The Missionary Strategies of the Jesuits in Ethiopia (1555-1632)During the second half of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth, Jesuit missionaries attempted to convert the Ethiopian Christian Empire to Catholicism. The present book is a detailed research on the methods by which the missionaries sought to spread Catholicism and the manner that the Ethiopian society responded. This work sheds light on the Jesuit preference of spreading Catholicism from top to bottom. The Jesuits believed that gaining control over positions of power and key positions was the right formula for success, and therefore, the missionaries tried to overtake the Ethiopian ecclesiastical hierarchy, sever the traditional connection with the Alexandrian Coptic Church and replace it with a connection with the Roman Catholic Church. Still, acting as a new force in the Ethiopian arena, the Catholic religion did more than play a mere political part. The present work reveals other aspects of the encounter and conflict between the Ethiopian and the Catholic Churches. It shows that the Jesuits tried to develop an Ethiopian Catholic culture, and for that purpose they preached, argued with Ethiopian clergymen and translated Latin and Portuguese texts into the Ethiopian language. |
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17th century 20 maii abba abunä According Afonso Mendes Agäw Alexandrine Almeida ad Praepositum AlmHisAet António Fernandes Barradas ad Praepositum Cartilha Catholic faith Catholicism CERULLI Christ Christological Chronicle ChrSus clergy conversion culture Däbrä Libanos debates doctrine Emmanuel Barradas Emmanuel de Almeida Emperor Susǝnyos Empire Ethio Ethiopian Christianity Ethiopian Church Fernandes Fremonae Gälawdewos Generalem S. I. Ex GETATCHEW HAILE Gə əz Gə˚əz GIRMA BESHAH Goğğam Gorgora Gorgorra governor hagiography Ibid Ignatius Ignatius of Loyola Jerónimo Lobo Jesuit fathers Jesuit missionaries Jesuits João KAPLAN Krəstos lands language Loyola Luis de Azevedo Magseph Assetat MERID WOLDE AREGAY missionaries monastery Monastic Holy monophysite Oromo Orthodox PaezHisAet patriarch Pedro Paez Petrus Paez political Portuguese Praepositum Generalem S. I. preaching priests RAESOI religious ritual S. I. Ex Aethiopia sacrament saints says sermons Sə əlä Krǝstos Society of Jesus Solomonic Dynasty Susǝnyos TELLEZ Tǝgray theological tradition translated Zä Dəngəl