Introduction: Brazil in the new global cartography of religion

In this introduction, we sketch the economic, political, cultural and religious contexts that have contributed to the recent rise of Brazil as a key center of religious creativity and innovation within an emerging, polycentric global religious cartography. The reasons for the salience of Brazil in the new global religious cartography are, as we shall see below, diverse and complex, a mixture of socio-political and cultural processes, which have in the past decade re-inserted Brazil in the global system in a favorable position, operating in conjunction with what has been a historically variegated and dynamic national religious field. Nevertheless, there are identifiable vectors that have contributed to the worldwide construction, diffusion and consumption of Brazilian religious identities, worldviews and lifestyles.