The communicative dimension and the performativity in the cults of “Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus”

Abstract

This article discusses the relation between religion and media as part of an ethnography study made on a Brazilian church called “Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus”. The problem consists in perceiving how incisive the use this technological apparatus is on the social production of belief and, particularly, on the understanding of the notions of testimony and miracle, both terminologies known by Christians (catholics and protestants) are brought back to the scene, covered by a visual and performative discourse. The Communication is here understood as a dimension that publishes the controversies developed in the religious field as a game of demands and expectations concerning the quotidian, related to the performing of miracles, cures and other desired blessings.