Transnational Phenomenon

In this episode of OP Talks, Stephen Di Trolio Coakley talks to theologians Dr. Raimundo Barreto and Dr. João Chaves about the rising strength of Evangelicals in Brazilian politics that led to the 2018 election of far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently locked in a runoff race with former left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The runoff election will take place at the end of October 2022. Nearly a year ago, Dr. Barreto and Dr. Chaves published "Christian Nationalism is Thriving in Bolsonaro’s Brazil" in The Christian Century (18 November 2021). The article explores how Christian nationalism is not only a U.S. phenomenon but “particularly evident and virulent in Brazil,” and how the two countries’ phenomena are interconnected. Although Dr. Barreto and Dr. Chaves are interested in exploring the rise of "Messianic Bolsonarismo," they trace its cause as a transnational phenomenon.