Text in English / This work endeavors to analyze the growth of Brazilian Baptists in metropolitan Sao Paulo between the last two official censes. Protestants have been accused of not adapting to Brazilian culture, of organizing "miniconvents," rather than life and society-transforming communities, of having their roots so deeply embedded in their rural past that they are maladjusted to Brazilian urban life. Is this so? Has the result of over one hundred years of missionary effort been the production of a carbuncle within the Brazilian social fabric, a foreign body that must be rejected - as it rejects its host? Chapter two traces the history of Brazil, and of the insertion of Missionary Protestantism into the Brazilian social fabric. Special emphasis is given to the growth and development of the Brazilian Baptist Convention, especially in the State of Sao Paulo. Finally, the growth of the Brazilian Baptist churches in metropolitan Sao Paulo between the last two censes, 1981-1990, is analyzed. Brazilian Baptists have grown at better than twice the rate of the general population, especially in the urban, residential, communities. It would appear that Brazilian Baptists are well adapted to their environment, inasmuch as they are growing within the Brazilian urban context. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

This thesis is about Thomas Jefferson Bowen (1814 - 1875), a Baptist missionary of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, United States. Bowen worked in Africa and tried to work with slaves in Brazil. These facts made Bowen a missionary ahead of his time. He had a different perspective and attitude to Africa and Africans. His book Central Africa, his personal letters, his articles, his life, show that he was deeply involved with the idea that Africa could be much more than only a good place to purchase slaves. His whole missionary life was expended in a project to train blacks to work in Africa as missionaries and teachers. What made Bowen a different missionary from his fellows in his time was the fact that he was able to understand and respect the culture of the people with whom he was involved. He could see and appreciate the structures of the African society and he planned a development project from the African perspective. He was a missionary who believed that the Western society was not appropriate for Africa. Africa had to find its own way. He was different because he believed that missionaries have to speak the language of the people and should not force the native people to learn English as a "holy" language. We present this work as a tribute to this missionary whose life and relationship with blacks can be seen as an example of respect and understanding of the culture of a people. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

Text in English / This work endeavors to analyze the growth of Brazilian Baptists in metropolitan Sao Paulo between the last two official censes. Protestants have been accused of not adapting to Brazilian culture, of organizing "miniconvents," rather than life and society-transforming communities, of having their roots so deeply embedded in their rural past that they are maladjusted to Brazilian urban life. Is this so? Has the result of over one hundred years of missionary effort been the production of a carbuncle within the Brazilian social fabric, a foreign body that must be rejected - as it rejects its host? Chapter two traces the history of Brazil, and of the insertion of Missionary Protestantism into the Brazilian social fabric. Special emphasis is given to the growth and development of the Brazilian Baptist Convention, especially in the State of Sao Paulo. Finally, the growth of the Brazilian Baptist churches in metropolitan Sao Paulo between the last two censes, 1981-1990, is analyzed. Brazilian Baptists have grown at better than twice the rate of the general population, especially in the urban, residential, communities. It would appear that Brazilian Baptists are well adapted to their environment, inasmuch as they are growing within the Brazilian urban context. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

