Conversion of a Continent

by Steigenga, Timothy J.; Cleary, Edward L.

• ISBN13: 9780813542027
• ISBN10: 0813542022
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-30
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

A massive religious transformation has unfolded over the past forty years in Latin America and the Caribbean. In a region where the Catholic Church could once claim a near monopoly of adherents, religious pluralism has fundamentally altered the social and religious landscape. Conversion of a Continent is the first book to systematically bring insights from Latin American authors and case studies into dialogue on the topic of religious conversion. Chapters by Patricia Birman, Alejandro Frigerio, David Smilde, and others draw on various insights from social movement theory to religious studies to analyze both the process of conversion and its impact on national attitudes and activities, gender relations, identity politics, and reverse waves of missions aimed at the immigrant community. Unlike other studies on religious conversion, this volume pays close attention to who converts, under what circumstances, the meaning of conversion to the individual, and how the change affects converts' beliefs and actions. The thematic focus makes this volume important to students and scholars in both religious studies and Latin American studies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Approaches to Conversion
Understanding Conversion in the Americas	p. 3
Analyzing Conversion in Latin America: Theoretical Questions, Methodological Dilemmas, and Comparative Data from Argentina and Brazil	p. 33
Conversion Careers in Latin America: Entering and Leaving Church among Pentecostals, Catholics, and Mormons	p. 52
Specialized Spirits: Conversion and the Products of Pneumacentric Religion in Latin America's Free Market of Faith	p. 72
Relational Analysis of Religious Conversion and Social Change: Networks and Publics in Latin American Evangelicalism	p. 93
Conversion to What?
Conversion from Afro-Brazilian Religions to Neo-Pentecostalism: Opening New Horizons of the Possible	p. 115
Conversion to Afro-Brazilian Religions in Buenos Aires: Convincing Interactions	p. 133
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal: Revitalization Movements and Conversion	p. 153
Conversion to Native Spirituality in the Andes: From Corpus Christi to Inti Raymi	p. 174
The Implications of Conversion
Indigenous Conversion to Catholicism: Change of Heart in Chiapas, Mexico	p. 199
Stop Suffering? The Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios in the United States	p. 218
Healing the Nation: Pentecostal Identity and Social Change in Bolivia	p. 239
The Politics of Pentecostalized Religion: Conversion as Pentecostalization in Guatemala	p. 256
Contributors	p. 281
Index	p. 285
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