“Creio, por isso eu estudo”: apropriações do pensamento educacional de Martinho Lutero no impresso Mensageiro Luterano (1917-1947)

Abstract

This research is based on the thesis that the Lutheran Messenger was conceived to provide religious instruction and guidance to the Lutheran public aligning itself with the principles of Martin Luther, whose intention was to foster the improvement of both the social condition and the spiritual life of the faithful. With this in mind, the general objective of this work is to analyze how Martin Luther's educational thought was received and appropriated in the German-Brazilian context, especially among members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB), through the periodical publications of the Lutheran Messenger (1917-1947). Therefore, it is worth emphasizing that this work seeks to understand how educational ideas originating from the Protestant Reformation, especially those of Martin Luther, were received, reinterpreted, and appropriated by members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil. Methodologically, this research uses the Lutheran Mensageiro newspaper, while the theoretical focus was cultural history, with Roger Chartier as the main contribution. Based on the analyses, it is concluded that the Lutheran Mensageiro newspaper constituted a relevant educational tool for the IELB, going beyond the simple dissemination of religious content. Its activities encompassed pedagogical, doctrinal, and social disputes, reflecting the IELB's institutional strategies in the face of the historical and cultural challenges of the period. It is also evident that Martin Luther's educational thinking was systematically appropriated and reinterpreted in the Brazilian context, especially in the German-Brazilian communities in the south of the country, shaping an educational proposal that combined fidelity to the Reformist tradition with adaptation to local realities. Reading the periodical's issues thus reveals the construction of a Lutheran educational model centered on the spiritual and civic formation of individuals, reaffirming the role of education as a structuring axis of the IELB's religious and community action.