The Protestant influence on the work of Othoniel Motta and its importance for Brazilian education

Abstract

This text is the result of documentary research regarding the life and work of the Protestant grammarian Othoniel de Campos Motta and his influence on Brazilian education. Based on the texts grammatical produced by the author, the numerous bibliographic production and its historical repercussion in the Brazilian educational scenario. The sources used for this research they consist of literature and teaching material produced by Othoniel Motta as well as of analytical texts by theologians and historians who demonstrate the massive Protestant influence and especially Puritan in the education of Puritan England from the 17th century onwards, from the States United States and Brazil. To theoretically support the analysis, the historiography of Christopher Hill (2012) who considers the relevance of Puritans to the amplification of English educational conscience in the 17th century. To demonstrate the influence of heirs of English Puritans in the North American educational system, James Packer is used (1996) and Leland Ryken (1992). Allied to these thinkers, the idea of Abraham is added Kuyper (2002), founder and rector of the Free University of Amsterdam, for whom Calvinism it is not just contemplation, but it has restored science to its domain and given it freedom lost by the reductionist visions of its time. The relevance of this approach is in the problematization of a worldview and educational practices arising from it, enabling reflections on its effects in the public sphere.