Making global faith universal

Media and a Brazilian prosperity movement

Bibliographic Data

ID7212960
AuthorsEric W Kramer (University at Buffalo, State University of New York, corresponding author), Eric Kramer
Year2002
Volume3
Issue1
Pages21-47
Publication date2002-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture and Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1475-5610 • E-ISSN: 1475-5629
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01438300208567181
OpenAlexW2037086369
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited39

One characteristic of Brazilian neo‐Pentecostal ministries that draw on the Faith Movement is an accentuation of performative and metonymic linkages between supernatural power and ritual. While sharing elements with a broader transnational Faith movement, this Prosperity theology and its associated practices emerge out of the contemporary sociocultural context of Brazilian ‘popular’ religions as they relate to a consumer economy. The paper addresses the role of particular kinds of objects and material media in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. Such symbolic media configure a distinctly Pentecostal projection of local‐global relations. The analysis also considers an example of temple architecture and the construction of a Biblical theme park by the Universal Church in Rio de Janeiro. The symbolic and metonymic treatment of physical space builds up connections between believers, temporality, certain forms of historicity, and sacred geography in a way that resonates with other activities in the Church

Aesthetics · Body of Christ · Context (archaeology · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Faith · Historicity (philosophy · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Prosperity · Sociology · Theme (computing · Theology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · History · Law · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies · Philosophy · Religious Tourism and Spaces

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