UNDERCONSTRUCTION

Email Communication at EthioForum

I don't believe you are scattered any more. I think with your 
intellectual capability and the technical support you would get from 
the technology and science bound Ethiopians, we can lift your project 
from the ground.  The interest about Ethiopia is limitless if only we 
have the right academic organizations. I think you must start the 
"Institute of Ethiopian Religious Studies". There are several of us 
who are committed to support such academic endeavors to save Ethiopia 
for our children. On such example is the establishment of the 
"Ethiopian Educational and Cultural Society", 
http://www.physics.ncat.edu/~michael/vses/genet/ees . This society is 
link to quality sites where the Ethiopian academy can use it as a 
resource and develop it further. I will volunteer to setup your 
institute on line to solicit any kind of support from the African 
Diaspora and Ethiopians.  
 
For the rest of you who have serious resources on Ethiopia I advise 
you to join "The Ethiopian Webring", located at 
http://www.physics.ncat.edu/~michael/ethiowebring
This site is designed to tally all non political Ethiopian sites which 
by our standard provide honest and accurate information about 
Ethiopia.
 
The discussion in this thread is the most important one so far. 
Politics comes and goes, personally I have no fear of it. What I am 
afraid of is cultural erosion and  the creation of pseudo-Ethiopians 
who believe from their heart that they are Ethiopians, but have no 
idea about what that means. I don't blame this group. I blame those of 
us who know and don't teach. Let's organize and let's teach.
 
ak
 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ephraim Isaac 
To: EthioForum Mailing List 
Sent: Saturday, December 11, 1999 6:50 AM
Subject: [EthioForum] - Re: Ancient Ethiopic Texts


As one of the few Ge'ez scholars in the world, I have something to say 
about this criticism. When I was teaching at Harvard in the early 70's, I 
was in fact the first person to write a proposal for cataloguing and 
microfilming Classical Ethiopic manuscripts and setting up a "Loeb 
Classics" type of Ethiopic works. In spite of my struggle and all the 
proposals that I wrote (copies of which still exist) I received little 
support for the projects at home or abroad. Perhaps it is understandable 
if Euro-Ameican institutions and foundations prefer to support their own 
nationals for African studies projects over the more qualified Africans. 
Unless, we Ethiopians learn to support each other (an ideal non-existent 
in the early 70's), there will be little change... 
I can also mention that a group of us founded the "Institute of Ethiopian 
Religious Studies" in Jerusalem in the mid-70's with the specific purpose 
of studying Classical Ethiopic texts (there are over 600 Ethiopic 
manuscripts in Jerusalem -- see my index in Rassagna...) jointly with the 
indigenous monks and in the setting of ancient Ethiopian monasteries. The 
work started but soon scuttled due to lack of national and international 
support. So much of the work we Ethiopian scholars do remain scattered 
and lost in scholarly publications which few colleagues and scholars 
around the world read. 

Ephraim Isaac 
Princeton University 

Joshua Abraham wrote: 

 Dear EthioForum, 
Yared wrote: 

"The sad thing about Ethiopian scholars is, they have done very little to 
bring these things to world. We always read from Graham Hancock, Richard 
Pankhrust and other to learn about our religion and culture. It is 
Richard 
Pankhurst who is crying to microfilm more than quarter of millions 
Christian 
and Muslim manuscripts scattered all of the Ethiopia. (I was told an 
Egyptian scholar has written his thesis on Fikare Eyesus) So where are 
the 
Ethiopian scholars?  I was exited because professor Fikre Tolosa has 
shown 
an interest to  investigate Ethiopian manuscripts. This is something that 
should excite us all.  Ge'ez is a disappearing language which will take 
all 
its secretes with it." 

___________________________________________________________________ 
  

Pursuant to the policy of non-political support for Ethiopian cultural 
and humanitarian endeavors, the House of Sellassie of the Solomonic 
Dynasty, under the executive administration of HH Princess Esther 
Sellassie-Antohin, a meeting was held on Friday, December 3, 1999, 
between  Princess Esther, her husband, Sir Anatoly Antohin, Dr. Charles 
Bryant-Abraham, Dr. Merril J. Bateman, President of Brigham Young 
University, and representatives of the Center for the Preservation of 
Ancient Religious Texts, in Provo, Utah.  The objective of this meeting 
was the initiation of an ongoing effort to bring the ancient religious 
texts of Ethiopia to the attention of world scholarship to be done by 
digital photocopying and filming on the site of their permanent location 
in Ethiopia.  There are an estimated 300,000 ancient religious texts of 
an inestimable value to world scholarship, perhaps well beyond that of 
the Dead Sea Scrolls. 

  President Bateman expressed his full support for this undertaking, The 
Haile Sellassie Ancient Ethiopian Religious Texts Project, for which an 
estimated $100,000 a year will be generated by Brigham Young University.  
It is thought that the completion of the project may exceed two million 
dollars.  To orient the readership of EthioForum to the nature and 
capacity of the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, a 
research facility of Brigham Young University, we have scanned brief 
introductions to a few of its various departments as follows below. 

  Dr. Charles Bryant-Abraham, Secretary General 
  The House of Sellassie of the Solomonic Dynasty. 
  

