, [1] but a foundational principle directly linked to Christian mission both individual and cosmic. This theme is expressed through terms like "completeness," "perfection," "integration," and "maturity." [2] By employing such terminology, James aims to nurture Christians toward their mission, fostering wholeness of life in theology, approach, and praxis.
Mission as wholeness of life is well attributed in the late Qes[3] (Reverend) Gudina Tumsa s calling of the church towards holistic mission. Tumsa (1929 1979), General Secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, urged the church toward proactive engagement in its calling, emphasizing holistic ministry in theology, approach, and praxis. [4] "Wholeness of life," for Tumsa, involved ministering amid socio-political, cultural, and economic chaos. This article aims to demonstrate the affinity between this calling and James's emphasis on perfection, maturity, and completeness in the Christian community. [5]
My aim, following Richard Bauckham, is to read James not sequentially or linearly, but as a "compendium of James's wisdom"[6] structured "to provide a resource for acquiring the wisdom that is expressed in obedience to God in everyday life." [7] Mission as "wholeness of life" and "compendium of wisdom" is significant for contemporary Ethiopia, facing identity-based conflicts, poverty, displacement, persecution, economic disparity, prosperity gospel teachings, and more. This article first examines the meaning, purpose, and significance of wholeness in James vis- -vis Christian mission. Then, it elaborates on Qes Gudina Tumsa's notion of holistic mission and its affinity with James's call to wholeness of life as Christian mission. Finally, it presents the importance of reading James in contemporary Ethiopia.
The notion of wholeness is the central theme in the epistle of James, as most scholars argue. John H. Elliott asserts that wholeness in James is the central message of the epistle; it addresses the reader s relationship with their community and God.[8] Richard Bauckham further affirms that the theme of wholeness is not only important in James. Instead, it is the overarching theme of the entire letter that subsumes other themes in the letter.[9] Seongjae Yeo further substantiates this claim by saying that wholeness in the epistle of James shows the perspective of the author. [10] Agreeing with such a notion, wholeness as the central overarching theme of the epistle of James, this section elaborates on the meaning and usage of the term vis- -vis Christian mission.
Wholeness in James has a range of interrelated meanings (1:4, 1:17, 25; 2:8, 22; 3:2), such as perfection, completeness, and maturity. [11] Patrick J. Hartin elaborates on James 1:4, which says, "And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. [12] Here, Hartin argues that the meaning of teleios is that of fullness ( the perfect work ) or totality, which indicates maturity or completeness) ( so that you may be perfect ). [13] Again, James 3:2 reads, "For all we stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. Here, the notion of perfect is equivalent to complete or whole, meaning total in all that one does one s actions produce a total (perfect) work that is not blemished or lacking in any way. Hartin further argues that wholeness in these texts presents the person who performs the perfect work is a total dedication to carrying out God's will. Faced with trials and testing, such a person is not deflected from total allegiance to God."[14] The meaning of teleios in the rest of the scriptural passages is the same as describing completeness, perfection, maturity, and purpose.
In the same
vein, Seongjae Yeo avers that the notion of
wholeness in James uses the Greek word teleios, which
refers to an end, goal, purpose, or aim. It means being complete, mature, fully
developed, finished, or perfect.[15]
In such usage of the term, Yoe argues that teleios signifies consummate
soundness, including the idea of being whole. [16]Moreover, the semantic range
of the term wholeness, teleios, in the epistle of James is immense. As the Old Testament uses teleios
in reference to temple sacrifice to mean perfect without blemish, Hartin
conceptualizes the meaning, usage, and significance of teleios, incorporating three dimensions. According to him,
The conceptual meaning of teleios gives expression to three essential dimensions. First, it expresses the idea of wholeness or completeness, of a being remaining true to its original constitution. Second, it refers to giving oneself wholeheartedly and unconditionally to God in the context of God s people. When persons were grounded in this relationship, they would be whole, perfect. Third, such a wholehearted dedication to the Lord is expressed through obedience to God s will . This threefold understanding of teleios explains James meaning.[17]
Thus, the notion of wholeness, teleios, according to Hartin, is not limited to individual perfection, completeness, and maturity, but it also incorporates communal wholeness reflected as divine attributes. [18] This understanding of teleios accords with James 1:17, which says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." Furthermore, the completeness for which James is calling is not only individual but also applies to the entire community and the people of God.[19]
The theme of wholeness is central to James' message, and the meaning, usage, and significance of wholeness encompasses an individual's consistency of purpose. In other words, a whole person is a person who has achieved maturity, an undivided totality of personality and behavior. [20] Being whole and mature denotes devotion to God and a "state of integrity before God" that demands "purity of the heart," reflected in action. It comes from the "perfect wisdom of God. James is calling his readers to attain this maturity.[21] Thus, wholeness demands consistency, integrity, and wholehearted devotion to God, and such dimensions of wholeness originate from God.
