Enjoying the everyday life: the welfare culture in the evangelical media in Brazil (1980s to 2000s)

• Grant number: 07/02446-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2008
• End date: November 30, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Modern and Contemporary History
• Principal Investigator: Eliane Moura Silva
• Grantee: Karina Kosicki Bellotti
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

We will analyze under the perspective of the Cultural History the discourses on the physical, material and emotional welfare present in the evangelical media in Brazil between the 1980s and 2000s, produced by American and Brazilian evangelical authors of great circulation in our country. We will study the media of maintenance for evangelical adults that offer tools to persist in the Christian faith among the adversities of the daily life. Besides, through these resources we will investigate how the religious autonomy is fomented by these ministries, and how these media counsel the evangelical to live well in the “world” without being part of it. We work on the hypothesis that this discourse broadcasts a mentality that allies consumption with spiritual and material welfare, being an important support for the post-modern cultural evangelical supermarket. Focusing on the individual entrepreneurship in tune with a divine plan, this discourse point to a safe path in which adult evangelicals would establish a partnership with God in the governance of their health, relationships, emotions and spirit. (AU)