O “Reino de Deus” no império do Brasil: a “expectativa” presbiteriana a partir do jornal Imprensa Evangélica (1864 – 1889)

Abstract

In pursuit of an alternative to the public diffusion of the Reformed Christian faith, limited by the officialdom of the Catholic Church, the Presbyterian missionaries founded the Evangelical Press Newspaper (1864-1892), the first Protestant newspaper in circulation in Brazil. With the first essay located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, under the leadership of Presbyterian pioneer Ashbel Green Simonton, the newspaper extended its reach to the places where Presbyterianism founded its missions. It had as main axis of distribution the province of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. The writing ranged between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In order to understand the historical aspects of religious hope in the formation of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil, we will investigate how the Evangelical Press Journal presented the metaphorical concept of the "Kingdom of God" to its readers. For this, we will consider the roles attributed to God and man, the State and the Church, the individual and the family in the process of expansion of the “Kingdom of God” and the progress in the Brazilian Empire and in the following wars: Secession, Paraguay and the Italian Risorgimento.