|
Showing 1 - 1 of
1 matches in All Departments
"The Fire of Tongues" is a study of the religious and social
thought of the Jesuit Antonio Vieira (1608-97), one of the great
preachers, writers, and missionaries of the seventeenth century. A
key actor in European and Ibero-American politics of the period,
Vieira argued throughout his seventy-year career that the
Portuguese nation was destined to lead the Catholic church in its
mission to convert the Jews of Europe and the non-Christian peoples
of the New World. The tension between the missionary enterprise and
the Portuguese imperial agenda provides "The Fire of Tongues" with
its principal theme.
The author focuses on three periods in Vieira's career. The first
is his mission to Brazil (1653-61), which took place during an era
marked by conflict between the Jesuit missionaries and their fellow
Europeans. The latter resented the Jesuits' responsibility for
administering the allocation of Indian workers, and Vieira
exacerbated the conflict by bringing under Jesuit control the
notorious slaving expeditions the Portuguese were conducting in the
backlands. After being forcibly returned to Portugal by his
opponents, Vieira spent five years in the custody of the
Inquisition (1663-67).
The author argues that the Inquisition's persecution of Vieira was
a result of his criticism of the church hierarchy in the
Luso-Brazilian world, set forth in his preaching and prophetic
writings. For Vieira, the New World was a locus of prophecies that
the Portuguese had been providentially chosen to reveal. Every
group that participated in the imperial project--the crown and
settlers, the missionaries and Indians, and the Inquisitors--had a
role to play in the schema of revelation that Vieira drew from
scripture and then read into Portuguese history and into the
history of the missionary church.
When Vieira returned to Brazil for the last time (1681-97), he
brought with him an interpretation of colonial society and of the
missionary vocation that differed greatly from the one he had
brought to the Amazon almost thirty years before. No longer did he
seek to enlist all Portuguese society in the missionary enterprise.
Instead, Vieira focused in his later writings on two groups he
believed could successfully advance that enterprise: the Jesuits
and the Portuguese crown. Rather than being infused with the
tongues of fire as the Apostles were on Pentecost, the Jesuits,
Vieira argued, were infused with the fire of tongues manifested in
their mastery of the languages they encountered in the mission
field. Armed with the fire of tongues, the Jesuits would build a
church that would embrace the many languages and peoples of the New
World.
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.