Abumannsur 6

Neo-Pentecostal churches: rejection of signs of holiness¹ emphasis on spiritual warfare²

"As for the audience targeted by the neo-Pentecostal churches, the Lutheran doctrine of the grace of God, or Calvinist predestination, are incapable of providing daily reality with an understandable or acceptable meaning.... For this reason the Pentecostal rationality has found in the "spiritual battle" a viewpoint which gives meaning to such things...The theology of the "spiritual battle", together with the theology of prosperity, are more appropriate for the segment of the population that is excluded from the consumer market or which is under constant threat of exclusion. By rejecting such exclusion, as something that happens a priori and being able to understand it as the momentarily unfavourable result of a "game" that has not yet come to an end, these theologies offer an alternative and a motive for taking action. God is with us, working in favour of those that fulfil the obligations of their faith....is the general guideline of looking to the present rather than to future death, resurrection and final judgement. " ³(82-83)

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The approach of these new churches is modern in that they incorporate the logic of the market in the way they act and in their organisational structure. By transforming religion into a consumer product and standardising the product so as to meet the needs of their consumers, the neo-Pentecostal churches have placed themselves in favour of a tendency that has overtaken cultures world-wide, whereby everything is transformed into consumer goods: education, affection, sex, time."⁴ (84)

"The neo-Pentecostal churches are also modern in that they have incorporated the most traditional practices of popular Brazilian religiousness... This mixture of archaic practices with elements from

modern times is done extremely skilfully, enabling the faithful to associate with ancient forms of religious expression, both Christian and non-Christian, that are still alive in everyday life in Brazil and Latin America and which do not distinguish clearly between magic and religion, whilst also dealing with problems and difficulties in their individual and private dimension."⁵

1ES Abumanssur, 'Crisis as Opportunity: Church Structure in Times of Global Transformations Religion within a context of globalisation: the case of Brazil', Revista de Estudos da Religião 3 (2002), 76–85, 81.

2ES Abumanssur, 'Crisis as Opportunity: Church Structure in Times of Global Transformations Religion within a context of globalisation: the case of Brazil', Revista de Estudos da Religião 3 (2002), 76–85, 81.

3ES Abumanssur, 'Crisis as Opportunity: Church Structure in Times of Global Transformations Religion within a context of globalisation: the case of Brazil', Revista de Estudos da Religião 3 (2002), 76–85, 82–83.

4ES Abumanssur, 'Crisis as Opportunity: Church Structure in Times of Global Transformations Religion within a context of globalisation: the case of Brazil', Revista de Estudos da Religião 3 (2002), 76–85, 84.

5ES Abumanssur, 'Crisis as Opportunity: Church Structure in Times of Global Transformations Religion within a context of globalisation: the case of Brazil', Revista de Estudos da Religião 3 (2002), 76–85, 84.