Elliott contends that holiness in James consistently correlates with wholeness or completeness. He posits that even the structure of James's letter centers on this theme, juxtaposing wholeness and holiness against their implied opposites: division and fragmentation. Thus, Elliott asserts a direct correlation between wholeness/completeness and holiness in James, while simultaneously highlighting their respective antitheses. Furthermore, he argues that the central message of James revolves around the theme of wholeness. Elliott substantiates this assertion by referencing the letter's opening, which introduces the theme: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect, so that you may be complete and whole lacking in nothing (Jas 1:2 12). Therefore, according to Elliott, the theme of wholeness and incompleteness constitutes the driving and principal argument of the letter, with each notion recurring throughout. [22] In James, this correlation recurs at personal, social, and cosmic level , informing a form of ethical principle for the Christian community.[23]
Elliott substantiates the interconnectedness of holiness and wholeness by contrasting wholeness and division across three interrelated levels:
1.
The personal,
the social, and the cosmological, examining the issue of division and its
antithesis, wholeness;
2.
The portrayal
of community and individual integrity/wholeness as an essential feature of
holiness; and
3. The moral and social implications of this holiness. [24]
For Elliott, the three categories of holiness and division, existing at various interconnected levels, are integral to both individual and community holiness, carrying significant moral and social implications. Succinctly, the core of Elliott's argument concerning the Epistle of James can be stated as follows:
Ethnic, economic, and social differences had led to social division; and divisions, to personal doubt, dissimulation, despair, and defection. Factiousness and fission within the community were accompanied by a split in the attitudes and actions of individuals themselves. The community and its members were undergoing an erosion of integrity and cohesion at both the personal and the social levels of life.[25]
Elliott's tripartite framework suggests that the pursuit of wholeness and purity, as antitheses to incompleteness and pollution, are integral to human flourishing across individual, communal, and existential levels. These opposing forces shape human experience and inform the ethical considerations presented in the epistle. James elucidates three interconnected dimensions of human existence "personal, social, and cosmological spheres" where the dichotomy of incompleteness and wholeness, pollution and purity, manifests. [26]
Richard Bauckham further asserts a strong association between wholehearted devotion to God and counter-culturalism within society for the responsible Christian community. He argues that James, in his epistle, constructs a counter-cultural community practicing the already manifested assets of the kingdom of God. This community, characterized by "wholeness and integrity," encompasses five aspects: integration, exclusion, completion, consistency, and divine perfection. [27]
Bauckham describes "wholeness and integrity" in five aspects. First, integration, or inclusion, involves not only communal and personal relationships but also complete personal devotion. The whole person in James, according to Bauckham, consists of the heart (thoughts, feeling, will), the tongue and mouth (words) and the hands or the whole body (deeds). [28] Wholeness as integration in James solicits communal allegiance to God and others, reflected in individuals' acquisition of characters like being peaceable, gentle, considerate, caring and forgiving (2:13; 3:13, 17; 4:11 13; 5:16). [29] Bauckham further argues that wholeness in a community is characterized by loving one s neighbor as oneself without distinction (2:8 9; 3:17). Finally, wholeness as integration entails the eschatological goal of renewal not only for the individual and Christian community but also for the entire creation (1:18). [30]
Bauckham's second aspect of wholeness in James is exclusion, entailing excluding what is incompatible with the whole. This is explained in James as a dualism between the world's value system and God's, juxtaposing the two as either/or and requiring remaining unstained by the world. [31] This is illustrated by the contrast between earthly and divine wisdom (1:17). As Bauckham avers, the dualism entailed by wholeness as exclusion thus requires a counter-cultural community, one whose values and therefore also lifestyle are at odds with the dominant society. [32] Such a lifestyle is achieved through purity and holiness, removing and keeping oneself untainted. Wholeness as exclusion also means resisting the evil inclination (1:14) and removing all wickedness from the heart (1:21), [33] encompassing truth/untruth, blessing/curse (3:9 11), and total inclination toward good, thereby excluding all evils (2:13; 5:1 6, 9, 12). Thus, wholeness as integration, for Bauckham, also includes the exclusion of elements that negate wholeness.
