This dissertation challenges the way scholars have defined modernity in terms of inaccurate dichotomies by comparing Max Weber (1864–1920), often considered the most important sociologist of the twentieth century, and Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), founder of Waldorfpädagogik and the esoteric social reform movement anthroposophy. While acknowledging that Weber and Steiner were different in several respects, this research illustrates that the individual histories of these men are more closely and complexly related than scholars have recognized. This includes the influence of esotericism on their thinking, as well as their profound concern with science and technological change and the effects both were having on human beings in terms of social, economic, and political relationships. These subjects are the focus of this dissertation, and investigating them through the lives of Weber and Steiner reveals that we need to re-evaluate how we draw comparisons and create categories in historical analysis. Steiner and Weber have often been considered polar opposites, yet their core ideas are similar in important respects. Steiner expressed himself as a visionary narrator and Weber as a learned scholar, yet their education and the works they read and were inspired by were similar, resulting in a synthesis of natural science, romanticism, and esotericism. This explains their analogous reaction to technological progress, as well as their interest in Asian religion and culture as a way of shedding light on Western problems. Both feared that technological advance would eventually destroy society and human relationships unless it was carefully analyzed and rethought. For both men this involved imagining a human-centered science that took seriously the ideas of Far and South East Asia. They were both caught up in the social changes of their time and passionate about shaping the future of Germany in ways that would enhance human dignity and freedom through the humane use of science and technology. To understand their commonalities, this dissertation revisits the lives of Weber and Steiner from the perspective of a “sociology of generations,” an idea introduced by Karl Mannheim in 1928. Weber and Steiner belonged to the same generation and therefore their lives, interests, and concerns can tell us a great deal about a particular moment in European history. Mannheim argued that historical generations were a sociological phenomenon in that cohorts or groups of people in their younger years could be similarly influenced by the same historical events, generating a sense of shared experience. It is crucial to recognize these similarities because they call into question the kind of dichotomies usually made by scholars—especially ones that marginalize esotericism such as “rational and irrational”—and they force us to rethink the problematic use of binary categories for interpreting early 20th century German history.

This dissertation seeks to understand the intensifying religious conflict in Brazil in which militant Pentecostals have been waging war on Afro-Brazilian religions, namely Candomblé and Umbanda. I focus on the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD), also known as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), the notorious neo-Pentecostal megachurch that has led the charge against Afro-Brazilian religions. Scholars and journalists have pinpointed several key social and economic factors that have spurred and shaped this conflict, such as religious competition, moral disagreement, and racism. I acknowledge the significance of such factors in this violent encounter, but I align with scholars who recognize that cosmology also plays a key role here. Thus, I analyze the religious teachings, beliefs, and rituals that have justified and/or inspired Pentecostal violence against Afro-Brazilian religions. I use three key organizing lines of interrogation. First, what drives many churches and adherents of Brazilian Pentecostalism, especially neo-Pentecostalism and the UCKG, to practice spiritual (and physical) warfare? Second, why are the Afro-Brazilian religions, which are relatively small and vulnerable, targeted so heavily? Finally, how and why do Pentecostal worshippers internalize and reproduce the demonizing ideas about Afro-Brazilian religions espoused by religious leadership?

I approach the first question by tracing the UCKG’s spiritual warfare ideology and practices to premillennialism. Drawing on church media, especially recorded sermons from the UCKG’s streaming service, this dissertation presents an account of the UCKG’s eschatology to argue for an apocalypticism that scholars of this church have generally overlooked. Contrary to recent arguments that because the UCKG embraces prosperity theology, it must also have an optimistic–i.e., postmillennial–eschatology, I have found that the church embraces a doomsday premillennialist vision inspired by a literal reading of the book of Revelation. This vision bolsters Christian exceptionalism, ties salvation to spiritual warfare, and encourages militancy against anyone and anything deemed evil by the church, ultimately fostering conflict. To address my second research question, my analysis compares the cosmologies of the Afro-Brazilian religions and Pentecostalism using the lens of divine cure to illuminate the inverted roles possession and exorcism play for these groups in causing suffering or facilitating divine healing. I argue that cosmological overlap and inversion help explain why Afro-Brazilian religions are seen as a potent spiritual enemy within Pentecostalism’s apocalyptic scenario. In the context of an enchanted universe, Pentecostals believe in the spirits and the ritual efficacy of Candomblé and Umbanda, but contend that their spirits and rituals are demonic and bring illness and suffering to the Earth, which can only be cured by Pentecostalism’s divine cure of ritual exorcism. Inherent in this cosmological inversion are contrasting semiotic ideologies regarding human, divine, and spirit agency. Lastly, I demonstrate through semiotic analysis how UCKG exorcisms ritualize spiritual warfare against Afro-Brazilian religions. Understanding how exorcisms symbolically immerse participants in a world where Candomblé and Umbanda are “proven” to be evil–and where defeating them is a moral imperative–helps to explain how Pentecostal believers on the ground might become convinced to engage in violence against them.

Finally, this dissertation considers how the Brazilian conflict between Pentecostals and practitioners of Candomblé and Umbanda reflects and illuminates broader regional and global currents, such as militant religious responses to secularism, globalization, and cosmopolitanism; the explosive mix of religion and politics within and beyond secular countries in recent years, fostered by the ability of social media to magnify differences and foment division; and challenges to religious freedom norms and laws posed by proselytizing, universalist religions. The ideologies and tactics of absolutist Brazilian neo-Pentecostals–especially apocalypticism and a heavy reliance on media technologies to not only proselytize but also to disparage purported enemies–echo and shed light upon those of other militant religious groups around the world. Thus, this dissertation’s conclusion will consider how my analysis of this conflict offers lessons for understanding similar conflicts globally.