The envoys of God: the construction of inquisitorial imagery

Authors

  • José Runivaldo Pascoal UFPB
  • Carlos André Macedo Cavalcanti

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22478/ufpb.1982-6605.2021v18n2.61656

Abstract

This study aims to problematize the construction of the inquisitorial imagery of the representatives of the Holy Office of the Lusitanian during their two visits to colonial spaces, inquiring about how the dictates, rules and norms established in the 1552 and 1613 regiments guided an effort to make use of a ritualistic of gestures, images, signs and symbols and put into practice the construction of the archetype of “Christianity's hero”. During the document analysis, we methodologically appropriated the notion of heroic structure of the imaginary, proposed by Durandian theory, to reflect on the regiments' confessions, denunciations and articles, in addition to Michael de Certeau's concepts of strategy and tactics that enable us to question the power relations present in words, images, narratives and discourses. Finally, the sources revealed a significant number of people who were influenced by the public ceremonial staging and by the gestures and consecrated acts of the "manufacturers" of a praxeology that was "conscious" in its objectivity, but unable to control the course of the imagination allowing us to observe about the tactics used by colonists to accept, deviate or adapt in whatever way they could to the strategies elaborated by the tribunal of Santo Oficio and its collaborators.

Keywords: Inquisition; Regiments; Strategy; Tactics; Hero.

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Author Biographies

José Runivaldo Pascoal, UFPB

[1]Mestre em História pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba - UFPB. Email: joserunivaldo@hotmail.com

 

Carlos André Macedo Cavalcanti

[1]Doutor em História pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco -  UFPE. Professor do Departamento de Ciências das Religiões da UFPB. Coordenador do Grupo Videlicet Religiões da UFPB (CNPQ). Email:carlosandrecavalcanti@gmail.com

Published

2022-08-01

How to Cite

PASCOAL, José Runivaldo; MACEDO CAVALCANTI, Carlos André. The envoys of God: the construction of inquisitorial imagery. Religare, [S. l.], v. 18, n. 2, p. 415–439, 2022. DOI: 10.22478/ufpb.1982-6605.2021v18n2.61656. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufpb.br/index.php/religare/article/view/61656. Acesso em: 16 aug. 2026.