The Solomon's Temple in São Paulo goes beyond a house of worship. On its grounds, visitors can explore the Biblical Garden, a themed space for an immersive experience into performed biblical narratives centered around the Exodus of the Hebrews, which relies on the visual repertoire present in successful biblical telenovelas produced by RecordTV, a major TV channel owned by a neo-Pentecostal Christian denomination. In dialogue with the mobilities turn in the social sciences and the materialist turn in communication studies, this article proposes an ethnographical account of the Biblical Garden tour. Crossed by globalized flows of images and people, objects, and narratives, the tour puts together several representation technologies to offer “a piece of the Holy Land in Brazil.” By combining religious cosmologies, tourism practices, and entertainment marketing tactics, the Biblical Garden became strategic in strengthening UCKG's leading role in what ultraconservative sectors name a cultural war.
Bianca Freire-Medeiros is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology and Graduate Program in Sociology and Graduate Program in Tourism, University of São Paulo. She coordinates UrbanData—Brasil/cem, a bibliographical database on urban Brazil, and the Mobilties: Theories, Themes & Methods research group. Previously a Tinker Visiting Professor at the University of Texas at Austin and Ruth Cardoso Fulbright Chair at Georgetown University, she is currently the CPI for the Global Car: A transnational urban research project on the informal economy of vehicles. Email: bfreiremedeiros@usp.br
Nathalia Pereira da Silva is a PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology and Graduate Program in Sociology, University of São Paulo, and a member of the Mobilities: Theories, Themes & Methods research group. She is also a secondary education history teacher. Email: nathalia.pereira.silva@usp.br