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Messianism and Protestantism in Brazil's Sertão
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
Extract
A “messiah,” as the term is used here, is taken to mean a person believing himself to be divinely called, as a result of a dream or a series of visions, to lead a group of people from some catastrophic set of conditions into a more perfect state of affairs. “Messianism” is a term used in a variety of ways but usually to characterize a religious movement led by a messiah. Sertão is a Portuguese word meaning simply “hinterland” or interior and is usually taken to refer to a region in Brazil known as the polígona das sêcas (drought polygon) which extends over an area of the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe, Alagoas, and Bahia subject to periodic and unpredictable droughts.
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- Research Article
- Information
- Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , July 1970 , pp. 416 - 438
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- Copyright © University of Miami 1970
References
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A complete account of the Fazenda Nova Vida is in preparation for presentation to the American Philosophical Society. Mr. Johnson graciously returned to Brazil in the summer of 1969 to assist the author in gathering data. He is anthropologically oriented and trained.
5 When Pedro Batista da Silva died in 1968 his lieutenants fought over who was to inherit the “kingdom.” A sergeant of police was beaten in the fray and solved the problem of succession with a submachine gun.
6 At the request of Antonio José dos Santos all of the names in this account are the actual names of people and places. Many of the original actors are now dead. Pastor Antônio believes that the publication of his story is a modern fulfillment of the prophecy made by Jesus to Mary Magdalene for having washed his feet and wiped them with the hairs of her head: “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this … be told for a memorial… .” Matthew 26:7.
7 In transcribing the story from tape I have attempted to retain the Biblical flavor and the dramatic emphases of the narrative by using capitals in places and by supplying subsidiary information to the text when it was implicit in the context. It was obtained by interrupting his remarks from time to time.
The assembleias he talks about are not Assembly of God churches but small, local independent groups of Protestant-oriented peoples of Catholic or Spiritist backgrounds who have been recruited or taken over by charismatic figures.
8 One of the problems with converting money into U.S. equivalences is that comparable purchasing power is seldom specified, making the whole process somewhat invidious.
9 A cabra is the word for “goat,” and an epithet for a Protestant.
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11 Coronel João Sá is now dead. He was what Brazilians call a coronel de patente, or the equivalent of our “Kentucky Colonel.”
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