Biblical Interpretation in Ethiopian Patristic Literature

Abstract

Abstract Ethiopia has its own methods of commentary that help to extol the truths and values of the Scriptures. It started by commenting Gǝʾǝz texts in Gǝʾǝz, the vernacular of the country until around the twelfth century. This system of commentary is called tǝrgwame. After Gǝʾǝz ceased to be the vernacular of the nation and replaced by Amharic, the church with the support of the palace established the Gǝʾǝz-Amharic commentary tradition called andǝmta. This chapter presents the history of these commentary traditions focusing on the beginning and development of both the tǝrgwame and andǝmta tradition. Then a concise discussion of the method of the state of the art commentary tradition, the andǝmta will be given. Finally, a summarizing presentation on the history of research on the tradition is delivered.