Abstract
The dissemination of Protestantism in Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia in the second half of the nineteenth century led to a heated Catholic-Protestant debate in the context of the development of the Oporto Catholic movement. The controversy came to a head in 1878/79 following the pastoral instruction on Protestantism given by the then Bishop of Oporto, Américo Ferreira dos Santos Silva. The Protestant reply issued forth from the pens of Robert Kelly and Guilherme Dias. The Catholic counter-reply relied on the bluntness of Sena Freitas and the argumentative serenity of Manuel Filipe Coelho. The present study contextualises and presents this debate in its fundamental issues, namely with regard to the Holy Scripture, seeing that the sola scriptura and Protestant free examination were not well received in Catholic circles, where the very dissemination of the Bible in the vernacular was a matter for reserve. Rather than a point of convergence between Catholics and Protestants, the Bible was, at the time, a basis for division in public confrontation.
Original language | Portuguese |
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Pages (from-to) | 233-258 |
Number of pages | 26 |
Journal | Didaskalia |
Volume | 45 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2015 |
Keywords
- Catholic-Protestant controversy
- Holy Scripture
- Catholic movement
- Oporto
- Nineteenth century