Aaron Butts , assistant professor, Semitic Languages and Literatures, was quoted in an Aleteia story on the donation of Ethiopic manuscripts to Catholic University. The acquisition of Ethiopian Relgious texts by the Semitics Department and ICOR Library was covered by Catholic News Agency. He was also quoted. See below.
From: Aleteia Date: Dec. 26, 2016 Author: Zoe Romanowsky
... The donation, says Butts reaffirms ICOR's standing as "one of the leading places to study the languages, literatures, and histories of Christianity in the Near East, including Arabic, Coptic, Syriac, and now Ethiopic."
Read more about Butt's expertise .
From: Catholic News Agency Date: Jan. 10, 2017 Author: Adelaide Mena
... Dr. Aaron M. Butts, a Professor of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literature at Catholic University, said in a statement that the manuscript collection "provides unparalleled primary sources for the study of Eastern Christianity" and reaffirms the school's standing as one of the leading places to study Near Eastern Christian language, literature, and history.
Butts also noted that at various times in Ethiopian history, use of these prayers has been discouraged within the Ethiopian Church. Because of this status, as well as the domestic, personal nature of their use, he continued, not much research has been done on these devotional tools.
According to Butts, the collection's age is fairly typical for Ethiopian manuscripts. He explained that while many Western and Middle Eastern manuscripts can date back centuries and even more than a millennium, Ethiopian scripts tend to be much more recent, in part because Ethiopians still use the manuscripts in daily life for prayer and reading, and also because the alternating rainy and dry climate destroys the hides. ...