The Aestheticization of Religion in Brazil (and Probably Elsewhere)

Abstract

This article inquires about the changes in religion, when a market-driven aestheticization process unfolds into the normal functioning of Christian churches and into the subjective life of their adherents. Though the diagnosis of an aestheticization of different social spheres (politics, everyday life) was made almost a century ago by Benjamin and Simmel, unfortunately, it found minimal entry in the sociology of religion. The basic sociological fact of observation points to an aesthetical turn in the globalized market culture. We speak of an ongoing aestheticization process of social life and, for sure, of an aestheticization of religion. Aestheticization in this context means a whole strategy to intensify sensory perceptions in order to reproduce or enhance in people the emotions and pleasure caused by the aesthetical experience. Within the religious field, the social aestheticization dynamic manifests itself as spectacularization of religion, as its transformation in entertainment. The paper analyzes the aestheticization process of religion and, concretely, what is happening to three deep aestheticized Pentecostal churches in Brazil and the USA. At the end, it tries to elicit possible consequences and further developments for religion under the regime of a ubiquitous aesthetics and sensation-seeking culture.