Biography Narrative

Geleta Simesso from Ethiopia is a Lutheran Pastor serving at the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), the largest Lutheran Church in Africa and the second largest globally. He is currently Director of Life in Abundance. He studied at Addis Ababa University and the Mekane Yesus Seminary, where he later served as professor and Academic Vice President. Mekane Yesus Seminary (MYS) is the only Seminary/Theological College in Ethiopia which offers a Bachelor degree program in Christian Muslim Relations (CMR). He majored in Intercultural Studies during his graduate studies at the Radboud University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands majoring in Intercultural Studies. He also studied theology at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology in Addis Ababa and Peace Studies the Universitat Jaime I of Spain. Geleta also designed and taught a course entitled “Religions in Dialogue” at the Global Studies and International Relations department of the New Generation University College. Geleta teaches Peacebuilding, Religion and Politics, and Philosophy courses at the Mekane Yesus Seminary and different universities/colleges. He has a special interest in the area of contemporary issues in religion and politics. He has attended various national and international conferences where he presented research papers on Philosophy and Religious Studies. He is serving as one of the commission members for the Judiciary and Arbitration Commission of the EECMY.

Interreligious Activities and Initiatives

Religious Peace Building as am Alternative dispute resolution mechanism in Ethiopia

This research anticipates collecting success stories from the field and alayzing them so as to identify common elements and/or practices among successful endeavors It tries ro study the roles palyed by religions/religious actors in the recent past history of Ethiopia. Ideas/methodologies to be replicated will be identified and will be feeding for further research and/or analysis.