Unum corpus sumus in Cristo?: iniciativas de fraternidade e cooperação protestante no Brasil (1888-1940)

Abstract

Protestantism and its initiatives of fraternity and ecclesiastical cooperation are the central themes of analysis and development of this thesis. The approach comprises the last years of the nineteenth century and the last years of the 1930s, during which actions have been developed aiming to strengthen solidarity and promote cooperation between the different churches in the country. We analyze the Protestant ecclesiastical leadership and churches initiatives to overcome denominational differences and to be guided by the vision of ecumene, i.e., of the underlying unity to diversity and the awareness to inhabit one and same world. Such efforts formed the Protestant ecumenism in Brazil, perceived as an important shaper of senses and unifier of forces – in the context of disputes in the religious field – to be represented before the Brazilian society and to oppose to the other competitors, especially to Catholicism. If these efforts, on the one hand, mobilized leaders and believers in the search for a unity of Protestant Christianity, on the other, highlighted the particular and exclusivist interests present within the churches themselves. The study was made possible through the analysis of sources such as newspapers, reports, letters, minutes, pamphlets and books, most of them produced by the Protestant churches and cooperation agencies. The analysis allowed to find that although the desire for “unity in the body of Christ,” anchored in concepts such as “universal church”, has mobilized Protestants and served as a bulwark to affirm the “cohesion of Protestantism”, the denominational partisanship has always been lurking. A constant confrontation between unity and (dis) unity.