Por Cristo e Pela Pátria Brasileira: abolição, laicidade e conservadorismo na imprensa protestante oitocentista (1880-1904)

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze the discourse produced in the Protestant Presbyterian newspapers Imprensa Evangélica and O Estandarte, at the end of the Empire and the beginning of the Brazilian Republic (1883-1903), on themes related to the abolition of slavery, secularism and the emancipation of the Brazilian church. Initially, we analyzed, based on the assumptions of prosopography, the formation of Brazilian Presbyterian leadership. Thus, we demonstrate the relevance of evangelization in the western region of São Paulo, how the theological training of these Brazilian pastors took place, how journalistic and educational activity was common to them and what were the first effective steps towards the emancipation of the Brazilian church. Then, we analyzed the abolitionist discourse produced in the Evangelical Press, mainly by Eduardo Carlos Pereira, the only Brazilian pastor to publish a theological and conservative Protestant libel in defense of the abolition of slavery in Brazil. We also point out that in addition to having accompanied the Brazilian abolitionist movement, when writing his theological pamphlet, Eduardo Carlos Pereira responded to the conservative theological thought of American slavery. Next, we examine the first impressions of these Brazilian pastors in relation to the end of the Monarchy and the establishment of the Republic. We focused mainly on the issue of republican secularism and how Protestants presented themselves as having the best religion for the consolidation of the Republic. Finally, we address the main issues that resulted in the Presbyterian schism and the foundation of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB), that is, the educational and Masonic issue. We conclude that, in addition to the nationalist spirit, Eduardo Carlos Pereira and his followers were uncompromising defenders of a Brazilian Protestant conservatism, because, despite not giving up the traditions received from the first American missionaries, they denounced that American and Brazilian Masons had become corrupt.