Visions and dreams: an avenue for Ethiopians' conversion to Catholicism at the beginning of the seventeenth century

Various scholars have shown that dreams and visions constituted an important means for apprehending religious truths in Ethiopian society. Drawing on these works, the present study focuses on the role of dreams and visions in the process of Christian Ethiopians' conversion to Catholicism during the early 1600s. In the first three decades of that century, the Jesuit mission sought-albeit with mixed results-to implant Catholicism into the Ethiopian Empire. Dreams and visions helped neophytes cope with the crises that were triggered by the new religion, as individuals turned to them in order to bridge the demands laid down by the missionaries and the norms of their own community and thereby intensify their devotion to their newfound faith. Alternatively, others used dreams and visions to resist the encroachment of the European missionaries.