A Study of the Charismatic Movement in Portugal with Particular Reference To

A Study of the Charismatic Movement in Portugal with Particular Reference To

A STUDY OF THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT IN PORTUGAL WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE FRATERNAL ASSOCIATION by FERNANDO CALDEIRA DA SILVA Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF THEOLOGY in the subject CHURCH HISTORY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: DR M H MOGASHOA FEBRUARY 2006 Table of Contents Thesis: A STUDY OF THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT IN PORTUGAL WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE FRATERNAL ASSOCIATION Page Introduction 1 Chapter 1: A survey of the various forms of Christianity in Portugal 11 1.1 The establishment of Christianity in Spain and Portugal up to the Reformation 11 1.1.1 Establishment of Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula 12 1.1.2 Four main forces that led the people of the Iberian Peninsula to be attached to Roman Catholicism, as against any non-Roman Catholic Christian churches 14 1.1.3 Islamic influence on the Portuguese characteristic resistance to change, as related to non-Roman Catholic Christians 16 1.1.4 Involvement of the Pope in the independence of Portugal 17 1.2 Portugal and Europe from 1383 to 1822 18 1.2.1 A new era resulting from the revolution of 1383-1385 19 1.2.2 The Portuguese involvement in the crusades 21 1.2.3 Movements transforming the societies of Europe 21 1.2.4 Political, economic and socio-religious conditions in Portugal 23 1.2.4.1 The political conditions 23 1.2.4.2 The economic conditions 29 1.2.4.3 The socio-religious conditions 33 1.3 Reformation and Protestant influence in the Portuguese Empire 34 1.3.1 Signs of impact of the Reformation in Portugal 34 1.3.1.1 The translation of the Bible into Portuguese 34 1.3.1.2 The Reformation mentioned in Portuguese literature 35 1.3.2 First Portuguese Lutheran condemned by Inquisition 36 1.4 Portuguese structural changes and the attitude towards Protestants and Evangelicals from 1820 up to 1974 37 1.4.1 The impact of the Napoleonic invasions on Portugal 37 1.4.2 Changes in Portuguese society 40 1.4.3 Changes not favourable to Protestant and Evangelical thought 42 1.4.4 The establishment of the Portuguese Republic 44 1.4.4.1 The Republican Party 44 1.4.4.2 The establishment of the Republic and the Separation Law 45 1.4.4.3 The Portuguese social conditions 46 1.4.4.4 The republican ideals and religion 46 1.4.4.5 The revival of Portuguese Catholicism 47 1.4.5 The New State 48 1.4.5.1 Policies and political tools of the New State 49 1.4.5.2 The impact of the Second Vatican Council in Portugal 50 1.5 The Revolution of the Carnations of April 1974 and the entry of Portugal to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1986 54 1.5.1 The Revolution of the Carnations (1974) 54 1.5.1.1 The definitive establishment of Protestants and Evangelicals 56 1.5.1.2 Actual insertion of the Protestant and Evangelicals in the Portuguese society 56 Chapter 2: The Protestants and Evangelicals in Portugal 58 2.1 Lack of Protestant and Evangelical growth 59 2.1.1 Reasons for the lack of Protestant and Evangelical growth 60 2.1.2 The Portuguese attitude towards Protestants and Evangelicals in the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries 64 2.2 The establishment of Protestant and Evangelical denominations and organizations 67 2.2.1 First Protestants and Evangelicals in Portugal 67 2.2.2 The Bible Society and the colporteurs 68 2.2.2.1 The British Bible Society (SBBE) 68 2.2.2.2 The endeavours of the colporteurs 69 2.2.3 Establishment of other denominations in Portugal 70 2.3 Origins of the Brazilian and the Portuguese Assemblies of God 73 2.4 Three main stages of the History of the Portuguese Assemblies of God 77 2.4.1 The establishment of the Movement to a national scale (1921) 77 2.4.1.1 The establishment of local Churches: from villages to cities 77 2.4.1.2 The characteristics of local church structures 80 2.4.1.3 The establishment of national informal structures 81 2.4.1.4 The establishment of links with international structures 83 2.4.2 The establishment of theological schools (1965) 84 2.4.2.1 The Instituto Bíblico de Lisboa (1966) 84 2.4.2.2 The Instituto Bíblico por Correspondência (ICI) 85 2.4.2.3 The Instituto Bíblico de Portugal (IBP) 85 2.4.3 The shift from the Swedish to the American mission support: Seeds for main dissident events 86 2.4.4 The role of the IBP 88 2.5 The impact of the 1974 revolution and the collapse of the Portuguese Empire on the Portuguese Assemblies of God 90 2.5.1 Signs of change 92 2.5.1.1 The return of Portuguese pastors to the metropolis 94 2.5.1.2 The new IBP formed pastors 95 2.5.1.3 The world wide Charismatic new trends 96 2.5.1.4 The change of religious symbols 97 2.5.1.5 The establishment of New Charismatic