A survey of the various forms of Christianity in Portugal

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Islamic influence on the Portuguese characteristic resistence to change, as related to non-Roman Catholic Christians

Islamic culture greatly shaped the Iberian peoples’ melancholic and aching temperament. It did so through its belief system and superstitions, language, music, and the traditional Muslim dress code. Firstly, the Arabic and Islamic presence in the Iberian Peninsula for almost one thousand26 years had its impact to form the Iberian peoples into traditionalist and superstitious. The belief that the destiny of each person is written in the stars is common; accordingly, there is no way to escape from that destiny to work out the future. In this manner the way the Iberian peoples look at life is fatalistic and melodramatic, different from other Europeans. This explains why the Portuguese struggle to shift and change from their traditions. Illustrative are expressions like, “what has to be has to be, if God wishes it to be so”, or, “no one can run away from his or her destiny”. Among many rural Portuguese people superstition also runs very high. For instance, the Islamic five pointed star sign against bad luck and evil spirits is still used in rural areas, engraved over the doors of their currals and of their houses, for protection.

Involvement of the pope on the independence of Portugal

When Portugal became independent in 1143 AD, the citizens religiously Roman-Catholic, were culturally traditionalists, and superstitious. For a thousand years or so, the religious and everyday life experiences, were fascinated, or, looking at Rome for answers. After all, “all the roads lead to Rome”. So, the Portuguese independence was organized with the Roman-Catholic Church. The pope blessed the peace accord between the first king of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques, and the king of Spain, D. Alfonso VII. Marques says, It was only in 1143 AD that the permanent peace settlement was arranged with the intervention of the papal legate, Cardinal Guido of the Vigor… The dependency towards the Holy See was alone great that Afonso Henriques’s external policy was now at stake in Italy. His purpose was to obtain papal formal recognition of both his title and his kingdom (the regnum). In the typically feudal way he commended Portugal to the Holy See and considered himself, with all his successors, the liege vassal of the Pope’s.

The Portuguese involvement in the crusades

Portugal got involved with the crusades to a greater scale after the revolution. Early in the 1400’s Portugal went to conquer Ceuta and Tangiers41. This was seen in the spirit of the crusades, which served different goals. As Marques says, “It defended Christendom against … nonChristians; … prevented [the] spreading [of] “error”; secured the Christians economic bases for the prosperity…; [So] open war, treason, piracy, raiding and plundering, reducing to captivity, all could be considered crusading tasks and justified as such.”42 And later, still under the influence of the crusades’ spirit, the fifteen-century European leaders – from Portugal and the Holy See – thought “the continuation of the voyages of discovery and their integration in the general crusade”43. Prince Henry and the Portuguese kings were determined to pursue the crusade’s spirit, from North Africa everywhere by sea.

The socio-religious conditions

The other condition is the socio-religious. Main European religious events would also affect the Portuguese society. The religious events related to how to deal with the Reformation movement produced a Portuguese culture that would be prevented from benefiting from the waves of Reformation that went all across Europe, particularly the north. At the strength of the new and modern European political, social, economic and religious free mindset, the old Catholic-Medieval world was collapsing. As Torres points out, A desagregação do velho mundo católico-medieval … não é apenas político, é também social: de facto, uma não pequena parte da população espanhola, acossada pelos invasores franceses e pelas lutas intestinas, emigra para as Américas… O Papado … vive de recordações em seus palácios povoados de fantasmas medievais … Assim acaba o período áureo da política europeia do Catolicismo, dominado pela ContraReforma e os seus prolongamentos. Apenas na Península Ibérica continua predominando, sempre à custa da Santa-Inquisição, da Companhia de Jesus, dos Índices Expurgatórios, e outras forças como estas.

Reformation and Protestant influence in the Portuguese Empire

Several centuries after the independence of Portugal, Europe experienced the waves of Reformation. However, Portugal (by all reasons previously mentioned) was culturally and religiously too far away from the epicentre of that extraordinary movement that would help change the shape of the modern future world. Therefore, as it may be discussed, in terms of the impact of the Reformation in Portugal we must sadly say it was barely felt.

Table of Contents :

• Thesis:
• A STUDY OF THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT IN PORTUGAL WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE FRATERNAL ASSOCIATION
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: A survey of the various forms of Christianity in Portugal
  • 1.1 The establishment of Christianity in Spain and Portugal up to the Reformation
    • 1.1.1 Establishment of Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula
    • 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
    • 1.1.3 Islamic influence on the Portuguese characteristic resistance to change, as related to non-Roman Catholic Christians
    • 1.1.4 Involvement of the Pope in the independence of Portugal
  • 1.2 Portugal and Europe from 1383 to
    • 1.2.1 A new era resulting from the revolution of
    • 1.2.2 The Portuguese involvement in the crusades
    • 1.2.3 Movements transforming the societies of Europe
    • 1.2.4 Political, economic and socio-religious conditions in Portugal
      • 1.2.4.1 The political conditions
      • 1.2.4.2 The economic conditions
      • 1.2.4.3 The socio-religious conditions
• 1.3 Reformation and Protestant influence in the Portuguese Empire
  • 1.3.1 Signs of impact of the Reformation in Portugal
• 1.4 Portuguese structural changes and the attitude towards Protestants and Evangelicals from 1820 up to
  • 1.4.1 The impact of the Napoleonic invasions on Portugal
  • 1.4.2 Changes in Portuguese society
  • 1.4.3 Changes not favourable to Protestant and Evangelical thought
  • 1.4.4 The establishment of the Portuguese Republic
• 1.5 The Revolution of the Carnations of April 1974 and the entry of Portugal to the European Economic Community (EEC) in
  • 1.5.1 The Revolution of the Carnations (1974)
• Chapter 2: The Protestants and Evangelicals in Portugal
  • 2.1 Lack of Protestant and Evangelical growth
    • 2.1.1Reasons for the lack of Protestant and Evangelical growth
    • 2.1.2 The Portuguese attitude towards Protestants and Evangelicals in the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries
  • 2.2 The establishment of Protestant and Evangelical denominations and organizations
    • 2.2.1 First Protestants and Evangelicals in Portugal
  • 2.3 Origins of the Brazilian and the Portuguese Assemblies of God
  • 2.4 Three main stages of the History of the Portuguese Assemblies of God
    • 2.4.1 The establishment of the Movement to a national scale (1921)
    • 2.4.2The establishment of theological schools (1965)
      • 2.4.2.1 The Instituto Bíblico de Lisboa (1966)
      • 2.4.2.2 The Instituto Bíblico por Correspondência (ICI)
      • 2.4.2.3 The Instituto Bíblico de Portugal (IBP)
    • 2.4.3 The shift from the Swedish to the American mission support: Seeds for main dissident events
• Chapter 3: The Portuguese Evangelical Alliance and the Fraternal Association
  • 3.1 Brief history of the establishment of the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance
  • 3.2 The role of the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance
    • 3.2.1 The internal role played by the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance
    • 3.2.2 The external role played by the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance
  • 3.3 The establishment of the Fraternal Association (1995)
  • 3.4 An opportunity for the growth of the Fraternal Association
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

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