University Press of America
Pages: 190
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-7618-4300-9 • Paperback • September 2008 • $48.99 • (£38.00)
José Carlos Barbosa earned his master's degree in history at the University of Brasília and his doctorate in American History at the University of Seville, Spain. He currently teaches history at the Centro Universitário Metodista, Izabela Hendrix, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Fraser G. MacHaffie and Richard K. Danford, translators, are members of the faculty at Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio.
Chapter 1 Translators' Introduction
Chapter 2 Preface
Chapter 3 Introduction
Chapter 4 Chapter I: "A closed garden which wild animals cannot enter": The Implantation of Protestantism in Brazil
Chapter 5 Chapter II: "Contrary to what many think, Brazil is not an uncivilized and barbarous country": Missionary Strategy
Chapter 6 Chapter III: "Slavery is like a thorn that penetrates the flesh and causes excruciating pain but which we do not want to pull out, for fear that the operation will further increase the pain": The Institutional Protestant Message and Slavery
Chapter 7 Conclusion
Chapter 8 Appendix: "The Christian Religion and its relation to Slavery"
The book discusses a subject, which has been only fleetingly examined and for that reason brings new information and clues for future research. The honesty and courage of Barbosa's research . . . may shock many Protestant readers due to the timidity or even silence of their respective denominations in the battle for abolition [of slavery in Brazil].
— From the preface by Dr. Duncan A. Reily
This excellent book by José Carlos Barbosa represents an outstanding contribution to the study of Brazilian Protestantism. It examines an issue that has received little attention but is of great importance to understanding how Protestant denominations came to be implanted in Imperial Brazil. . . . Protestants were not prepared to tackle the most painful question of the day, precisely because they were blinded by the harsh struggle to secure a religious space in Brazilian society. Starting with these facts, Barbosa reveals the true politics of non-involvement erected upon the delicate efforts to maintain a safe distance from a matter as weighty as slavery.
— Elias Boaventura, Professor in the graduate program in Education at the Methodist University of Piracicaba