Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / A presente dissertação de mestrado é uma análise em torno da identidade confessional e do discurso étnico no contexto do processo de aproximação de dois sínodos que vieram constituir a IECLB em 1949, a saber, a Associação Evangélica de Comunidades e o Sínodo Evangélico Luterano, apontando para os conflitos no processo de convergência intersinodal em nível institucional e comunitário. A dissertação está dividida em três capítulos. No primeiro capítulo, aborda-se a questão confessional implicada na relação entre os dois referidos sínodos, sendo central a reprodução dos discursos das instituições de formação por parte dos pastores e o descompasso desse discurso em relação às ênfases comunitárias. No segundo capítulo, procura-se descrever a valorização do pensamento étnico ocorrido nos sínodos, sua relação com as conjunturas políticas alemã e brasileira e em que medida ele marca a relação intersinodal. E, no terceiro capítulo, discute-se a aproximação e fusão dos sínodos e de que forma elas foram influenciadas pelos discursos confessional e étnico. De forma geral, pode-se dizer que a caminhada convergente da Associação Evangélica de Comunidades e do Sínodo Evangélico Luterano é marcada por conflitos, divergências e "guerras", mas também se evidenciam sinais claros de compromisso cristão e busca de cooperação e unidade. / This masters thesis is an analysis dealing with confessional identity and ethnic discourse in the context of the approximation of two synods which would constitute the IECLB in 1949, these being, the Associação Evangélica de Comunidades (Evangelical Association of Congregations) and the Sínodo Evangélico Luterano (Evangelical Lutheran Synod), pointing out the conflicts in the process of intersynodical convergence at the institutional and congregational levels. This thesis is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter the confessional issues involved in the relation between the two synods is discussed. The central part of this chapter is the reproduction of the discussions of the educational institutions on the part of the pastors and the divergence of this discussion in relationship to the congregational emphases. In the second chapter we describe the importance of ethnic thinking that occurred in the synods, its relation to the German and Brazilian political situation and to what extent this marked the intersynodical relations. In the third chapter we discuss the coming together and merger of the synods and in what way this process was influenced by the confessional and ethnic discussions. In general, one can say that the coming together of the Associação Evangélica de Comunidades and the Sínodo Evangélico Luterano is marked by conflicts, differences of opinion and wars, but also clear signs of Christian commitment and the search for cooperation and unity are evident.

Between Defence and Resistance: Destinies of Eighteenth-Century Protestant Communities in Eastern Bohemia and Haut-Languedoc Abstract Based on archive research and literature the thesis compares the religious life of illegal Protestant communities in the 18th century Eastern Bohemia and Haut-Languedoc. From macroanalytical perspective it assesses the strategies of protestant minorities used to resist the disciplining efforts of the absolutist state. The confessional homogeneity, economic background and social stratification of Protestants in Eastern Bohemia and Haut-Languedoc differed. Yet, the contrasting comparison opens up the way to analyse the divergent resistance strategies. Further, the thesis examines the existence and nature of attempts to simplify the religious doctrine and to modify the liturgy undertaken by the lay and ordained priests and the worshippers. The structure combines the thematic and chronological approach, while keeping a broad perspective that encompasses also the economic and cultural context. First tree chapters outline and conceptualize the problem of prohibited Protestantism in both regions during the 17th and most of the 18th centuries. While in Languedoc the Presbyterian-synodic structure was revived (albeit illegally), in Eastern Bohemia and in whole Bohemia and Moravia...