Rastafari reception of Ethiopian biblical and apocryphal traditions

Record summary

Rastafari communities developed a sacralized interpretation of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, Psalmic language, Revelation, and selected Ethiopian royal traditions during the 1950s and 1960s. Contacts involving Ethiopian state symbolism, repatriation ideas, and Black internationalism made the tradition important for comparing biblical exegesis, apocalyptic identity, and transnational religious circulation. Interpretations of Selassie’s status varied among houses and periods, and later summaries can project formulations backward. Researchers should distinguish Jamaican Rastafari sources from Ethiopian Orthodox doctrine.