Neo-Pentecostalism is the result of the transformation and re-adaptation of Pentecostal churches that surfaced in the late 1960s. seventy of the last century, and which today is present in the most diverse areas of the national context, from the media to the scenario political. This would be, according to Ricardo Mariano (1999), the Pentecostal trend that grew the most in recent decades and attracted the attention of the press, the media, researchers and the Catholic Church itself, which has been losing faithful in Brazil to churches evangelicals. Also according to Mariano, regarding this new form of Protestantism in Brazil, we can say that the Neo-Pentecostal Churches performed the most deep accommodations to society (if we think in terms of the mutations of Protestantism through the ages), abandoning several sectarian traits, ascetic habits and the old stereotype by which "believers" were recognized and relentlessly stigmatized, abolishing certain marks distinctive and traditional aspects of their religion, proposing new rites, beliefs and practices, giving a softer air to customs and behaviors as in regarding clothing. The prefix “neo” is used to mark its recent formation, as well as its “newness” character within Protestantism, more specifically Pentecostalism.
However, it is valid to state that such classification has different scope for several researchers on the subject, who attribute the term “neo-Pentecostal” to so many other denominations and churches that here would be classified differently by the criteria presented. For now, we can say that this classification is already recognized in the academic world. The phenomenon of neo-Pentecostal churches takes place, as we have already stated, at the end of the seventies, a moment in which members of denominations considered Pentecostal detach themselves to form their own Churches. This was the case of Bishop Edir Macedo and the Missionary R.R.Soares, who founded the Universal Church of Kingdom of God, the latter coming, after a dissent, to be founder of the International Church of Grace in God. Later, other denominations would make themselves known, such as, in 1984, the Church Renascer em Cristo.
With a completely reformulated ascesis when compared to institutions with the greatest tradition of Brazilian Protestantism, such neo-Pentecostal denominations have considerably increased the number of believers, who are against the type of exacerbated sectarianism (of very strict religious practices, for example, in relation to dress) proposed by Pentecostalism. classic. This segment would be responsible for the main theological, axiological, aesthetic and behavioral transformations that the Pentecostal movement went through.
These Churches, in the words of Ricardo Mariano, attest to the desectarization, the rupture, with asceticism countercultural and the progressive accommodation of these religious and their denominations to the society and culture of consumption. This capacity for malleability of Neo-Pentecostalism, regarding changes in society, becomes latent to the come across the way they use the media for evangelization in the four corners of the world. They insert themselves in a peculiar way, in the language of the media - tv, radio, record company, newspaper, internet, recruiting an increasing number of faithful, an option used by other Christian strands such as the Church itself Catholic.
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Neo-Pentecostal churches retain some characteristics of classical Pentecostalism, such as, with regard to the aversion to ecumenism, the presence of strong and charismatic leaders, the use of mass media, participation in party politics and the preaching of healing divine.
In order to think about the genealogy of Neo-Pentecostalism in Brazil, it is essential to think not only about the inherited characteristics of the churches that precede such movement, but rather we take into account the influence of Churches and movements (with neo-Pentecostal characteristics) North Americans. A considerable range of leaders, theologians and personalities of the North American Protestant milieu, through their literary works, influenced in a lot of neo-Pentecostal thinking in Brazil, bringing to light concepts such as the Theology of Prosperity, the Positive Confession and war spiritual. The directions taken by the Neo-Pentecostal trend allowed the differences with the conservative discourse of the classical Pentecostals to gain importance. In this environment of expansionism, Neo-Pentecostals are not only present in the media, preaching and forming the opinion of the faithful, but they also reach other levels of the contemporary social arrangement, such as in the sphere of politics national. This is not the merit of such a Pentecostal strand, since other, more traditional denominations have members at different levels. However, what strikes us is that, if there was once a timid step towards political participation, or even even a self-indulgence on the part of the followers of classical Pentecostalism, today, with the explosion of Neo-Pentecostalism, this picture has changed. Candidates are launched and supported by most evangelical communities. In Mariano's words, the old maxim “believers don't get involved in politics” gave way to slogan “brother votes for brother”. However, it is worth noting that this does not mean widespread political adhesion or engagement among the faithful.
Thus, Neo-Pentecostalism brings another Protestant alternative not only for Brazil but for the world, in which stereotypes seem it is no longer valid to label the Protestant, since this same proposal will adapt to society, to the social arrangement proposed by the modernity.
Paulo Silvino Ribeiro
Brazil School Collaborator
Bachelor in Social Sciences from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Master in Sociology from UNESP - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Doctoral Student in Sociology at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Sociology - Brazil School
