The Soul of Development Biblical Christianity and Economic Transformation in Guatemala

by Sherman, Amy L.

• ISBN13: 9780195106718
• ISBN10: 0195106717
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-05-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Ever since Max Weber started an argument about the role of Protestantism in jump-starting northern Europe's economic development, scholars have clashed over the influence of religion and culture on a society's (or an individual's) economic prospects. Today, many wonder whether the "explosion" of Protestantism in Latin America will effect a similar wave of growth and democratization. In this book, Sherman compiles the results of her field study and national survey of 1000 rural Guatemalan households. She offers persuasive evidence that, in Guatemala and throughout the region, religious world-views significantly influence economic life. Sherman explains how the change in attitude and behavior that accompanies conversion from animism to a Biblically orthodox world-view has improved the domestic welfare and economic status of many families. Further, she asserts that this new attitude, sympathetic to democratic-capitalism, has created a "moral cultural soil" in which freedom, personal empowerment, an enhanced status for women, and a desire to get ahead can be nurtured.

Table of Contents

Glossary	xvii
Introduction	3	(18)
PART I Setting the Context	21	(52)
ONE Locating the Argument	21	(17)
TWO Latin American Protestantism and Economic Development	38	(13)
THREE Cristo-paganism Described and Analyzed	51	(22)
PART II Orthodoxy and Economic Transformation	73	(56)
FOUR Worldview and Socioeconomic Development: The Evidence Explained	73	(24)
FIVE Outback Journeys: The Evidence Experienced	97	(32)
PART III Orthodoxy and Democratic Capitalism	129	(31)
SIX Evangelicals and Civic Culture	129	(18)
SEVEN The Evangelicals' Alternative Communitarianism	147	(13)
CONCLUSION A Third Reformation?	160	(11)
Appendixes	171	(16)
Notes	187	(18)
Bibliography	205	(6)
Index	211