The Charismatic Gymnasium

“The Charismatic Gymnasium is a rare work that refuses to simply stay on the safe page of a modernist critique of representation and instead enters the much weirder world of how things actually work. This brilliant and truly original book makes a major contribution to social, cultural, and political theory.” - Kathleen Stewart, coauthor of The Hundreds

“At every turn of the page, Maria José de Abreu helps us think outside of the box on issues of the rhythmical, spatial, theological, and charismatic-political dimensions of being in common from the point of view of a religious congregation and its presence in Brazilian media. Opening many different and innovative ways to understand the relations among mediation, theology, and politics, The Charismatic Gymnasium is a real jewel to read and to be inspired by.” - Valentina Napolitano, author of Migrant Hearts and the Atlantic Return: Transnationalism and the Roman Catholic Church

“De Abreu’s approach to pneumatic Catholicism is quite original and highlights important aspects of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. . . . The Charismatic Gymnasium makes an important contribution to the literature of this form of Catholic Christianity.” - Eric Hoenes del Pinal, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"This is not the first book to discuss Brazil’s Catholic charismatic renewal, but it is assuredly the first to apply this particular approach. Working from the concept of pneuma, which connotes both breath and spirit, Maria José de Abreu studies the role of breathing human bodies in the culture and theology of pneumatic, Spirit-based faith. She makes innovative observations about the material environment of charismatic worship, including airy tents, arenas, and outdoor settings. . . . [H]er insights are provocative and demand application beyond the Latin American context." - Philip Jenkins, The Christian Century

"In The Charismatic Gymnasium, Maria José de Abreu offers up an original and ethnographically intrepid portrait of the technologies of charismatic power that undergird authoritarian governance in contemporary Brazil. ... De Abreu makes a bold intervention in our understandings of power and governance in ways that treat atypical political actors —here, breath—with the attention and ethnographic nuance they rarely receive."

"A fascinating and erudite study of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) that sheds light on contemporary religious and political transformations in Brazil. . . . Drawing parallels between the CCR and right-wing populism in Brazil, de Abreu adds profound insight to the growing bodies of literature on religion and dominionist styles of Christian mass mediation. The Charismatic Gymnasium is therefore vital for thinking comparatively about contemporary populist configurations of religiosity in an array of world locales.” - Neena Mahadev, American Anthropologist