Abstract
This article discusses Christian religiosity among Arabs and their descendants in São Paulo, a contingent mainly composed by Syrians and Lebanese who have integrated the migratory waves arrived to Brazil from the 1880s onwards. After framing their religious identity, the article describes the situation of the different Christian faiths by considering their historical development, institutional building and the dilemmas that characterize the maintenance of both followers and their original traditions. Methodologically, it is based on research done by the author and on data gathered in publications on migration studies and on religiousness among Arabs. Then the article points out the factors that weakened religious identity, the challenges to raise followers and to affirm a specific identity amid the dominant Roman Catholicism.
Keywords
Arab Christian Religiosity, Religious Identity, Religious Institutions, Dominant Roman Catholicism, Syrians and Lebanese in São Paulo; Modernity; Functional Differentiation; World Society; Religion