Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-7pwfn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-12T15:28:33.165Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Messianic Myths and Movements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz
Get access

Extract

Those religious doctrines which used to foretell the dawning on earth of an age of perfect happiness are called “millennial;” they oppose the existing society, which is considered as unjust and oppressive, and proclaim its impending downfall. These doctrines are called “messianic” whenever the inauguration of this perfect world is dependent upon the arrival of a “son of God,” a divine messenger, or a mythical hero: in fact, of a “messiah.” The messiah is he who announces and inaugurates on earth a “Kingdom of Heaven.”

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 23 , Issue 90 , March 1975, pp. 78 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © 1975 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1 Millenial movements can be led by a group of elders or by leaders elected from among the faithful, and are not then messianic; a movement is only messianic if it is led by a sacred leader, a messenger from the beyond. It is necessary to establish this definition so as not to stumble upon the analytic problems found by other researchers, such as Guariglia (Guglielmo Guariglia, Prophetismus und Heilserwartungs-Bewegungen als völkerkundliches und religionsgeschichtliches Problem, Wien, Horn, 1959) and others: A.J.F. Köbben, "Prophetic Movements as an Expression of Social Protest," International Archives of Ethnography, vol. XLIV, n. 1, Leiden, 1960; Sylvia Thrupp, Millenial Dreams in Action, The Hague, Mouton, 1962, etc.

2 João Lucio de Azevedo, A Evoluçao do Sebastianismo, Lisbon, Livraria Classica, 1947.

3 Max Weber, Economia y Sociedad, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Economica, Vol. 2, p. 179.

4 Henri Desroche, Les Shakers Américains: d'un Néo-Christianisme à un Présocialisme?, Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1955, and "Micromillenarismes et com munuatarisme utopique en Amérique du Nord, du XVIIe au XIXe siècle," Archives de Sociologie des Religions, n. 4, Paris, 1957.

5 This policy of colonization, inaugurated by the government immediately after the independence of the country (1822) was also aimed at preventing the empty territories from being invaded by the neighboring Spaniards.

6 These settlers were sent into still unpopulated regions, which made their association with the people of the country difficult; in addition, the German colonists were strongly prejudiced against the nationals, who were very cross-bred.

7 The Muckers' movement came to a bloody end. See my O Messianismo No Brasil e No Mundo, S. Paolo, Ed. Dominus, 1965; Réforme et Révolution dans les Sociétés Traditionelles, Paris, Anthropos, 1968; Images Messianiques du Brésil, Cuernavaca, Sondeos, 1973.

8 Alfred Métraux, " Les hommes-dieux chez les Chiriguano et dans l'Amé rique du Sud," Revista del Instituto de Etnologia de la Universidad Nacional de Tucuman, Tome II, Argentina, 1931, and "Les messies de l'Amérique du Sud," Archives de Sociologie des Religions, n. 4, Paris, 1957.

9 Métraux, La Religion des Tupinambà, Paris, Librairie Ernest Leroux, 1928, and works mentioned in note 8.

10 Wilson D. Wallis, Messiahs, Christian and Pagan, Boston, The Gorham Press, 1918.

11 Albert Doutreloux, Introduction à la Culture Congo, Tervuren, 1963.

12 The Ethiopian Churches, which arose at the same time, form a contrast to the Zionist Churches; the first are bureaucratic, the second are messianic. Maurice Leenhardt, Le Mouvement Ethiopien au Sud de l'Afrique, de 1896 à 1899, Cahors, 1902.

13 Jacqueline Roumeguère Eberhardt, "Messianisme en Afrique du Sud," Archives de Sociologie des Religions, n. 4, Paris, 1957.

14 Georges Balandier, Sociologie de l'Afrique Noire, Paris, Presses Universi taires de France, 1955.

15 Jean Guiart, "Cargo Cults and Political Evolution in Melanesia," Mankind, vol. 4, n. 6, May 1951; and " Institutions religieuses traditionnelles et mes sianismes modernes à Fidji," Archives de Sociologie des Religions, n. 5, Paris, 1958; see also K. Burridge, Mambu, A Melanesian Millenium, London, Methuen and Co., 1960; Peter Worsley, The Trumpet Shall Sound: A Study of "Cargo" Cults in Melanesia, London, McGibbon & Kee, 1957; Peter Lawrence, Road Belong Cargo, University of Manchester, 1964.

16 Balandier, op. cit.

17 Eric Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1959.

18 The number of priests was always small in the Brazilian countryside; the laity spontaneously took their place.

19 Antonio Conselheiro's movement is described in one of the great classics of Brazilian literature (Euclydes Cunha, Os Sertões, Sao Paulo, Livr. Francisco Alves, 13th ed., 1936). In studying the documents, however, it was evident that the author had taken great liberties with reality. See my O Messianismo No Brasil e No Mundo; Réforme et Révolution dans les Sociétés Traditionel les; Images Messianiques du Brésil.

20 These were not true monks, but "beatos; " the term "monk" is its equi valent in the South of the country.

21 Struggles between groups for local and regional power are a constant of Brazilian life. They sometimes last for generations, bringing a reign of uncer tainty, instability and poverty, creating excellent conditions for the advent of messiahs. See my O Mandonismo Local na Vida Politica do Brasil, S. Paulo, Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros, 1970.

22 Maria Sylvia Carvalho Franco, Os Homens Livres na Civilização do Cafè, S. Paulo, Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros, 1971.

23 Egon Schaden, Aspectos Fundamentais da Cultura Guaranì, S. Paulo, 1954.

24 " Page: " religious leader of the Guarani.

25 Alfred Métraux, "Les hommes-dieux chez les Chiriguano et dans l'Amé rique du Sud," Revista del Instituto de Etnologia de la Universidad Nacional de Tucuman, Tomo II, Argentina, 1931, p. 68.

26 Messianic movements have also been present in Russia and the countries of Asia; unfortunately, when studying these events, we have not found documents sufficiently detailed from the sociological point of view to allow an analysis within the perspective chosen here.

27 Hobsbawn, pp. 2-3. Varagnac expresses the same opinion; see André Varagnac, Civilisations Traditionelles et Genres de Vie, Paris, Albin Michel, 1948.

28 It is impossible to mistake the Brazilian peasants for Indians; in general they are half-castes, but their institutions and customs are linked almost exclusively to the Portuguese cultural heritage. See my O Messianismo No Brasil e No Mundo, and my Réforme et Révolution dans les Sociétés Tradi tionelles. See also my Os Cangaceiros, Les Bandits d'Honneur Brésiliens, Paris, Julliard, 1968.

29 O Messianismo No Brasil e No Mundo; Réforme et Révolution dans les Sociétés Traditionelles.

30 Roger Bastide, "Le messianisme râté," Archives de Sociologie des Religions, n. 5, Jan.-June, Paris, 1958.

31 See my La Guerre Sainte au Brésil: Le Mouvement Messianique du Contestado, Universidade de S. Paulo, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciencias e Letras, 1957. See also O Messianismo No Brasil, Réforme et Révolution, O Mando nismo Local.

32 Desroche, "Micromillenarismes."

33 Such qualities characterized the two "messiahs" personally known to the author in Brazil: Pedro Baptista da Silva, the rural messiah, and Yokanaam, the urban messiah.

34 See my La Guerre Sainte au Brésil.

35 Roger Bastide, "The Present Status of Afro-American Research in Latin America," Daedalus, Spring, 1974, pp. 118-119.