Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 34:1 (Oct 2022)
Article: In Search of "Cura Vitae": A Theology of Healing and Hope for Ethiopia
Author: Youdit Tariku Feyessa

Conspectus 34:1 (October 2022) p. 50

In Search of Cura Vitae: A Theology of Healing and Hope for Ethiopia

Youdit Tariku Feyessa

EGST; VUA

About The Author

Ms. Youdit Tariku Feyessa is a faculty candidate and instructor at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST). She has earned her post graduate degrees from EGST in theology and development studies. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student in the joint program of the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (VUA). Her research interests broadly lie in interdisciplinary research and public/political theology, emphasizing the role of religion vis-à-vis public life. She mainly engages with gender equality, identity and diversity, patristic theology, eco-theology, the capability approach, theological education, and Christian ethics. [email protected]

This article: https://doi.org/10.54725/conspectus.2022.2.5

Abstract

This article argues that Ethiopia has seen an increase in ethnic-based atrocities and killings, creating a “society of enmity” which is in need of cura vitae, healing. The failure of the Church to minister healing and hope in this context has been largely brought about by political motives. This article examines and challenges the position of the Ethiopian Church amid a society of enmity and argues that the Church ought to search for cura vitae, healing of life, through the theology of lament and metanoia. A lamenting and metanoic Church would be able not only to enter the space of the sufferer and partake in naming what is going on, but would also enable self-questioning for authenticity that leads not only to healing but also to taking new action towards transforming the self and society for the better.

Keywords

cura vitae, society of enmity, lament, metanoia, hope

1. Introduction

Human history, though surrounded with remarkable discoveries, often correlates with hideous conflicts, war, and destructions. World War I and II, vivid examples of the worst nightmares of human history, led to the death of 12–22 and 70–85 million people, respectively (Kaldor 2012, 27–31). The twentieth century entertained the most excruciatingly ugly encounters of ethnic-based cleansings and genocide where six million Jews were executed during the holocaust for being Jewish; one third of the Tutsi population in Rwanda, 800,000 people, were massacred within only one-hundred days, mostly with machetes (Katongole and Rice 2008, 75). Still, in the twenty-first century, conflicts are common in most parts of the world; the war between Ukraine and Russia, and the conflict in Sudan, Congo, and Ethiopia are only a few examples. Thus, the world is in a state of