A DIVERSIFICAÇÃO DO PENTECOSTALISMO BRASILEIRO NOS ÚLTIMOS TRINTA ANOS

Abstract

The present research deals with the process of diversification of Pentecostalism in Brazil. This is a new configuration that the Pentecostal churches have been drawing over the years, since its implantation in national territory in 1910, with the arrival of the first Pentecostal church, the Christian Congregation of Brazil and the Assembly of God in 1911. The The number of evangelicals has grown incredibly in the last decades throughout Latin America - AL, especially the Pentecostals, which in Brazil, according to census data of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and other research institutes, increased by around 15,6% between the 1980s and 2010. It is a growth that simultaneously involves diversification / fragmentation. In this study we try to answer some questions about these mutations, among them: what are the reasons, or what makes Pentecostalism grow and fragment in so many denominations? Is it possible to speak in one Pentecostalism or in several? What is it to be a Pentecostal in the present times? What are the trends of this religious segment for the future? These are some of the concerns that guide the present research, which was based on the literature review, being therefore of a bibliographical character, from a Social Science and Religion Sciences perspective, aiming at understanding the phenomenon of Pentecostalism diversification, its characteristics, possible internal and external causes, as well as the consequences generated by it and its main trends in the contemporary world. There is still a gap in academic production specifically on the subject proposed here, however, this work, modestly intends to contribute to fill it.