Bauckham's third aspect of wholeness as integration is "completion," involving both addition and removal for purity. James 1:22 25 emphasizes hearing and doing; 4:17 affirms knowing and doing; and 2:14 26 acclaims believing and doing, especially verse 22, which speaks of faith completed by work. This relates to the completion of wholeness as the eschatological goal (1:3 4). [34] James also emphasizes "consistency," where integration and wholeness require coherence in what is included, devotion of life, and exclusion of inconsistencies. Bauckham asserts that wholeness is about the consistent devotion of the whole person, the whole life, the whole community, and ultimately the whole cosmos to God. [35]
The final aspect of wholeness as integration is "divine perfection." Bauckham argues that human wholeness is imitation of God s completeness, evident in various dimensions of life. Wholeness occurs when the whole human life is focused and integrated in God. It receives from God the complete law and complete wisdom adequate to encompass the whole of life. It responds to God in wholehearted faith (1:5 8), in wholehearted love (1:12; 2:5) and in fulfilling the complete law (1:22 25; 2:8 11). [36]
According to Bauckham s definition,
wholeness is a goal towards which one can move only in relation to the center which is already whole and from which one can gain wholeness. it means rejecting values and behaviors which are inconsistent with goals. It means refusing all the idolatries which dominate and diminish human life in favor of the one love which can truly liberate and include all that is good.[37]
Human life is to be lived in favor of the one love that truly liberates and includes all that is good. As John Painter and David A. deSilva argue, God is the source of generosity and every perfect gift. Thus, teleios in James describes a wholeness of life replete with the multifaceted aspects of integration, exclusion, completion, consistency, and divine perfection.
Gudina Tumsa,[38] the late General Secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), is known for introducing the notion of holistic ministry/theology in the church.[39] Gudina s notion of holistic ministry is derived out of his strong emphasis concerning the role of Christians in a given society. [40] For Gudina, a Christian is placed by God to live and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people that are in need and in difficulty so that they can turn to God to get their needs met and their problems solved. [41] Qes Gudina Tumsa s holistic theology is brought forth in the most unlikely era in Ethiopia, the socialist military government which overthrown the previous Imperial regime via force.
Gudina was born in 1929 in a small village called Bodji in Western Wollega, educated as Nurse Assistant[42] and served for four years in different hospitals and places. Though he was a medical person, he was also well known for his preaching the gospel as part of his medical service. In this regard, Yonas Derresa said that the latter teaching of serving the whole human person emerged out of such practical experiences and engagement.[43] He has served in rural area of Ethiopia of Nekemte, Bakko, Arjo, Kembata and Hadiya as a health professional and church preacher. Later, as a leader, he has organized many congregations in the area to synods, for which he was highly appreciated by the EECMY officials and the general secretary.[44] Later on he went abroad for further theological education in USA. After his return, he has served as the General Secretary of the EECMY from 1966-1979.
Gudina Tumsa was known for his strong spirituality, preaching and boldness in almost every situation he encountered. Emmanuel Abraham described him as our Billy Graham and a man of strong character, physically, mentally, and spiritually. [45] According to Tibeb Eshete, the renowned Ethiopian evangelical historian, Gudina was the most prominent leader, who was capable of reading the times, interpreting trends, and providing theological articulations to the church. [46] To add more, Abeneazer G. Urga refers to Gudina as "the African Bonhoeffer,"[47] not merely for his magnanimous contribution for the church of Ethiopia at the cost of his life, but also for the life he lived with integrity as a living witness to the Gospel.[48] It is for such commitment that Gudina has been imprisoned thrice, and finally murdered by the socialist government on July 28, 1979 after his preaching service at Urael MekaneYesus Church (one of the congregations of EECMY in Addis Ababa).[49] Gudina is known for his unwavering faith and commitment in his ministry and leadership until his death.
The contribution and legacy of Gudina Tumsa is boldly written in EECMY[50] history. Gudina is not only acclaimed for his prolific preaching and church leadership. But more importantly, his holistic theology has been the foundation of the church policy and practice since then.
Wholistic theology is an effort in rediscovering total human life. Apolitical life is not worthy of existence. Uninvolvement is a denial of the goodness of creation and of the reality of incarnation In our continent what is prevalent is the basis to define economic policy, agricultural development, foreign relations politics decides who should die and who should live. African theology should develop a political theology relevant to the African context.[51]
Thus, Gudina s holistic theology is a spiritual commitment and witness of faith which calls for the witness of the church to be contextually relevant to the society they are living in. In being relevant, the witness of the church which Gudina aspires and directs will be sensitive to the socio-political and cultural context. Moreover, it is also a call towards the public-ness of theology. Context specificity is a key contribution of Gudina s holistic theology.
