ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces key terms, theoretical framework, and the context we engage with in the book. We put Pentecostalism and Candomble against Catholicism and the broader religious landscape in Brazil and discuss how various religions are related to broader sociocultural and political forces one can observe in Brazil. We briefly discuss the genesis of the book, our ethical position, and some key methodological intentions. In this book, we take religion as a lived intellectual tradition in which minority ontologies and epistemologies can be developed. On the one hand, we follow Mircea Eliade's phenomenological approach to studying religions as something that cannot be reduced to culture, economy, or the study of social relationships. On the other hand, in the context of contemporary discussions on the very nature of religion as an academic, Western construct, we see religion as a particular worldview where all elements of world-making practices are present. The work of David G. Robertson on epistemic capital has been particularly influential in shaping our approach.
