Abstract
The author begins by delineating the approach to religiosity that is peculiar to anthropology, as distinguished from that of sociology which, in the main, investigates religion's political and ideological role. The phenomenon he studies is popular religiosity, seen against the background of Brazilian culture — one that is derived, and alive with change. Setting off from Weberian theory and Bourdieu's epistemological frame work, he proposes a new model, as more dynamic and founded on apter concepts.
Side by side with the ' legitimate ' religious structures, such as the world religions, present-day Brazilian society exhibits numerous elements of popular religion. Some come from African or Indian religions, having survived the encroachments of western culture, while others are the remnants of primitive or pagan cults, that were imported with medieval Catholicism.
The article analyzes several such phenomena, as well as studies made recently about them.