THE SACRED OF AND IN THE URBAN LANDSCAPE

THE OCCUPATION OF SPACES BY EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN MANAUS AND THE URBAN LIFE IN THE FACE OF THE SACRED

Abstract

The present article is set on the eve of the release of the latest census by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and of findings based on previews of these data, such as the observation that in Brazil there are more religious establishments than educational and health establishments combined. Thus, this research is an investigation into the spatialization of evangelical churches and their consequent imprint on the urban landscape in Manaus. The current approach to the phenomenon aims to understand the increase in the number of evangelical churches in Manaus based on their spatial distribution pattern or profile, and since this is a study involving the spatialization of churches, sacred spaces, and lived faith experiences, we do not assume here that mere statistical data analysis is the methodological core of the research. We regard this research as phenomenological and hermeneutic and, therefore, follow principles such as reduction, description, and representation, involving various procedures such as desk and field research with subjects. Thus, we have noted not only the numerical superiority of Pentecostal evangelicals compared to missionary ones (Presbyterians) in Manaus but also their hierophanic profile marked by charismatic continuity, which leads them to centralize spatial occupation as part of a symbolic and lived dimension. Finally, the sacred in and of the urban landscape emerges as a fundamental form of geographicity, that is, the geographic being of many Manauaras and of the urban landscape itself.