Furthermore, yvind M. Eide explains that Gudina Tumsa s holistic theology is founded on his theological understanding of creation and incarnation.[52] Thus, as Eide notes, Gudina Tumsa s wholistic theology bases can be explained in praxis-theoria-praxis framework. According to Gudina Tumsa, as mentioned in his Memorandum of 1975, asserts that,
theology must grow out of the daily experiences from our dealing with ordinary affairs of life as we experience them in our situations, in our cultural settings, in our economic life, in our political experience and in our social practice . An indigenous theology in the Ethiopia context may be defined as a translation of the biblical sources to the pattern of our people that they may feel at home with the gospel of love.[53][54]
Eide s summary of Gudina Tumsa theology as Praxis theory praxis model, which takes the daily practice and experience of the people in to consideration, is a way of doing mission. This resonates with Gudina s claims about the impossibility of mission to be divorced from personal and societal aspect. In his words,
an integral human development, where spiritual and material needs are seen together, is the question in our society The division between witness and service or between proclamation and development is harmful to the church and will ultimately result in a distorted Christianity the development of the inner person is a prerequisite for a healthy and lasting development of society.[55]
Gudina
further elaborates his holistic theology as a mechanism of bringing integral
development that interlaces witness, service, mission and development as a
separate whole rather than different activities. He gives huge emphasis for
integral human development which incorporates the two dimensions together,
the spiritual and material, witness and service that is subsumed in his
notion of serving the whole man. [56] For him, the
"development of the inner person is a prerequisite for a healthy and
lasting development of a society."[57]
Furthermore,
Gudina was also critical of the understanding and practice of mission of that
time. More specifically, he blamed the notion of the contemporaneous mission
for its narrow definition of mission. This understanding limited the gospel as
good news for the whole man, and salvation was given a narrow individual
interpretation which was foreign to our understanding of the God-man
relationship. [58]
Accordingly, mission is beyond individual salvation in that it is serving the
whole man, society, and creation as a whole. Thus,
Gudina has a comprehensive understanding of the mission of God.
Gudina
further argues about salvation which is related with healing and restoration.
For him, to heal means not only being healed from disease and so on, but it
has to do with the restoration of man to full liberty and wholeness. [59]
This goes with James s notion of salvation as wholeness and integrity. Iteffa Gobena comments that such a holistic understanding
of mission led a way to do the theology of the church that considers the
Ethiopian context and situation in to the heart of its
service and ministry.[60]
Iteffa attests that Gudina is also known for leading
the church in times of trouble by demonstrating a life of commitment and
suffering. Gudina lived with a motto which states that A Christian lives in a given society where he/she carries out the mandate
given to him/her by the Lord of the church. We have not been given a choice as
to where we should be born. We believe that God has placed us where we are to
do his will. [61]
Iteffa remarks that for a person like Gudina,
commitment is conviction of faith. [62]
Furthermore,
according to his former seminary friend Darrel Jodock s
attestation, Gudina s theology is self-engaging and self-involving from beginning to end. [63]
Therefore, Gudina s notion of holistic mission is about serving the whole
person, which is always possible in engaging wholeness of life as Christian
mission. In this regard, Christian mission for Gudina surpasses evangelism and
even social action. But it endeavours toward transformation of the individual
and the society as a whole. For Gudina, the question
is, "what is a responsible ministry of the Christian church in today's
world and in a given cultural, social, and political situation?"[64]
Such a holistic transformative engagement of mission is explicit in his
theology as he states in this manner:
We are not
interested in creating medieval monasteries, in setting up ghettoes (modern
monasteries), but in being involved in the complex social life of our people as
we find it daily, with full knowledge of our Christian responsibility.[65]
Thus, for Gudina, mission is understood as the effort to attain the
wholeness of life by addressing the individual, community/society and also the cosmic in an integrated manner.[66]
Characterizing the contemporary Ethiopian situation is challenging at times. But it is yet more confusing due to the overwhelming socio-political and religious chaos of unresolved historical hangovers. In the past five years, various things happened in the country. On the one hand, the country is a victim of extreme poverty, hunger, drought, sickness, communicable disease, high maternal and child death, worsened living condition and inflation. Also, the nation is continually suffering from never ceasing conflicts, war, ethnocentrism, ethnic based killings, atrocities, hatred of the other, partiality, moral and ethical decay, corruption, religious extremism, displacement, gender-based violence, and many more. On the other hand, we witness the politico-religious rhetoric of prosperity, time for Ethiopia, the rise of Ethiopia, God s time of work in relation to the rise of an evangelical leader, the rhetoric of unity (Medemer[67] both in politics and church), fancy tourism projects, the numerical increase in economy, and the list goes on. Girma Bekele best characterized such a phenomenon in such a way, at the moment the socio-political and religious life in Ethiopia is characterized by fine lines and by various polarities. [68]
In the same vein, characterizing the contemporary Ethiopian church is also similarly confusing and challenging. The church is wrestling with multi-dimensional crisis of identity, doctrinal heterodoxy, ethico-moral, social, cultural, economic problems ethnic-based conflicts, divisions, atrocities, hatred and other problems. Yet, the church is proclaiming and echoing prosperity, the rise of Ethiopia, and proposing unity despite major doctrinal differences. Moreover, the church has lost its critical distance and identity as "an alternative community."[69] and engaged in an undesirable relationship with the government which deprived her of mission. As a result, the church became part of the problem more than part of the solution. Considering the numerical figure of the evangelical population which constitutes about 25% of the total, Girma Bekele was correct when he said if we cure our problems [problem among the evangelical churches] almost one fourth of the country s problem will get an answer or a cure. [70] In order to get the cure, the church needs to turn to her identity and mandate, the wholeness of life serving the whole person.
