Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil

Bettina E. Schmidt, Ph.D. (1995) and habilitation (2001) in cultural anthropology at Marburg University, is Professor of Study of Religions at University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Director of the Religious Experience Research Centre in Lampeter. Steven Engler, Ph.D. (1999) is Professor of Religious Studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Affiliate Professor of Religion at Concordia University in Montréal, and Professor Colaborador at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo. See http://stevenengler.ca.Contributors are: Ênio Brito, Fernando Giobellina Brumana, John Burdick, Leonildo Silveira Campos, Stefania Capone, Cristina Maria de Castro, Graciela Chamorro, R. Andrew Chesnut, Daniel Clark, Andrew Dawson, Steven Engler, Silas Guerriero, Kelly E. Hayes, Andreas Hofbauer, Artur Cesar Isaia, David Clark Knowlton, Ricardo Mariano, Paula Montero, Mark Münzel, Ari Pedro Oro, Emily Pierini, Paulo Barrera Rivera, Cristina Rocha, Roger Sansi, Clara Saraiva, Bettina E. Schmidt, Rafael Shoji, Vagner Gonçalves da Silva, Carlos Alberto Steil, Marta F. Topel, Frank Usarski, and Gillian Watt.

"The book is an excellent instrument for scholars interested in the Brazilian religious scenarios and in the growing diversity of different religions in the large social religious market. It also is an excellent methodological instrument for those who wish to study religion as a concept that changes its meaning and significance in different contexts and to study as well the different approaches to religious phenomena that are not limited only to Europe and European scholarship."Antonio Genivaldo Cordeiro de Oliveira1, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, International Journal of Latin American Religions 1 (2017)"Editors Bettina Schmidt and Steven Engler, who also authored and co-authored multiple chapters, did an outstanding job compiling an encyclopedia of Brazil’s incomparable religious diversity. Their discernment in separating fact from fiction, objective representation of conflicting viewpoints, and success at finally creating a comprehensive resource for the study of Brazilian religions is commendable. The Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil will hopefully serve as a model for future books in religious studies, Lusophone studies, Latin American studies, anthropology, and related fields."Stephanie Mojica, Reading Religion, February 21, 2018."The Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil is the first major work available in English which assembles a comprehensive picture of the Brazilian religious scene, taking into account the different facets, albeit not exhaustive. The comprehensiveness of this book, though, can be noticed: (a) in the interdisciplinary and intercultural nature of the project, mirrored in the variety of Brazilian and foreign scholars involved; (b) in the number of religions that appear in the book, which include Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal Christianities, different types of Afro-Brazilian religions, indigenous traditional religions, Eastern religions, and new Brazilian religious movements, some of which are unique to the country; and (c) in the variety of methods, approaches, and interdisciplinary analyses." Raimundo Barreto, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA, Mission Studies 35 (2018). "(...) trata-se de um texto que ficará por um bom tempo sem similar, e que deveria estar em toda biblioteca universitária, comotambém nas bibliotecas dos seminários teológicos, protestantes, pentecostais e neopentecostais e de outras religiões. Brill Leiden está de parabéns por publicar este manual."Helmut Renders, Universidade Metodista de São Paulo, Estudos de Relião vo. 32, n. 1, 2018."Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil is a necessary and opportune work.It offers readers an empirically rich and informed contribution on the vast field of studies on contemporary religions in Brazil (...) The authors that contributed to the work have a wealth of experience in empirical research on each of the topics covered. Besides the various religious labels and denominations, the Handbook manages to portray the complex “religious market” in Brazil in an approach that is contextual, situational and fluid. In short, this is a sensitive approach that emphasizes the perspective of the actors who participate in this dynamic."Lorenzo Macagno, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Social Sciences and Missions 31 (2018)