About Deacon Dawit Muluneh
Deacon Dr. Dawit Muluneh is an educator, researcher, author, and founder of Yibel Academy. He holds a Ph.D. in African Studies from Howard University, completed in December 2025, an M.A. in Semitics–Christian Near East from the Catholic University of America, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech.
He currently teaches Africana Studies at Georgia State University and has taught at Howard University and graduate-level Gəʿəz at the Catholic University of America. His research explores Ethiopian religious thought, culture, and manuscript traditions, with particular attention to the Ethiopic Miracles of Mary. Since 2020, he has contributed to Princeton University’s Ethiopian Miracles of Mary Project, cataloging, identifying, and translating Gəʿəz manuscript stories.
Raised in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Dr. Muluneh immigrated to the United States from Ethiopia at age seven. At 27, he sold his house and car to study the Church’s traditional teachings at Debre Libanos Monastery in Ethiopia and was subsequently ordained as a deacon.
He is the author of Hopeless Romantic: The Untold History of Ethiopia and I Need Answers. With more than 20 years of experience in English-language ministry, he helps young people understand their Orthodox faith, history, and identity through his writing, teaching, and work at Yibel Academy.