Thus, mission as wholeness of life in James has huge significance for the contemporary readers in Ethiopia who are struggling in a turbulent situation of identity crisis. Richard Bauckham rightly affirms that the notion of wholeness provides a broad framework for relating James teaching to the cultural context in which contemporary western Christians live. [71] In this, though many lessons can be drawn from James to the contemporary Ethiopian situations, I selected three main frameworks in light of wholeness and integrity in the epistle of James which are explained at the individual, social and cosmic level.
The first framework is solidarity with the poor. This involves conceptualizing the relationship between poverty and wealth. As we read According to Bauckham, solidarity with the poor in James (2:5, 8 9) is not a mere individual s spiritual attitude alone. Rather, it is tangled with the praxis in the society. Solidarity with the poor is expressed in the social and economic relationship of the community. For the community whose life is characterized not by competitive ambition, status-seeking and greed, but by peaceable-ness and selfless considerations of others (3:13 17), attitude to the poor expressed in concrete economic and social relationship are the litmus test. [72] In addition, the relationship between wealth and poverty in James (2:2 3, 15 16; 5:1 6)[73] is another lesson that can be taken in the Ethiopian context. Hence, the prosperity gospel is flourishing, while solidarity with the poor is almost vanishing. Thus, James directs us to a sense of practice of avoiding not wealth; rather, he is calling us towards a way of life that challenges selfish hoarding of money 5:2 3, senseless luxury 5:5, defrauding the workers 5:4, and persecuting the righteous 5:4. [74]As Gudina affirms, Christians are called to live and serve the whole person, where mission is understood as attainment of wholeness.
The second framework that can be drawn from James for the contemporary Ethiopian situation is the notion of wholeness as integrity vis- -vis division or fraction. In the epistle of James, Elliott perfectly elaborates the notion of wholeness and holiness, taking its implied opposite, division and fragmentation. [75] Thus, wholeness of life tackles division and fragmentation in many aspects of the life of the individual, community, and society. In the same vein, Elliott also argues that
Ethnic,
economic, and social differences had led to social division; and divisions, to
personal doubt, dissimulation, despair, and defection. Factiousness and fission
within the community were accompanied by a split in the attitudes and actions
of individuals themselves. The community and its members were undergoing an
erosion of integrity and cohesion at both the personal and the social levels of
life.[76]
Thus, James s message of wholeness of life as integrity is very relevant for the Ethiopian church which is in the midst of many divisions, including ethnic based fractions and fragmentations. Thereby, wholeness and integrity [77] leads people to integration. Similarly, exclusion of un-holiness, division, and fraction fosters completion, consistency and divine perfection. [78] This synchronizes with what Gudina has fiercely argued in his attestation that Christians should practice their faith in all sphere of life.
