Uma perspectiva histórica sobre a construção de identidades religiosas: os Batistas em Goiás (1914-1940)

Abstract

The present study examines the formation of a religious identity known as Baptist, based on an analysis of this group in the state of Goiás between 1914 and 1940, with particular emphasis on the new capital of Goiás, Goiânia, built in the 1930s. Moreover, Baptists have been part of Bra-zilian society since the mid-nineteenth century. Beyond tracing their growth in the state of Goi-ás, this study seeks to discuss the characteristics of their religious identity. The Baptists consti-tute one of the historically significant Protestant groups in the study of religion in Brazil. Born in England, the denomination became more structurally established in the United States before arriving in Brazil, where its representatives settled and began their expansionist work. The tem-poral scope of this study begins in 1914, when the first Baptist church was organized by a Polish Jewish pastor named Salomão Luiz Ginsburg in the city of Catalão, and in northern Goi-ás by the missionary Ernest Alonzo Jackson. It is necessary to extend the analysis to the early 1940s, a period in which the denomination underwent demographic, urban, and commercial expansion in Goiás, a region that within a few decades would rise to a strategic position in re-gional development. The purpose of this research is to problematize the role played by the Bap-tists within this context of intense migratory waves, struggles over land ownership, accelerated urbanization, and economic modernization. The denomination grew alongside the new city and effectively became the Protestant group that attracted the largest number of adherents in the en-tire region. For this reason, we seek to understand its origins, expansion strategies, and founda-tional principles in the state and, more specifically, in the capital. We also aim to scrutinize the characteristics the denomination assumed and how it interacted with various events in Brazilian history, given that its establishment in Goiânia required the creation of strategies to reach social groups in Central Brazil. Beginning with its genesis in Catalão and subsequent expansion into Goiânia, we highlight many historical aspects of these regions that help us understand the fea-tures the group still exhibits after 100 years, as demonstrated by Teixeira (2017), Azevedo (2004), and Araújo (2004). Therefore, the first chapter addresses the origins of the denomina-tion. The second chapter outlines its principles and its first confession, and finally the locus of Protestant action and its expansionist project. These aspects are analyzed through dialogue with authors who address these issues, while also examining texts and sources that remain relatively unexplored, such as the annals of the Conventions and the denomination’s key printed instru-ments: O Jornal Batista, a national newspaper established in 1901, and O Batista Goiano, cre-ated in 1943 in Ipameri, Goiaz. In this way, we aim to understand the mentality of a religious group such as the Baptists—born in Elizabethan England, developed in the North American colonies and states, and later established in Central Brazil.