Católicos e protestantes: as religiosidades em disputa na Amazônia oitocentista (1850-1888)

Abstract

: This article discusses how Protestants’ expectations increased in the 19th century to establish themselves in the Brazilian Amazon due to the opening of the Amazon River to international navigation. As in other countries, this expansion movement intended a saga of conversion, initially, through access to the Bible, although unaccompanied by the effective establishment of Protestant temples, contenting itself with manifesting it in acts of propaganda. These acts promoted by Protestants were collected in the press of the time, in travelers' statements and in official reports, forming a web of debates and judgments about the sign of the religious dispute. Catholic hegemony managed to reinforce the obstacles to Protestant expansion, demonstrating that the diagnosis of Catholicism as a facade religion was not correct, although the hierarchy also manifested its disagreement with the ways of living traditional and popular Catholicism, seeking whenever possible to reform this way of “being Church” to make it compatible with diocesan model.