Sharing the Knowledge of the Ancient World 
In the summer of 1996, after a chain of events involving Emanuel Tov, the 
director of the international team of Dead Sea Scroll scholars and 
editors, and Noel B. Reynolds, then president of the Foundation for 
Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), an international conference 
on the scrolls was convened on the campus of Brigham Young University 
(BYU) in Provo, Utah.  A major event at that conference was the 
demonstration of an electronic database that could make the scrolls 
searchable on CDs.  So well received was the database that scholars and 
custodians of other ancient documents inquired whether the same 
technology could be used for their records as well.  The demand for this 
technology and the unique skills of the FARMS organization prompted the 
formation of a subsidiary, the Center for the Preservation of Ancient 
Religious Texts, or CPART, which operates under the auspices of BYU.  
CPART is assigned the role of aiding scholars, clergy, governments and 
others in the preserving, imaging, and distribution of ancient writings.  
It offers three important services: (1) the preservation of significant 
religious manuscripts by microfilm, photography, and/or electronic 
scanning, (2) the digitization and incorporation of selected manuscripts 
into searchable electronic databases at minimal cost, and (3) the 
translation and publication of selected ancient and medieval texts. 
  
  
  

Giving Life to the Dead Sea Scrolls 
"Two years ago none of [the Dead Sea Scrolls publication team] knew where 
B YU was... Provo [Utah] has suddenly become the international center of 
Dead Sea Scrolls study.  Weston Fields, founder and executive director, 
The Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation, Jerusalem Qumran, located some 18 
kilometers east of Jerusalem near the northwest end of the Dead Sea, was 
little more than an obscure dot on the Jordanian map in 1947.  Then 
things changed dramatically when some Bedouin shepherds found clay jars 
in a cave near the shoreline.  In those jars were very ancient scrolls.  
These shepherds did not immediately recognize the true nature of the 
scrolls, but word of the discovery quickly escalated into pivotal 
archeological discoveries and even more resourceful surreptitious 
activity on the part of some of the local population.  The world came to 
realize that Qumran was a major repository for ancient Jewish scriptures 
and other historical documents dating from the Second Temple (or 
Intertestamental) Period, which means they were twice as old as the 
medieval manuscripts that had previously served as the basis for our 
standard biblical texts.  Archeologists eventually found thousands of 
scrolls and fragments in eleven different caves. 

Rediscovering Early Eastern Christianity 
 While the beginnings of Christianity in the West are quite well known, 
the early stages of Eastern Christianity, and even much later 
developments, are shrouded in obscurity.  And yet, many of the most 
significant developments in Christianity, such as the christological 
controversies of the early centuries, involved churchmen from the East.  
In 1996 FARMS was approached by a Syrian Orthodox Priest with a request 
to apply the technology which we had developed for the Dead Sea Scroll 
database to Syriac documents.  In order to help us get started, he 
donated over 10,000 pages of microfilmed Syriac material to FARMS.  
Initial research revealed that countless religious and historical 
manuscripts are preserved in that dialect of Aramaic, and there are 
religious groups in and from the Middle Last who still use that language 
for their liturgy and speak it in their homes.  Ancient Syriac 
manuscripts are scattered throughout the monasteries of Turkey, Syria, 
Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.  In an effort to be of service to those 
communities, and also in order to make this material more readily 
available to interested Western scholars, CPART has become engaged in the 
digitizing of Syriac manuscripts and in creating transcriptions for use 
in an electronic database.  One of the areas that will be affected by the 
creation of such a database will be the discipline of New Testament text 
research.  "The proposed electronic archive of Syriac manuscripts is 
highly desirable and will be unique in the field of Syriac computing. 
Bringing the ancient writings of the Syriac fathers into the electronic 
age, it will enable the scholar to discern texts and produce critical 
editions, the Syriac Christian to taste the fruits of her forefathers and 
the computer scientist to research OCR means for manuscript writing." 
  

Eastern Thought & Western Media 
"It's a commendable project that is being produced by sound scholars with 
major reputations. I look forward to seeing the entire series." 

Professor William Graham, 
Harvard University 
For too long the intriguing world of Islamic thought has been virtually 
impenetrable for most of those in the West.  A knowledge of Arabic or 
Persian was needed to delve into the works and words of Middle Eastern 
sages.  Now, however, CPART's Islamic Translation Series is making the 
works of Arabic and Persian philosophers available in bilingual editions, 
using translations freshly produced for this series.  The books are 
published by Brigham Young University and distributed by the University 
of Chicago Press.  Scholars and students of Islamic culture and thought 
will be able to read the works more rapidly in the original and thereby 
more easily acquire the special vocabulary of Islamic philosophy Lay 
people will benefit from being able to read in translation works to which 
they had no previous access. 
An important by-product of this project is the development of an 
electronic database containing these philosophical works.  The electronic 
format Aill facilitate the generation of more comprehensive and 
up-to-date dictionaries for these languages than have been previously 
available and will facilitate study of the materials by linguists.  CPART 
hopes eventually to expand this series beyond philosophy to include 
mathematics, science, history and literature. 

___________________________________________________________________ 

The ironic part of this news breaking story is that the Monday following 
this very successful meeting, Dr. Tom Allredt of Brigham Young University 
e-mailed Mr. Richard Pankhurst with a view to opening communications on 
the project.  Mr. Pankhurst
If any of the EthioForum readership has personal first hand knowledge of 
these ancient Ethiopian texts and is willing to assist us in our efforts 
to preserve  for future generations these priceless manuscripts, 
Ethiopia's national heritage, please contact me off-line. 

We will be working closely with the ecclesiastical authorities of the 
Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church and will maintain our strict policy of 
non-political involvement throughout the project. 

Sincerely, 
Dr. Charles Bryant-Abraham, Secretary General 
The House of Sellassie of the Solomonic Dynasty 

Mr. Pankhurst
Subject: Re: Ancient Ethiopian Texts 
    Date: Mon, 06 Dec 1999 12:48:29 +0300 
    From: "Pankhurst"  
    Organization: home 
    To: allredtj  
    References: <384B7C0B.A5F0D6EE@ubtanet.com> 

    I fear I know nothing of all this, and am at first highly sceptical! 
    You mention the EMML project: we have to get this project 
re-activated; also 
    the Aksum obelisk returned from Rome. 
    Best wishes, 
    Richard Pankhurst