Creating a Portuguese biblical network: the British and Foreign Bible Society in Portugal in the transition between the 19th and the 20th century

The pioneering work of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) in Portugal, the first institution to promote a broad movement of biblical circulation in the country, was developed as a dynamic of social, cultural and religious division in a mostly Roman Catholic environment, where the relationship with the Bible was substantially different from that within the evangelical religious universe. Our study aims to reflect on that process through the analysis of the progressive inclusion of the Bible Society, an institution of British origin – and consequently seen as a “foreign” and “protestant” influence – in the network of Portuguese bookstores and fairs, and in the scope of events and dynamics such as the Book Fair in Lisbon and Porto or public conferences all over the country, throughout the end of the 19 ^th century and the beginning of the 20 ^th century, a decisive period in the history of the institution in Portugal. The analysis of that pathway will allow us to reflect on the Bible Society’s declared purpose to rethink the cultural and religious boundaries of Portuguese society – essentially through the promotion of the free access to Scripture and biblical study – and on the role it played in the process of religious recomposition taking place in Portugal at the time.