Lições de democracia e fé: dimensões pedagógicas da correspondência de Sobral Pinto

Abstract

This study explores the correspondence of Heráclito Fontoura Sobral Pinto as a space for personal development and activity as a lawyer and Catholic intellectual. The main objective is to analyze how Sobral Pinto employed words and actions expressed in his epistolary exchanges, particularly in the books Lições de Liberdade (1977) and Por que Defendo os Comunistas (1979), to influence Brazil's political and social landscape. The research delves into the intense exchange of letters between Sobral Pinto, Henrique José Hargreaves, and Alceu Amoroso Lima, close friends with whom he shared the highs and lows of his life. In developing this thesis, I first seek to understand the foundations on which the lawyer and intellectual built his public and professional image, emphasizing his intellectual trajectory and exploring the alignments and tensions he experienced in various social spheres. Subsequently, I prioritize unpublished letters that reveal Sobral Pinto's vulnerabilities, misunderstandings, and estrangements arising from differences in opinions and personality conflicts. I then investigate the importance of friendship in shaping Sobral Pinto as an intellectual, examining how these relationships influenced his actions and thoughts through active and passive correspondences exchanged with key figures such as Hargreaves, aiming to understand the role of these interactions in his life and career. Finally, I focus on examining his educational practices in the university setting and other public forums, where he acted as a professor and lecturer, to understand how he used these platforms to influence and shape the values of Catholic youth and social thought. Thus, I aim to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how Sobral Pinto used epistolary writing not merely as a means of communication but as a strategic tool to shape politics, education, and society. This study highlights the importance of Sobral Pinto's unpublished letters as a valuable source, illustrating how his interactions with close friends were essential to his development as a lawyer and educator and to the creation of the lessons of democracy and faith that remain relevant today.