The initial chapter establishes the theoretical foundation for the subsequent discussion. It employs the Brazilian metaphor “one foot in each canoe” to illustrate the book’s integration of two intellectual traditions: Brazilian Critical Tradition and Latin American Liberation Theology (LT). The text begins by examining the “Brazil-enigma” from the 1930s, utilizing the works of prominent scholars such as Caio Prado Jr., Francisco de Oliveira, and Roberto Schwarz. It then outlines the rise and fall of the national-developmentalist project and the subsequent “national disintegration.” The text then introduces LT as a theology rooted in the praxis and spiritual experience of the poor, where faith is not an abstract doctrine but rather a response to lived struggle. The text goes on to delineate the so-called “Evangelical storm,” a term used to describe the shift from rural popular Catholicism to urban Pentecostalism, which occurred as a consequence of Brazil’s failed modernization. The chapter posits that this evangelical experience, which has led to the rise of far-right groups, must be understood through the critical and theological lenses employed in the book.