The trajectory of a charism: uses divine healing between Pentecostalism in the "Evangelho Quadrangularl" and Neo-Pentecostalism of the "Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus"

Abstract

Divine healing is one of the three major components of the triple Pentecostal belief and practice, along with glossolalia and exorcism. InBrazil, for what we know, the first wave or classical Pentecostalism did not give much emphasis on divine healing, so it was from the second wave or deuteropentecostalism, with the insertion of the Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the Brazilian religious field in the 1950s, this charisma gained public notoriety and cultic centrality. With the emergence of neopentecostalism or as autonomous pentecostalism in the 1970s, divine healing, already inserted into the theology of prosperity, achieved another level, especially with the founding of theWorldChurchof the Power of God, whose specialty is the thaumaturgy. Thus, this study intends to investigate the phenomenon of divine healing circumscribed to the Church of the Foursquare Gospel and theWorldChurchof the Power of God. The research is developed from the literature review, participant observation and semi-structured interviews with the faithful of both churches. Taking the data obtained with such methodological procedures as a basis, we try to analyze and discuss the mythic and ritual dimension  of  divine  healing  in these religious niches. Finally, from a comparative perspective, this dissertation examines some aspects, especially the mythic and ritual aspects, that involve divine healing in a diachronic perspective that culminates in the present time, shedding light on this religious phenomenon that is the research object of this work.