Translating Faith

An epic piece of scholarship on a global encounter of the highest importance: cultural and religious translation between Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics in Renaissance Rome. Focusing on the dynamics of textual collaboration, predominantly in Gǝʿǝz, Kelly persuasively restores the contributions of Ethiopians to these exchanges. Brilliant, complex, and written with sustained lucidity, this is a game-changing book. -- Kate Lowe, coeditor of <i>Black Africans in Renaissance Europe</i> Through meticulous analysis of manuscript and archival sources, Samantha Kelly offers a precise and original assessment of the religious politics surrounding the Ethiopian Christian diasporic community in sixteenth-century Rome. Translating Faith powerfully highlights the intricate negotiations of identity and perspective that took place between the Christian West and Christian Ethiopia. -- Alessandro Bausi, Director of <i>Beta maṣāḥǝft: Manuscripts of Ethiopia and Eritrea</i> Translating Faith reveals how the Ethiopian community at Santo Stefano in Rome transformed the city’s intellectual profile through erudite collaboration and negotiation with other scholars. It is a work of tremendous skill and scholarship, a vital contribution to intellectual history, religious history, and the history of early modern Rome. -- Emily Michelson, author of <i>Catholic Spectacle and Rome’s Jews</i> Samantha Kelly expertly illuminates the world of the monastic community of Santo Stefano, a thriving outpost of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity that flourished in sixteenth-century Rome. Her meticulous examination of manuscripts in Gǝʿǝz, Latin, and vernacular languages offers an unparalleled view into the lives of Ethiopian pilgrims, clerics, scholars, and humanists—free Africans celebrating, debating, and writing on their faith, culture, and history in the heart of Renaissance Europe. -- Verena Krebs, author of <i>Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe</i>