Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia

In this sweeping history, Tibebe Eshete presents a new view of Ethiopian Christianity. Synthesizing existing scholarship with original interviews and archival research, he demonstrates that the vernacular nature of the Ethiopian church played a critical role in the development of a state church. He also traces the effects of the political on the religious: the growth of other "counter-cultural" movements in 1960s Ethiopia, such as renewal movements, youth discontentment, and the Marxist regime (under which the church still flourished). This strikingly authentic work refutes the thesis that evangelicalism was imported. Instead, Eshete shows, it was a genuine indigenous response to cultural pressures.

A very welcome contribution to the understudied subject of the history of Protestant religion in Ethiopia. -- Liza Debevec -- Journal of Religion in Africa

Tibebe Eshete (Ph.D. Michigan State University) is Assistant Professor of History, Calvin College. He is the recipient of the Compton Peace Fellowship Award 2003 and the Herbert C. and Mary L. Jackson Endowed Graduate Award in Arts and Letters 2004. His most recent publication is The Silent Revolution: The Role of Community Development in Reducing the Demand for Small Arms (2000).