In the third framework, James teaches about resisting the
value-system which he calls the world (1:17; 4:4); and he calls to the value
of God which is always embodied in public praxis. [79] Bauckham
strongly argues that James is constructing a counter-cultural community that
practices the assets of the kingdom of God in its already manifestation.[80]
This counter-cultural Christian community is characterized by James 1:18 as the
first fruit of the new creation and the vanguard of the coming rule of God
(2:5). [81] In
the same vein, Gudina asserts
that the mission of the church (missio ecclesia)
and the mission of God (missio Dei) is about the wholeness of life
which is practiced not only at personal level but also at social and cosmic
level. For Gudina, as the worker of the kingdom of God, the church could not afford to be ignorant of
some of the basic issues the revolution [the Dergue] has raised, such as
equality, freedom, dismantling of oppressive structures. [82] Tibebe
Eshete testifies that Gudina s theology was filled with heightened social
concern. [83]
He further elaborates that
Gudina
helped many Christian leaders create awareness of the new philosophy that the
state has endorsed in its doctrine. He called on the church leaders to take the
path of critical engagement: Christian leaders should keep their critical
distance in order to be able to criticise those in
power.[84]
In such a way, the contemporary church, as an alternative counter-cultural community, can resist mingling and advocating for the this worldly value system. Thus, James in his epistle aims at nurturing Christians towards their mission, the wholeness of life in their theology, approach, and praxis.
The notion of the wholeness of life in the epistle of James, which is
explained as teleios,
has a dense meaning of completeness, perfection, integrity, maturity. Thus,
wholeness is a key word to mission in the epistle. By using such
concepts, James aims at nurturing Christians towards their mission. This
wholeness of life should be demonstrated in their theology, approach, and
praxis not only in their personal lives, but it should also be exhibited also
within communal and societal life as well. The wholeness of life as Christian mission is also well
attributed in Qes Gudina Tumsa s
calling of the church towards Wholistic mission.
Gudina urged the church to be more proactive to her calling,
which is wholistic ministry. The holistic nature of mission is reflected not
only in her theology but also in the approach and praxis towards the goal of perfection, maturity, and
completeness. The wholeness of life for Gudina Tumsa is the core essence of Christian mission. Therefore, understanding
James s notion of wholeness of life in Christian mission has immense
significance for the contemporary Ethiopian readers who are challenged by many
problems. The urgency of Gudina is directed towards drawing the church to her
calling and ministry, ministering the wholeness of life in
the midst of the socio-political, cultural, and economical chaos through
integrating the wholeness of life at the individual, communal, societal, and
cosmic level.
Abeneazer Gezehagn
Urga. The Bonhoeffer of Africa: Rev. Gudina Tumsa s
Life, Theological Emphases and Contribution to the Ethiopian Church. Paper
presented at the southeast regional Evangelical Missiological Society meeting
at Columbia International University, March 18, 2017.
Bauckham, Richard. James: New Testament Reading. London; New York: Routledge, 1999.
Decke, Gerd. Gudina Tumsa and Dietrich
Bonhoeffer. In Emerging Theological
Praxis. Edited by The Gudina Tumsa Foundation., 115-125. Minneapolis:
Lutheran University Press, 2012.
Eide, M. yvind. Integral Human Development: Rev. Gudina Tumsa s Theology, with Special Reference to His critique of Dominant Trends in Missiology and the Question of Human Rights. In The Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa. Edited by Gudina Tumsa Foundation, 37-77. Hamburg: WDL, 2008.
Elliott, John H.
The Epistle of James in
Rhetorical and Social Scientific Perspective Holiness-Wholeness and Patterns of
Replication. Biblical Theology Bulletin
23/2 (1993): 71 81.
Bekele, Girma. The In-Between People: Reading David Bosch through the Lens of Mission
History and Contemporary Challenge in Ethiopia. Oregon: Wipf & Stock,
2011.
Bekele, Girma. A sermon at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology semester opening program. February 12, 2024.
Tumsa, Gudina. Witness and Discipleship. Edited
by The Gudina Tumsa Foundation. Hamburg:
WDL-Publishing, 2007.
Hartin, Patrick J. Call to Be Perfect through
Suffering (James 1,2 4). The Concept of Perfection in the Epistle of James and
the Sermon on the Mount. Biblica 77,
No. 4 (1996): 477 92.
Hartin, Patrick J. ,
Faith in Action: an Ethic of Perfection. Center for Christian Ethics (2012): 20-28.
Hoffman, Paul E. Gudina Tumsa s
Legacy: His Spirituality and Leadership. In The Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa: Lectures and discussions,
13-37. Missiological Seminar. Second edition. Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa
Foundation, 2008.
Iteffa Gobena. Leading a Church in Times of Trouble: the EECMY in the Ethiopian Marxist Revolution (1974 1979). In the GudinaTumsa Foundation, Church and Society: Lecture Responses Second Missiological Seminar 2003 on the Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa, 207-225. Hamburg: WDL, 2010.