A partir da segunda metade do século XIX, as missões batistas norte-americanas passaram a realizar campanhas evangelizadoras em diferentes cidades brasileiras, com o intuito de promover uma reforma no sistema religioso local, cujas bases ideológico-doutrinárias se estabeleceram ao longo de três séculos de presença hegemônica da Igreja Católica. O movimento batista foi introduzido no cenário religioso da Nação em 1881, ano a partir do qual pregadores enviados pela Junta de Missões Estrangeiras passaram a se fixar no país, em virtude da aprovação da criação de uma frente missionária permanente no Brasil. Diante de semelhante perspectiva, o projeto na área de Publicações não restringia o seu campo de atuação aos centros urbanos, áreas onde o grau de escolaridade de seus leitores era potencialmente mais elevado. O consenso em torno da idéia de que a criação de um veículo de informação de alcance nacional contribuiria para o crescimento qualitativo e quantitativo das Igrejas (quantitativo no que se refere à abertura de novas congregações e qualitativo no que concerne à implementação da formação religiosa e intelectual dos fiéis), viabilizou a fundação do Jornal Batista, na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, no ano de 1901. O compromisso com a evangelização do povo brasileiro, o zelo com o aprofundamento do conhecimento bíblico e com a instrução dos crentes e o propósito de fornecer informação sobre os acontecimentos do mundo contemporâneo, a luz do Cristianismo, foram os fundamentos orientadores de o Jornal Batista, principal órgão desta Imprensa denominacional e principal objeto de investigação da pesquisa proposta. / Since the second half of the nineteenth century North American Baptist missionaries began to accomplish evangelistic campaigns in different brazilian cities: their widest objective was to promote a profound reformation in the local religious system, whose ideologicdoctrinal basis had been established in the course of more than three centuries of Roman Catholic Church hegemony. The Baptist movement was introduced this religious scenery in 1881, seeing that in the same year the first preachers encharged of settling a permanent mission site in Brazil were sent to this nation by the Southern Baptist Convention of the United States. Among the pioneer missionaries, the consensus toward the idea that the creation of a national reach communication vehicle would contribute to the quantitative growth as well as to the qualitative development of the churches, occasioned the foundation of the Baptist Journal (Jornal Batista) in Rio de Janeiro, on January 10th of 1901 (the term quantitative growth refers to the enlargement of this mission field with the opening of new congregations while qualitative development is attributed for the prospective improvement of both religious and intellectual instruction of their members). The commitment with the evangelization of the brazilian people, the zeal concerning the deepening of their biblical knowledge and the purpose of providing information about contemporary events in the perspective of the evangelical faith were the guiding principles of the Baptist Journal. During the first two decades of the brazilian republic it remained as the main medium of communication held by this denominational press. It consists on the prime investigation object of the present research

A partir da segunda metade do século XIX, as missões batistas norte-americanas passaram a realizar campanhas evangelizadoras em diferentes cidades brasileiras, com o intuito de promover uma reforma no sistema religioso local, cujas bases ideológico-doutrinárias se estabeleceram ao longo de três séculos de presença hegemônica da Igreja Católica. O movimento batista foi introduzido no cenário religioso da Nação em 1881, ano a partir do qual pregadores enviados pela Junta de Missões Estrangeiras passaram a se fixar no país, em virtude da aprovação da criação de uma frente missionária permanente no Brasil. Diante de semelhante perspectiva, o projeto na área de Publicações não restringia o seu campo de atuação aos centros urbanos, áreas onde o grau de escolaridade de seus leitores era potencialmente mais elevado. O consenso em torno da idéia de que a criação de um veículo de informação de alcance nacional contribuiria para o crescimento qualitativo e quantitativo das Igrejas (quantitativo no que se refere à abertura de novas congregações e qualitativo no que concerne à implementação da formação religiosa e intelectual dos fiéis), viabilizou a fundação do Jornal Batista, na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, no ano de 1901. O compromisso com a evangelização do povo brasileiro, o zelo com o aprofundamento do conhecimento bíblico e com a instrução dos crentes e o propósito de fornecer informação sobre os acontecimentos do mundo contemporâneo, a luz do Cristianismo, foram os fundamentos orientadores de o Jornal Batista, principal órgão desta Imprensa denominacional e principal objeto de investigação da pesquisa proposta. / Since the second half of the nineteenth century North American Baptist missionaries began to accomplish evangelistic campaigns in different brazilian cities: their widest objective was to promote a profound reformation in the local religious system, whose ideologicdoctrinal basis had been established in the course of more than three centuries of Roman Catholic Church hegemony. The Baptist movement was introduced this religious scenery in 1881, seeing that in the same year the first preachers encharged of settling a permanent mission site in Brazil were sent to this nation by the Southern Baptist Convention of the United States. Among the pioneer missionaries, the consensus toward the idea that the creation of a national reach communication vehicle would contribute to the quantitative growth as well as to the qualitative development of the churches, occasioned the foundation of the Baptist Journal (Jornal Batista) in Rio de Janeiro, on January 10th of 1901 (the term quantitative growth refers to the enlargement of this mission field with the opening of new congregations while qualitative development is attributed for the prospective improvement of both religious and intellectual instruction of their members). The commitment with the evangelization of the brazilian people, the zeal concerning the deepening of their biblical knowledge and the purpose of providing information about contemporary events in the perspective of the evangelical faith were the guiding principles of the Baptist Journal. During the first two decades of the brazilian republic it remained as the main medium of communication held by this denominational press. It consists on the prime investigation object of the present research

See file for abstract / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology) / D. Th ((Missiology) Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology)

See file for abstract / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology) / D. Th ((Missiology) Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology)