The Historical Foundations of Brazilian Protestantism - An Introduction

Abstract

This article presents an introduction to the history of Protestantism in Brazil, approaching the different phases of the presence of this strand of Christianity here since the colonial period. The text discusses the actions of French Protestants in the 16th century in Rio de Janeiro, of the Dutch in the region that is today the northeast of Brazil, of immigrants of European origin during the 19th century and, finally, the so-called Protestantism of missions, installed in the country from the second half of the nineteenth century and that would be consolidated throughout the twentieth century. It highlights, through the literature produced and or distributed by these Protestants in these contexts and, heir to the reform movement of the 16th century, had as an ideal, due to their religious convictions, submissive to biblical teaching, the promotion of individual freedom and responsibility for broader implications of Reformed ethics for social development, it has education as one of the main means of achieving its goals.