Resumen

ACOSTA RICO, Fabián. Religious stamps and icons and how they are re-invented in the global market of religion and mass esotericism. Intersticios sociales [online]. 2018, n.16, pp.131-157. ISSN 2007-4964.

This article examines popular religious images associated with the recent past of the Christian faith. These religious icons refer to a form of devotion whose relevance is vanishing, but still displays significant nuances of both fetishism and fanaticism. These stamps and icons are believed to possess the ability to work miracles; that is, the believer knows, beforehand, that the image will propitiate certain favors; thus she/he puts it to the test by imploring it for protection, support or help. The text seeks to explain how it is that these religious stamps continue to occupy a place in the global market of religions while simultaneously being incorporated into what we call mass esotericism, precisely due to the miraculous nature that popular religiosity attributes to them.

Palabras llave : religious stamps; icons; mass esotericism; popular religiosity; global religion market.