Christian Zionist religiouscapes in Brazil: Understanding Judaizing practices and Zionist inclinations in Brazilian Charismatic Evangelicalism

Abstract

The increasing appropriation by Charismatic Evangelicals of Jewish narratives, rituals, and even Zionist anxieties is now evident in many parts of the globe. Drawing on two cases, one based on a Brazilian Neo-Pentecostal church and another based on an ethnographic investigation of a ‘Judaizing Evangelical’ community in Brazil this study interrogates to what extent we can comprehend this emerging tendency within Brazilian Charismatic Evangelicalism as a result of the spread of Anglo-American Christian Zionism. The article contends that while there are significant overlaps between Anglo-American Christian Zionism and the Zionist and Judaizing tendencies within Brazilian Charismatic Evangelicalism, it is reductionist to comprehend the Brazilian case exclusively through Anglo-American frameworks. Given the particularities of the Brazilian Charismatic evangelical context, the article points to the unique ways in which Christian Zionist tendencies are being ‘glocalized’ in this country.