Overview

In Envoys of A Human God Andreu Martínez offers a comprehensive study of the religious mission led by the Society of Jesus in Christian Ethiopia. The mission to Ethiopia was one of the most challenging undertakings carried out by the Catholic Church in early modern times. The book examines the period of early Portuguese contacts with the Ethiopian monarchy, the mission’s main developments and its aftermath, with the expulsion of the Jesuit missionaries. The study profits from both an intense reading of the historical record and the fruits of recent archaeological research. Long-held historiographical assumptions are challenged and the importance of cultural and socio-political factors in the attraction and ultimate estrangement between European Catholics and Ethiopian Christians is highlighted.

Full Product Details

9789004289147

Table of Contents

Reviews

This is the first comprehensive English-language account of the best-documented case of early modern missionarism in sub-Saharan Africa: the Jesuit mission to Ethiopia. Whereas in recent decades the topic has received the attention of many scholars, none of the extant accounts [...] can be compared in terms of comprehensiveness and depth of analysis to Martinez's. [...] The volume is bound to become required reading for specialists of the Horn, of Africa's missionary history, and of the Society of Jesus. Furthermore, because of the original framing of the mission in the larger world of the society's endeavors in Asia and the rise and demise of the Estado da India, the volume will attract considerable interest among Indian Ocean specialists. Lastly, the volume's encyclopedic character, the generous bibliography, its noteworthy appendixes dedicated to the genealogy of the Ethiopian royal house, and the demographics of the Jesuits in Ethiopia and their intellectual production are likely to make it an appealing reference work for scholars in other fields. Matteo Salvadore, Gulf University for Science and Technology. In: <Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Summer 2016), pp. 749-750.

This is the first comprehensive English-language account of the best-documented case of early modern missionarism in sub-Saharan Africa: the Jesuit mission to Ethiopia. Whereas in recent decades the topic has received the attention of many scholars, none of the extant accounts [...] can be compared in terms of comprehensiveness and depth of analysis to Martinez's. [...] The volume is bound to become required reading for specialists of the Horn, of Africa's missionary history, and of the Society of Jesus. Furthermore, because of the original framing of the mission in the larger world of the society's endeavors in Asia and the rise and demise of the Estado da India, the volume will attract considerable interest among Indian Ocean specialists. Lastly, the volume's encyclopedic character, the generous bibliography, its noteworthy appendixes dedicated to the genealogy of the Ethiopian royal house, and the demographics of the Jesuits in Ethiopia and their intellectual production are likely to make it an appealing reference work for scholars in other fields. - Matteo Salvadore, Gulf University for Science and Technology, in: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Summer 2016), pp. 749-750

Author Information

Andreu Martínez d’Alòs-Moner, Ph.D. (2009), European University Institute (Florence) is Associated Professor at Gondar University, Ethiopia. He worked at the University of Hamburg for the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica project and has published extensively on cultural encounters between Europe, India, and Africa.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available