The Unquiet Religious Backdrop to European East Indies Trade: Christian Polemical Literature and the First Portuguese Translation of the Bible, 1642-1694

Abstract

EnglishThe first systematic translation of the Bible into Portuguese was prepared over the second half of the seventeenth century in the Dutch East Indies by the Portuguese Calvinist Joao Ferreira A. d’Almeida. Existent historiography tracing the context of its production has been limited either to biographical analyses or typographical surveys of its several editions. Primary sources that correspond to the obstinate Catholic versus Calvinist confrontation underlying its elaboration have been overlooked. We thus assume that only from a deeper analysis of polemical works written within this doctrinal clash is it possible to better understand the historical significance of that unique biblical translation portuguesA primeira traducao sistematica da Biblia em Portugues foi preparada ao longo da segunda metade do seculo XVII nas Indias Orientais Holandesas pelo calvinista Joao Ferreira A. d'Almeida. A historiografia a seu respeito tem sido limitada, quer a analises biograficas ou levantamentos tipograficos de suas varias edicoes. As fontes primarias que correspondem a confrontacao obstinada entre catolicos e calvinistas que se encontra subjacente a sua elaboracao ter sido negligenciada. Sera, assim de supor que, apenas a partir de uma analise mais profunda das obras polemicas escritas dentro desse embate doutrinario e possivel entender melhor o significado historico dessa excepcional traducao biblica