The Origins of the New Churches Movement in Southern Ethiopia, 1927-1944 (Studies of Religion in Africa, 16)

This study describes the beginnings of a movement which has created another face for Ethiopian Christianity. The expatriate missionary-evangelists, who in 1927 were encouraged by Emperor Haile Selassie to work in southern Ethiopia, intentionally by-passed the orthodox model and made a fresh star. The three facets of the movement are covered: the religious backdrop of orthodox Christianity and the expatriates' fundamentalist Christianity; the praxis and polity of their work; and the post-occupation outcome, which confirmed their choices.