De "corações de pedra" a "corações de carne": Algumas considerações sobre a conversão de "bandidos" a igrejas Evangélicas Pentecostais

Abstract

This article discusses several elements that allow understanding the conversion of "bandits" to Pentecostal Evangelical churches. The empirical material consisted basically of interviews with individuals who had "lived a life of crime" before converting to some Pentecostal denomination. The analysis is based on the idea of criminal subjection - meaning the social construction of the "bandit" as a subject. Criminal subjection is highlighted in the narratives of conversion. The study thus provides elements for understanding the construction of two identities that are strikingly present on the poor outskirts of Brazilian metropolitan areas and that constitute an important part of their daily reality: the "bandit" and the "believer".