Deus morto no Pampa : a religiosidade gaúcha no mito fundador proposto por Erico Verissimo

Abstract

This study was based on a literary work so as to raise considerations about peculiar aspects of the culture of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in relation to Brazil. From reading on the historical novel O Continente, written by Erico Verissimo, arises the work hypothesis that religion had a different role in the development of this specific Brazilian province. It has reflections on the structure of the values that characterize this society, with emphasis on free will and political action. This research aims at giving not a present religious outline of the province, but a qualitative panorama of how such thin religiosity influenced the construction of a gaucho ethos and how much this mythic view has made it distinguished from the Brazilian ethos. The research, which has interdisciplinary character, is supported by the data and theories of Anthropology, History, Sociology, Philosophy and Psychology, besides the Christian theology.