“We Have To Humiliate Ourselves”: The Work Of The ‘Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus’ in Juazeiro do Norte
Pentecostalism. Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus. Humiliation. Theology of Prosperity. Classifications.
In his book Neopentecostais ([1999] 2010), the sociologist Ricardo Mariano, like other authors, proposes a typology of Brazilian Pentecostalism emphasizing strongly the main characteristics of the "third wave" of Pentecostalism (FRESTON, 1993) - it was named by him as "neo-Pentecostalism" -, and he also emphasizes the tone of novelty that characterizes its emergence. Immersed in this same context is the ‘Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus’ (IMPD), denomination created in 1998 from a split of the ‘Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus’ (IURD) in the decade of 90. To the detriment of the several temples it has, in this research I have decided to focus on create a critical reflection about the aspects of its work in the city of Juazeiro do Norte - CE, analyzing its presence in the local religious context and comparing it to national Protestantism. IMPD in Juazeiro do Norte presents the typical characteristics of a Neo-Pentecostal church, which can be considered, a priori, belonging to this segment and equating it with IURD, its greatest exponent. Nevertheless, from a preliminary field survey conducted between 2012 and 2014, composed by participation in cults in the central temple of the IMPD in the city and interviews with its members, it was possible to point out differences between the typical characterization of "neo-Pentecostalism" - especially with regard to Prosperity Theology (TP) -, and peculiar discourses and practices presented by the local Church around the category "humiliation", conceived through its correlation with the theme suffering. Against this, it is questioned the use of Pentecostal typology in the academic environment for an analysis of the Church's activity in Juazeiro do Norte, taking into account the relations of convergence and opposition between elements of this denomination and those present in the Pentecostal and Christian milieu in general. Interested in understand the presence of "humiliation" in the IMPD, this work problematizes the adequacy, pertinence and possible limitations of the use of the classifications usually utilized to Pentecostalism in the academic environment for the analysis of the previous mentioned church.