Protestantismo, raça e escravidão nas Américas: uma análise das missões de David Trumbull no Chile e Ashbell Green Simonton no Brasil (1845-1867)

Abstract

The expansion of Protestantism in South America relied on the work of missionaries supported both by mission boards directly linked to their respective Protestant denominations and by religious societies with no strict denominational ties. Some of these missionaries came from the United States of America and collaborated in the formation of complex relationships involving theologians, naturalists, politicians, publishers, immigrants and nationals from the places they decided to evangelize. In our research, we highlight two missionaries who studied at Princeton Seminary: David Trumbull (1819-1889), sent to Chile in 1845 by religious societies, including the American Seamen's Friend Society; and Ashbell Green Simonton (1833-1867), sent to Brazil in 1859 by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Trumbull founded the periodical The Neighbor in Valparaiso (1847-1851) and the Union Church (1847), a Congregationalist organization. Simonton, in turn, founded the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Rio de Janeiro in 1862 and the periodical Imprensa Evangélica (1864-1867). In the context of the organization of the National States of Brazil, Chile and the USA, our main objective was to analyse these missionary and publishing activities. To do so, we used a varied set of primary sources consisting of the periodicals themselves; dictionaries and Bible atlases that the two missionaries requested from Princeton Seminary; the writings of their professors; reports and letters from their respective missionary institutions; and the writings of periodicals published in Brazil and Chile that supported or criticized their missions. Considering the political implications of the respective missions in transit between nations, we can see that their narratives were characterized by attempts to "quieten" people of African origin based on claims of Anglo-American and Protestant superiority. We will analyze these narratives through the convergences and divergences between their churches and their missionary and editorial projects; the volatility of the concept of race mobilized in the dialogue with naturalists and theologians, especially regarding the hypotheses about the blessings and curses of the sons of Noah (Shem, Ham and Japheth); and the roles attributed to churches and states, as well as to anglo-american and african people in the processes of abolishing slavery.