Jadock, Darrel. Gudina Tumsa s Contribution to Theology. Global South Theological Journal 1.1 (2022): 5.
Moo, Douglas J. James. The Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Downers Grove: IVP, 1985.
Painter, John and deSilva,
David. James and Jude. Paideia. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012.
Martha L. Moore-keish,
James: a
Theological commentary on the Bible. Louisville: John Knox, 2019.
Tibebe Eshete. The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: Resistance and Resilience.
Waco: Baylor University Press, 2009.
The GudinaTuma
Foundation. Witness and Discipleship:
Leaders of the Church in Multi-Ethnic Ethiopia in a time of Revolution: The
Essential Writings of Gudina Tumsa. Hamburg: WDL, 2008.
Yeo, Seongjae. Telios in the Epistle
of James. Pharos Journal of Theology. 103 (2022): 1 12.
Yonas Derresa. The
Rev. Gudina Tumsa Early Life and Ministry. In the Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa: Lectures and Discussions
Missiological Seminar 2001 2nd ed. Edited by the Gudina Tumsa
Foundation, 3-13. Hamburg: WDL, 2007.
[1] Richard Bauckham, James: New Testament Reading (London; New York: Routledge, 1999), 177.
[2] Bauckham, James, 177.
[3] Qes, Amharic (the working language in Ethiopia), means Reverend. In this paper, I prefer to call Gudina Tumsa Qes rather than Reverend. Though the meaning is the same, the place Qes has in Ethiopian tradition is immense, and Gudina is known by the prefix Qes in Ethiopia.
[4]The time Qes Gudina ministered was a time of persecution. The church was underground, and the government was atheist with hatred of religion and its discourse
[5]Gudina Tumsa, Witness and Discipleship, Ed.The Gudina Tumsa Foundation (Hamburg: WDL-Publishing, 2007), 165.
[6] Bauckham, James, 177.
[7]Bauckham, James, 108 09.
[8]John H. Elliott, The Epistle of James in Rhetorical and Social Scientific Perspective Holiness-Wholeness and Patterns of Replication, Biblical Theology Bulletin 23 (1993): 71.
[9]Bauckham, James, 177.
[10]Seongjae Yeo, Telios in the Epistle of James, Pharos Journal of Theology 103 (2022): 1.
[11]Bauckham, James, 165.
[12] Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible verses are from ESV.
[13] Patrick J. Hartin, Faith in Action: An Ethic of Perfection, Center for Christian Ethics (2012): 22.
[14] Patrick J. Hartin, Call to Be Perfect through Suffering (James 1, 2 4). The Concept of Perfection in the Epistle of James and the Sermon on the Mount, Biblica, 77 No. 4 (1996): 484.
[15]Yeo, Teleios in the Epistle of James, 10.
[16]Yeo, Teleios in the Epistle of James, 1.
[17]Hartin, Faith-in-Action, 22.
[18] Yeo, Teleios in the Epistle of James, 2.
[19] Martha L. Moore-Kish, James: A Theological Commentary on the Bible (Louisville: John Knox, 2019), 29.
[20] Moore-Keish, James, 29.
[21] Elsa T mez quoted in Moore-Keish, James, 28 29.
[22]Elliott, The Epistle of James, 71.
[23]Elliott, The Epistle of James, 71.
[24]Elliott, The Epistle of James, 75.
[25]Elliott, The Epistle of James, 75.
[26]Elliott, The Epistle of James, 75.
[27]Bauckham, James, 173.
[28]Bauckham, James, 178.
[29]Bauckham, James, 178.
[30]Bauckham, James, 179, emphasis mine.
[31]Bauckham, James, 179 80.
[32]Bauckham, James, 180.
[33]Bauckham, James, 180.
[34]Bauckham, James, 181.
[35]Bauckham, James, 181.
[36]Bauckham, James, 182.
[37]Bauckham, James, 183.
[38] Since, in Ethiopian we use first name to address a person unlike Western names, which is Family name. Thus, I am going to use the first name for all Ethiopian names based on our usage ... in naming names.
[39] The Gudina Tumsa Foundation, Witness and Discipleship: Leaders of the Church in Multi-Ethnic Ethiopia in a time of Revolution, The Essential Writings of Gudina Tumsa (Hamburg: WDL, 2008), i iii.
[40]
The Gudina Tumsa Foundation, Witness and Discipleship, 1.
[41]The Gudina Tumsa Foundation, Witness and Discipleship, 1 2.
[42] Nurse assistant used to be called dressers during that time, 1952.
