Claude Sumner

Father Claude Sumner, SJ was a Canadian professor of philosophy who worked at Addis Ababa University from 1953.^[1] He was best known for his work on Ethiopian philosophy, and in particular for introducing the philosophers Zera Yacob and Walda Heywat to the English-speaking world.

Sumner died on June 24, 2012, in Montreal, Canada, at the age of 92.^[2][3]

Published content he wrote

• The Philosophy of Man, Vol. I: From the Upanisads to the British Empiricists, University College Press, 1973.
• The Philosophy of Man, Vol. II: From Kant to the Situation in 1963,Central Printing Press, 1974.
• Ethiopian Philosophy, vol. I: The Book of the Wise Philosophers, Commercial Printing Press, 1974.
• Ethiopian Philosophy, vol. II: The Treatise of Zara Yaecob and Walda Hewat: Text and Authorship, Commercial Printing Press, 1976.
• Ethiopian Philosophy, vol. III: The Treatise of Zara Yaecob and Walda Hewat: An Analysis, Commercial Printing Press, 1978.
• Ethiopian Philosophy, vol. IV: The Life and Maxims of Skandes, Commercial Printing Press, 1974.
• Ethiopian Philosophy, vol. V: The Fisalgwos, Commercial Printing Press, 1976.
• Classical Ethiopian Philosophy, Commercial Printing Press, 1985.
• The Source of African Philosophy: The Ethiopian Philosophy of Man, Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden, 1986.
• Oromo Wisdom Literature: Proverbs, Collection and Analysis, 1995.
• "Zera Yacob", in Arrington, ed, A Companion to the Philosophers, Blackwell, 1999.
• Proverbs, Songs, Folktales: An Anthology of Oromo Literature, Gudina Tumsa Foundation, Addis Ababa, 1996.
• Living Springs of Wisdom and Philosophy, Addis Ababa University, 1999.
• "The Proverb and Oral Society", New Political Science, 21(1):11–31, 1999.
• "The Significance of Zera Yacob’s Philosophy", Ultimate Reality and Meaning, 22(3):172–88, 1999.
• "The Significance of Ethiopian Philosophy for the Problematics of an African Philosophy", in Perspectives in African philosophy, Addis Ababa University, 2002.
• "The Light and the Shadow: Zera Yacob and Walda Heywat: Two Ethiopian Philosophers of the Seventeenth Century", in Wiredu and Abraham, eds., A Companion to African Philosophy, 2004.

References

1. Teodros Kiros, "Doing African Philosophy: Claude Sumner's Work on Ethiopian Philosophy", New Political Science 16.1 (1995), p. 95
2. SJ Africa News, vol. 5, no. 3 (July 20, 2012), p. 9.
3. "Décès du P. Claude Sumner, s.j. | Jésuites" (in French). Jesuites.org. Retrieved 2012-09-23.