The Pentecostal Antirevolution: Reflections from Angola

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses the so-called ‘revolutionary’ character of Evangelical and Pentecostal movements, as has been proposed in mainstream sociological and anthropological literature. Through a historical and ethnographic account of Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity in Angola, we suggest that in this country Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism is defined by exclusionary tactics that render most churches compliant with the current political regime, and they in fact act as reactionary, conservative forces in contexts of social and political disruption. This in turn exposes a divergence in terms of political rhetoric and praxis among Evangelical and Pentecostal movements.