ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the transformation of the erudite popular relationship as it is transformed and dissolved by contemporary charismatic movements, by Pentecostalism. And especially neo-Pentecostalism, in an evolution which the chapter describe as the secularization of religious reason a tendency shared also by non-charismatic movements such as the Theology of Liberation, bearers of a project profoundly different from the charismatic. Popular religion is discarded with the heritage or tradition which sustains it; erudite religion is discarded because doctrine and theology are despised; but the state is still expected to grant this sort of religion the same kind of exemptions and privileges which it grants to institutionalized religions. In explaining how religion which has ritual as an indispensable component manages hope and hopelessness, ritual and exchange are intimately connected. It also showed that Pentecostal churches were the primary gainers from these shifts, but neither survey distinguished between Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal adherents and retention rates cannot be deduced from the analysis.