Movements in Portugal 98 2.5.1.6 The social changes 99 2.5.1.7 The change of Evangelical attitude towards business, arts and sports 100 2.5.1.7.1 The change towards business 100 2.5.1.7.2 The change towards arts: Music, dance 101 2.5.1.7.3 The change towards sports: Soccer, basketball 103 2.5.1.8 The impact of Portugal joining the EEC (1986) 104 2.6 The Pentecostal metamorphosis into a multiform Charismatic Movement 104 2.6.1 Causes that shaped changing events 105 2.6.2 Early sources that shaped changing events 109 2.6.3 The first main dissident events within the Assemblies of God Movement (1988-1989) 113 2.6.4 The second main dissident events within the Portuguese Assemblies of God (1990-1993) 114 2.6.5 The impact of these events 115 2.7 New structural church organizations 115 Chapter 3: The Portuguese Evangelical Alliance and the Fraternal Association 119 3.1 Brief history of the establishment of the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance 120 3.2 The role of the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance 123 3.2.1 The internal role played by the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance 123 3.2.2 The external role played by the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance 123 3.3 The establishment of the Fraternal Association (1995) 126 3.4 An opportunity for the growth of the Fraternal Association 130 Conclusion 134 Bibliography 136 Introduction History is the study, narration and interpretation of the past. It includes, necessarily, a set of relevant historical dates, names of important and relevant historical characters and particularly the reasons and motives behind the historical events. The narration, interpretation and explanation of any flow of historical events are the aim of the historian. In the pursuit of establishing the focus of this dissertation there is a need to understand the historical background, the framework of Christianity in Portugal within the context of the Portuguese culture, so as to properly relate the facts at hand. It is according to these intellectual guidelines that I endeavour to focus this study on the Fraternal Association within the framework of the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance in particular and the Portuguese society in general. In this Introduction we shall introduce the hypothesis, give an overview of research along the same topic, the methodology, and the layout of the dissertation. 1. Hypothesis The explanation of the characteristics of the Portuguese culture will be fundamental for our case study to establish its historical background and religious framework. As shall be discussed, the Portuguese culture and religious identity is underlined by Roman Catholic Christianity. However, the geography of the Iberian Peninsula, the Islamic influence, the fascination for Rome and the overvaluation of tradition also forced and forged the Portuguese nature and cultural characteristics. Against this historical framework constituted by the traditional cultural and religious characteristics of the Portuguese people, my endeavour to write this dissertation is based on a fourfold hypothesis. Firstly, my aim is to discover how the waves of Protestantism arrived in Portugal and settled there amongst Catholicism. This implies the understanding of the non-Catholic Christian general religious background with the establishment of Protestant and Evangelical denominations in Portugal. Second, part of the focus of my thesis is to discover how the Assemblies of God were started and established in Portugal. How and why the Assemblies of God grew under severe conditions and hostility will help to relate the establishment of this denomination to the whole of the Portuguese society. Moreover, I also wanted to know what type of structure the Assemblies of God adopted through the years. This is fundamental to understand how the Charismatic movement came into existence. 1 Third, I want to get to know the formation of the Fraternal Association as the home of the new Charismatic movement in the country, and the influences of other charismatic movements such as the Igreja Maná and the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD). The knowledge about the formation of the Fraternal Association shall constitute the main focus of my dissertation. Fourth, I pursue the understanding of the role played by the Fraternal Association within the Aliança Evangélica Portuguesa (AEP) that is the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance. This will help to understand the links and boundaries between the several trends of non-Catholic Christianity in Portugal. Furthermore, the understanding of the Fraternal Association and the AEP needs to be seen against the Portuguese society, which implies that we have to look into the new trends of the Portuguese politics, economy, cultural and social milieu.

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