Overview

"An unexpected fusion of two major western religious traditions, Judaism and Christianity, has been developing in many parts of the world. Contemporary Christian movements are not only adopting Jewish symbols and aesthetics but also promoting Jewish practices, rituals, and lifestyles. Becoming Jewish, Believing in Jesus is the first in-depth ethnography to investigate this growing worldwide religious tendency in the global South. Focusing on an austere ""Judaizing Evangelical"" variant in Brazil, Carpenedo explores the surprising identification with Jews and Judaism by people with exclusively Charismatic Evangelical backgrounds. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork and socio-cultural analysis, the book analyses the historical, religious, and subjective reasons behind this growing trend in Charismatic Evangelicalism. The emergence of groups that simultaneously embrace Orthodox Jewish rituals and lifestyles and preserve Charismatic Evangelical religious symbols and practices raises serious questions about what it means to be ""Jewish"" or ""Christian"" in today's religious landscape. This case study reveals how religious, ethnic, and cultural markers are being mobilized in unpredictable ways within the Charismatic Evangelical movement in much of the global South. The book also considers broader questions regarding contemporary women's attraction to gender-traditional religions. This comprehensive account of how former Charismatic Evangelicals in Brazil are gradually becoming austerely observant ""Jews,"" while continuing to believe in Jesus, represents a significant contribution to the study of religious conversion, cultural change, and debates about religious hybridization processes."

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9780190086923

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Reviews

Manoela Carpenedo's thorough and perceptive study is ground-breaking. First, because 'Judaizing evangelicalism,' a reaction to perceived doctrinal and moral laxity in the evangelical world, may portend further religious transformations, as the huge Brazilian evangelical community fragments and produces new hybrid forms. And, second, because Christian philo-Semitism, much researched in Africa, needs studies like Carpenedo's in Latin America for understanding the interaction between monotheisms in the global South as a whole. * Paul Freston, The Cambridge History of Religions in Latin America * Growing within Brazil and beyond, Messianic Judaism is a very complex and fast-changing religious field that really needs more exploration. Manoela Carpenedo offers a rich ethnography of a fascinating case study within Messianic Judaism. Drawing on a wealth of data gathered through rigorous and in-depth participant observation, her book makes significant contributions to several important debates within the sociology and anthropology of religion--syncretism in relation to religious revival, conversion and the elaboration of religious and ethnic identities, and conservative gender roles and relations. * Veronique Altglas, Queen's University Belfast * This gracefully written and conceptualized book is the first truly classic study of a Charismatic Christian group in the process of adopting strict orthodox Jewish practices. Focused on a Brazilian congregation, and exploring in detail how women make the move from a more liberal Charismatic church to a Judaizing one that insists they follow strenuous codes of purity and modesty, this book is also a major step forward in the study of radical religious change. * Joel Robbins, University of Cambridge *

"""Manoela Carpenedo's thorough and perceptive study is ground-breaking. First, because 'Judaizing evangelicalism,' a reaction to perceived doctrinal and moral laxity in the evangelical world, may portend further religious transformations, as the huge Brazilian evangelical community fragments and produces new hybrid forms. And, second, because Christian philo-Semitism, much researched in Africa, needs studies like Carpenedo's in Latin America for understanding the interaction between monotheisms in the global South as a whole."" -- Paul Freston, The Cambridge History of Religions in Latin America ""Growing within Brazil and beyond, Messianic Judaism is a very complex and fast-changing religious field that really needs more exploration. Manoela Carpenedo offers a rich ethnography of a fascinating case study within Messianic Judaism. Drawing on a wealth of data gathered through rigorous and in-depth participant observation, her book makes significant contributions to several important debates within the sociology and anthropology of religionDL-syncretism in relation to religious revival, conversion and the elaboration of religious and ethnic identities, and conservative gender roles and relations."" -- Véronique Altglas, Queen's University Belfast ""This gracefully written and conceptualized book is the first truly classic study of a Charismatic Christian group in the process of adopting strict orthodox Jewish practices. Focused on a Brazilian congregation, and exploring in detail how women make the move from a more liberal Charismatic church to a Judaizing one that insists they follow strenuous codes of purity and modesty, this book is also a major step forward in the study of radical religious change."" -- Joel Robbins, University of Cambridge"

Author Information

Manoela Carpenedo is an Assistant Professor and Marie Curie Fellow at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Groningen. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Her research interests focus on Christian movements in the Lusophone World, Sociology of Religion, Religion and Politics, Anthropology of Moralities, Jewish Studies, and Gender Studies.

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