Bloomsbury Academic Christianity in Brazil: An Introduction from a Global Perspective (Bloomsbury Studies in Religion, Space and Place)

Review "Silvia Fernandes combines theoretical insight with her experience in the field, to provide an accessible and rigorous overview of the dynamics that have shaped Brazilian Christianity, as well as its contributions to global Luso-religiosity." --Gustavo Morello SJ, Associate Professor of Sociology, Boston College, USA. Author of Lived Religion in Latin America (2021). Product Description This book offers an introduction to Christianitys history and geographic and theological-ritual diversity in Brazil, as well as its ongoing interaction with Brazilian society and politics. It adopts a multi-scalar approach to Brazilian Christianity, linking local grassroots practices and beliefs with processes at the various spatio-temporal levels. These include regional (rural-urban diversification) and national (secularization, the radical pluralization of the Christian field, and intensified detraditionalization and retraditionalization) and transnational. Sílvia Fernandes also identifies longue durée dynamics that connect colonial Christianity with current events, including the rise, crisis, and resurgence of Progressive Catholicism, and the election of right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro with support from a sizable number of Evangelical Protestants and Charismatic Catholics, as well as traditionalist Catholics. This book demonstrates that as Christianity enters its third millennium, it is increasingly shaped by churches and movements based in the Global South that have transnational and diasporic reach through the circulation of migrants, religious entrepreneurs, pilgrims, and tourists, as well as by the expert use of electronic media. About the Author Sílvia Fernandes is Associate Professor at Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.