[43]Yonas
Derresa, The Rev. Gudina Tumsa Early Life and Ministry, in the Life and
Ministry of Gudina Tumsa: Lectures and Discussions MISSIOLOGICAL Seminar 2001
2nd ed. ed. the Gudina Tumsa Foundation (Hamburg: WDL, 2007), 7. See also
Samuel Deressa, St. Gudina Tumsa, Lutheran Forum
(Spring 2012), 36-39.
[44] The GudinaTumsa Foundation, The Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa: Lectures and Discussions, Missiological Seminar 2001 2nd edition (Hamburg: WDL, 2007), 4 9.
[45]Emmauel Abraham quoted in The GudinaTumsa Foundation, The Life and Ministry of GudinaTumsa, 10, 11.
[46]Tibebe Eshete, The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: Resistance and Resilience (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2009), 229 30.
[47]Abeneazer G. Urga, The Bonhoeffer of Africa: Rev. Gudina Tumsa s Life, Theological Emphases and Contribution to the Ethiopian Church Paper presented at the southeast regional Evangelical Missiological Society meeting at Columbia International University, March 18, 2017.
[48]Gerd Decke, Gudina Tumsa and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in Emerging Theological Praxis, Journal of Gudina Tumsa Foundation (Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2012), 2:30.
[49] The Gudina Tumsa Foundation, The Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa, 11.
[50]The EECMY, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus is the one of the biggest and ancient evangelical church in the country with about 10 million members.
[51]Gudina Tumsa quoted in The Gudina Tumsa Foundation, The Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa, 63.
[52]GudinaTumsa quoted in yvind M. Eide, Integral Human Development: Rev. Gudina Tumsa s Theology, with Special Reference to His critique of Dominant Trends in Missiology and the Question of Human Rights, in The Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa, Gudina Tumsa Foundation (Hamburg: WDL, 2008), 63.
[53] Gudina Tumsa quoted in Eide, Integral Human Development, 45.
[54]Tumsa quoted in Paul E. Hoffman, Gudina Tumsa s Legacy, 45. And The Memorandum (1975), published in Eide 2000: 277.
[55]Gudina Tumsa quoted in Paul E. Hoffman, Gudina Tumsa s Legacy: His Spirituality and Leadership, in The Life and Ministry of GudinaTumsa: Lectures and discussions, Missiological Seminar second edition, (Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa Foundation, 2008), 36.
[56]Tumsa quoted in Eide, Integral Human Development, 47.
[57]Tumsa quoted in Eide 2000: 265. Gudina quoted in Integral Human Development, 46.
[58] Tumsa quoted in Eide, Integral Human Development, 55.
[59]Iteffa Gobena, Leading a Church in Times of Trouble: the EECMY in the Ethiopian Marxist Revolution (1974 1979), in the Gudina Tumsa Foundation, Church and Society: Lecture Responses Second Missiological Seminar 2003 on the Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa (Hamburg: WDL, 2010), 211.
[60]Gobena, Leading a Church in Times of Trouble, 212.
[61]Gobena, Leading a Church in Times of Trouble, 222.
[62]Gobena, Leading a Church in Times of Trouble, 222 23.
[63] Darrel Jadock, Gudina Tumsa s Contribution to Theology, Global South Theological Journal 1.1 (2022):5.
[64]Eide quoted in Tumsa in The Gudina Tumsa Foundation, 47.
[65]Gudina, Witness and Discipleship, 70.
[66] Jadock, Gudina Tumsa s Contribution to Theology, 5.
[67]Medemer is the political rhetoric of Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed, who has written a book with this title which means synergy or the state of being added together.
[68]Girma Bekele, The In-Between People: Reading David Bosch through the Lens of Mission History and Contemporary Challenge in Ethiopia (Waco: Wipf & Stock, 2011), 381.
[69] The church as an alternative community is borrowed from Girma Bekele, The In-Between People.
[70]Girma Bekele, a sermon at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, semester opening program, February 12, 2024.
[71]Bauckham, James, 183 (emphasis added).
[72]Bauckham, James, 195.
[73]Bauckham, James, 197.
[74] Douglas J. Moo, James: The Tyndale New Testament Commentary (Downers Grove: IVP, 1985), 54 55.
[75]Elliott, The Epistle of James, 75.
[76]Elliott, The Epistle of James, 75.
[77]Bauckham, James, 178 82.
[78]Bauckham, James, 173.
[79]Bauckham, James, 198.
[80]Bauckham, James, 173.
[81] Bauckham, James, 173.
[82]Tibebe, The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia, 225.
[83]Tibebe, The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia, 226.
[84]Tibebe, The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia, 227.