Escravidão do corpo e da alma em sermões brasileiros do século XVI ao XVIII

Abstract

This research analyzes the lexicon regarding the subject of slavery employed by the various religious orders responsible for preaching in colonial Brazil. We identified some terms used in sermons and related to the concept, such as slavery and slave captivity, and explain the meanings attributed to them and their use in the context of sermons. We also compared the concepts expressed by religious preachers with the practice of slavery of their respective communities. The results show that tolerance for this practice in convents was accompanied by a formally contrary doctrine. It is possibly from this that stem the ambiguities and contradictions detectable in the words of preachers on the subject and, above all, the ever-clearer distinction between the enslavement of the body and of the soul.