Evangelical worship in Brazil: its origins and development

Abstract

This analysis of Evangelical worship in Brazil is concerned with the concepts and practices that were introduced into Brazil by Protestant immigrants and missionaries from Britain, Germany, and the United States during the nineteenth century, and with its continued development.

Chapter One presents the aim and scope of the study; Chapter Two, the land and people of Brazil prior to 1810, the year that Brazil was opened to Protestant immigration. The geography, history, and ethnolo¬ gical formation is analyzed because worship, as all social activities of a people, are deeply affected by these factors. The religious life of the nation from 1500 to 1810 was under the complete monopoly of the Roman Catholic Church of Portugal. Its history, problems, and influence upon the formation of Brazilian culture and character are studied.

The first section of Chapter Three is devoted to a study of worship among the Protestant immigrants. Three centuries had passed since the Reformation. Protestant worship had undergone deviations from the ideals and teachings of the Reformers. It is important to note these changes in order to understand the concepts and practices of worship they introduced into Brazil during one-half century before the arrival of Protestant missionaries.

The second section of Chapter Three tells of the arrival of the missionaries. Five of these have been studied to show their contribution to worship. In the beginning both immigrants and missionaries laboured under government restrictions; worship was only allowed in buildings whose exterior appearance did not resemble Churches

Chapter Four begins the study of indigenous Brazilian influences. Patterns of worship in the life, ministry, and influence of five leading Brazilian pastors, are examined. In Chapter Five the influence of Roman Catholicism is studied and evaluated. Due to the scarcity of priests thinly scattered over the vast geographical areas and the tenacity with which the African slaves and the Indians held on to their primitive animist¬ ic beliefs, the religion of the hinterland developed into folk-religion, more African and Indian than orthodox Roman Catholic. The intellectuals reacted against this superstition with a reserved skepticism in which they continued to participate in the festivals of the Church as part of Brazilian Social and national life, but with few deep religious convictions and commitments. This intellectual attitude was often inherited by the Protestant Churches. The superstitious practices and beliefs in the folk religion conditioned the illiterate masses to accept Spiritism and Pentecostalism. The scarcity of priests developed a dependence upon local lay brotherhoods which prepared the ground for the acceptance of a ministry of unordained Protestant laymen. Evangelical worship also suffered from anti-clerical reactions against Romanism.

Chapter Six is a study of the influence of Bible distribution over the vast unchurched areas in which Bible-reading communities appeared and family worship and Sunday School became the frontier Church. It was the only church which thousands of young Christians knew. They were evangelized, came to know the Grace of God, and learned their first Worship patterns under a gifted but untrained and unordained lay leadership. Communities went for months, even years, without the sacraments or a visit from the ordained clergy.

Chapter Seven continues the study of indigenous influences upon worship, analyzing ethnological contributions from the Portuguese, African, and Indian; the influence of French Positivism; the political structures of the land, as well as the simplicities and barrenness of pioneer life. Each of these factors left its mark.

In Chapter Eight the developing worship patterns within the various Churches are analyzed; it is noted that they were established in Brazil during a time of liturgical decadence throughout the Protestant world, and before the liturgical revival began at the close of the nineteenth century. A normal development was in progress in 1910. This was retarded by a doctrinal conflict which arose between the so-called "liberal" and "conservative" parties within the Church. The conflict has continued to the present, retarding the development of worship.

The contemporary scene is discussed in Chapters Nine, Ten and Eleven. Chapter Nine presents the advent of Pentecostalism with its impact of direct preaching, lively music, but a materialistic and utilitarian concept of religion. The Tenth chapter describes the continuing problem of the vast geographical areas with the scarcity of a trained and ordained ministry, and the problems of worship that are concomitant with this situation. The Conclusion sees Brazil as one of the promising areas of the world for Church growth, but in great need of a deeper theological compre¬ hension of the Nature and Mission of the Church upon which Evangelical worship depends.