Between Exodus and the Final Judgment: “Sertaneja” Worldview and the Trajectory of Antonio Conselheiro’s Belo Monte (Brazil, 1893–1897)
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Pedro Lima Vasconcellos
and
Paulo Augusto de Souza Nogueira
Abstract
The present paper presupposes (developed under the scope of Semiotics and Cultural Studies) that texts in culture are endowed not only with their capacity to produce images but mainly to create new messages. As texts are transmitted to receivers in different times, places and repertoires, they undergo processes of recodification and become new texts by inserting dynamism in cultural processes. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that texts do not exist isolated, without relation with other texts. On the contrary, the possible combinations among them are potentially the most unexpected. Those references allow us to think about the creative role of the reception of biblical elements in the articulation of identities and narratives in history. And a special challenge is imposed: considering the Bible’s popular reception. It is necessary to take into consideration specific scenarios and, simultaneously, the dynamic scenarios of the same reception. It is important to overcome prejudice regarding the sources that lead us to that reception. At the Belo Monte of Antonio Conselheiro, stage of one of the most significant social and religious experiences, and, at the end, one of the bloodiest experiences of Brazilian history, the Bible’s new readings link many of its themes to references coming from other mythological worlds of African origin and (mainly) of indigenous matrix. The myth of the flight into Egypt and the conquest of the Promised Land were linked to others connected with abundance and freedom. The biblical concept of the Antichrist played a significant role in the sertanejo’s understanding about the social and the political environment: Belo Monte was the place where salvation could be perceived and the body could be fed and healed. And the perspective of the imminent end of the world became more intense when military operations, through a brutal war, acted in order to destroy the holy village: biblical references supported ideas that encouraged resistance movement and prepared the “death in the Lord,” martyrdom, under Judgment Day expectation.
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©2016 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Hilary of Poitiers’ “Ruled” Exegesis in His De Trinitate: A Case-Study of John 1:1–2
- Gog and Magog in Literary Reception History: The Persistence of the Fantastic
- Southcottians and Shiloh: Genesis 49:10 and the Morphology of a Messianic Hope
- Between Exodus and the Final Judgment: “Sertaneja” Worldview and the Trajectory of Antonio Conselheiro’s Belo Monte (Brazil, 1893–1897)
- Mystical Unification or Ethnic Domination? American Biblical Archeologists’ Responses to the Six-Day War
- Winston Peters “Puts His Hand to the Plow”: The Bible in New Zealand Political Discourse
- Book Reviews
- The Oxford Encyclopedia of The Bible and Gender Studies
- There is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire
- Shared Stories, Rival Tellings: Early Encounters of Jews, Christians and Muslims
- English Psalms in the Middle Ages, 1300–1450
- The Bible in Arabic: the Scriptures of the ‘People of the Book’ in the Language of Islam
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Hilary of Poitiers’ “Ruled” Exegesis in His De Trinitate: A Case-Study of John 1:1–2
- Gog and Magog in Literary Reception History: The Persistence of the Fantastic
- Southcottians and Shiloh: Genesis 49:10 and the Morphology of a Messianic Hope
- Between Exodus and the Final Judgment: “Sertaneja” Worldview and the Trajectory of Antonio Conselheiro’s Belo Monte (Brazil, 1893–1897)
- Mystical Unification or Ethnic Domination? American Biblical Archeologists’ Responses to the Six-Day War
- Winston Peters “Puts His Hand to the Plow”: The Bible in New Zealand Political Discourse
- Book Reviews
- The Oxford Encyclopedia of The Bible and Gender Studies
- There is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire
- Shared Stories, Rival Tellings: Early Encounters of Jews, Christians and Muslims
- English Psalms in the Middle Ages, 1300–1450
- The Bible in Arabic: the Scriptures of the ‘People of the Book’ in the Language of Islam
