The essay investigates the theological-political grounds of Euclides da Cunha's seminal work, Os sertões, with special emphasis put on the relation between messianism and potential construction of the nation. This paper does not simply apply the "theological-political" model to the reading of the work, in order to prove once more the structural equivalence between theological and political concepts. More than that, it analyses the conflicts of the period on the basis of theological-political exigencies. It thus understands opportunities and consequences of its ruins (in the double sense of caused destruction and of the ruin of the theological-political structure itself). With regard to the complex Brazilian messianic tradition, this essay contributes to a new critical perception of the Os sertões role.
Political theology; Messianism; Antagonism; Ruin; Sensibility; Literature; Brazil; Euclides da Cunha