Paper long abstract:

The spreading of charismatic and neo-Pentecostals churches in contexts of diaspora and migration, entails the creation of specific scenarios and issues. In the last decades the presence of migrants coming from Africa and Latin America produced the emergence of new configurations of Christianity in European urban spaces. The town of Lisbon is an emblematic case of religious encounter, a space of contact among different experiences of spirituality coming from the Atlantic shores.

The contribution is aimed at exploring the role of religion in the process of identity construction among migrant groups and, in particular, the case of African Pentecostal churches in Lisbon.

The analysis will be focused on the following topics:

1) public and private dimensions of religious identity;

2) transnational networks and processes;

3) theology of prosperity and migratory projects of the worshippers;

4) representations of gender and sexuality.