Fear and tremor. The symbolisms of fear in the Chilean Pentecostal culture

  • Miguel Ángel Mansilla Instituto de Estudios Internacionales (INTE), Universidad Arturo Prat (UNAP-Chile).
  • Wilson Muñoz Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale (LAS), Collège de France/EHESS/CNRS/PSL Research University (Francia). Research Institute of Sociology of Religion (ISOR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB-España). Facultad de Educación y Humanidades,
  • Carlos Piñones Rivera Instituto de Estudios Internacionales (INTE), Universidad Arturo Prat (UNAP-Chile).
Keywords: fear, symbolism, Pentecostalism, Chile.

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the semantics that has acquired the fear’s symbolism in the culture of Chilean Pentecostalism. By means of the revision and analysis of bibliographic information, we will show how the figure of fear is revealed in the images of hell, the Devil and God. Then we will provide an interpretation of the symbolic peculiarity of fear, which seems to operate as a kind of master symbol of Pentecostalism, not only because it is one of the most important symbols of this culture, but because its polysemy helps to attract the attention of the believers. This would allow it to gather a wide range of paradoxical meanings and to thematize the distinction between transcendence and immanence, and also to facilitate the transmission of one image of fear with a clear deontological and exemplary function for its believers. In order to achieve this, the symbol of fear uses resources from the historical, social and cultural context.

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How to Cite
Mansilla M. Á., Muñoz W. y Piñones Rivera C. (2018). Fear and tremor. The symbolisms of fear in the Chilean Pentecostal culture. ’Ilu. Revista de Ciencias de las Religiones, 23, 175-190. https://doi.org/10.5209/ILUR.61026
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