Abstract
Biography
This book is a collection of writings about an exemplary Ethiopian couple who suffered untold hardship during the Marxist revolution. Gudina Tumsa, a church leader and executive, was executed by the cruel hands of Marxist military henchmen in 1979. His wife, Tsehay Tolessa, languished in prison from 1980 to 1987. Samuel Yonas Deressa and Sarah Hinlicky Wilson are to be saluted for their careful research and translation in making the stories of these two exceptional Ethiopian heroes available to the English-speaking world.
Part I contains 13 chapters of Gudina Tumsa’s extant writings, crafted and delivered at various seminars within Ethiopia as well as abroad. The initial chapters were written in the early 1970s when Gudina was initially appointed as the General Secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). These chapters deal with the nature of the church and her biblical calling to bring the gospel to all peoples. After 1974, Gudina’s writings articulate a reasoned biblical theology that integrates service to the body and mission to the soul. He was a holistic theologian, thus his polemic in two of the articles was aimed at external mission societies that, in practice, encouraged a dichotomy. Because of this, Gudina toyed with the idea of a moratorium on outside funding and personnel. But it was because of his writing about ecumenical harmony among various Ethiopian church traditions that Gudina became intolerable to the Marxist junta. The only manner in which they could silence him was to kill him. Willing to face death, Gudina refused to flee from his country and the flock of which he was the shepherd.
Part II of the book is the personal account of Gudina’s wife, Tsehay. Her childhood life in western Ethiopia is narrated, as well as her marriage to Gudina and their fulfilled life raising a family and serving the EECMY in ministry. This family’s life was turned upside down at the arrest and disappearance of Tsehay’s husband, Gudina. For 13 years, the family lived in uncertainty as to whether he was alive or dead. Then in 1980, some months after Gudina’s disappearance, Tsehay was incarcerated. The narration of Tsehay’s seven years in prison and the hideous torture inflicted upon her is very painful reading. Yet through all of the terrible circumstances, Tsehay experienced the sustaining comfort of Christ and maintained a strong faith. After her release from prison, she was reunited with her children and lived peacefully, though permanently weakened, with her children in Addis Ababa until her death at 84 years of age.
Samuel Yonas Deressa, a family friend, has succinctly summarized the impact of these stellar church leaders: “Gudina’s faithful witness and discipleship were exceptional. In the face of political adversity and dictatorship, he knew that being a disciple of Jesus Christ would eventually mean facing suffering and even death … His martyrdom adds the depth of personal witness to his prophetic message of faith.” This is why Gudina Tumsa may be distinguished as “the Bonhoeffer of Ethiopia.”