Discourse against Catholic Doctrine in Tǝgray (Ethiopia): A Nineteenth Century Text

Abstract

The article deals with a peculiar document that was found during a field research conducted by the team of the Ethio-SPARE project during the spring 2010 in church libraries of Gulo Mäkäda wäräda, north-east Təgray (historical ʿAgame). This document is a Gəʿəz text written during the 19^th century and dedicated to the refutation of the Catholic doctrine. Because of its apparent historical significance, the text and its translation are presented here. Taking into consideration the literary form (discourse) of the work and the place where it was found (the area of the active Catholic preaching) we can assume that the text is a summary of the anti-Catholic argumentation, possibly used by the Orthodox priests, and a witness of the local attitude to the Catholic missionary activities. The treatise does not provide any hints to the political issues of the Catholic settlement in Ethiopia. However, it does highlight some elements of the discourse against Catholic faith in the context of the emergence of a strong religious Täwaḥǝәdo identity.