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Protestantism in Latin America (Latin American Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. Although Catholicism continues to be the majority religion in Latin America, Protestantism has emerged as a significant spiritual alternative throughout the region. In the early 21st century, estimated rates of Protestant adherence range from less than 10 percent in countries such as Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay to more than 25 percent in places such as Brazil, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. In Latin America’s most Protestant country, Guatemala, more than one-third of the population identifies as Protestant. Several forms of Protestantism exist in Latin America including evangelicalism, mainline Protestantism, fundamentalism, and movements that many Protestants consider to be on the edge of theological orthodoxy such as Mormonism and homegrown movements such as Luz del Mundo. However, the most pervasive form of Protestantism in Latin America is Pentecostalism, a religious system that emphasizes personal interaction with the divine and physical manifestations of spirituality such as healing and speaking in tongues. The earliest evidence of Protestantism in Latin America comes from the colonial period through the Inquisition trials of alleged Protestant heretics. After the independence movements of the early 19th century, most national governments decriminalized Protestantism, and a handful of missionaries and Bible salesmen from Great Britain and the United States entered the region. However, they had very little success. In the late 19th century, US missionary organizations began opening stations throughout Latin America, and, by the turn of the 20th century, missionaries had established churches in the major urban centers of each country. Still, conversion rates remained low, and missionaries seldom made inroads with nonurban populations. Around the middle of the 20th century, three trends changed the face of Latin American Protestantism dramatically. First, missionary organizations began shifting their focus to socially marginal populations, especially indigenous people who spoke languages other than Spanish or Portuguese. Second, previously peripheral Pentecostal missions began to grow faster than other types of Protestantism, and finally, many local converts began forming independent churches and denominations that consciously separated themselves from missionary oversight. These three trends resulted in a dramatic increase in conversion rates in the late 20th century and an identity shift within Protestantism toward nationalism and away from the foreign influences of missionaries. Most of the literature on Protestantism in Latin America addresses the movement’s growth and changes in the late 20th century, with special attention paid to the social aspects of conversion and the rise of Pentecostalism.
  4.  
  5. Regional Analyses
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  7. Few scholars have attempted to analyze Latin American Protestantism on a continental level, and most of those who do readily acknowledge that the internal diversity of the movement makes this task difficult. Stoll 1990 and Martin 1990 are two of the most influential regional studies of Protestantism, and these publications drew significant attention to the topic from both scholars and the public. Both focus on demographic growth and large-scale processes that influence Protestant conversions. Bastian 1997 also focuses on demography and provides a detailed sociological explanation for Protestant growth. Míguez Bonino 1997 is written from an insider’s perspective and turns the conversation away from demography and toward describing the diversity within Protestantism. Piedra 2000 is also written from within Latin America and looks beyond demographic descriptions. This book focuses on the intellectual history of Latin American Protestantism, a project taken up in even more detail in Mondragón 2010, which provides the first regional analysis of Protestant social thought as a single unit. Freston 2001 and Chesnut 2003 both apply regional analyses of Protestantism to even larger projects. Freston 2001 situates Protestant demographic growth and increasing political involvement in a global context by comparing Latin America to Africa and Asia. Chesnut 2003 stays within Latin America, but the author explains Protestant growth in terms of its relationship to other religions in the region.
  8.  
  9. Bastian, Jean Pierre. La mutación religiosa de América Latina: Para una sociología del cambio social en la modernidad periférica. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1997.
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  11. Comprehensive work by the most prolific sociologist of Latin American Protestantism. Uses demographic data and case studies to explain the relationship of Protestantism to large social structures. Unlike most recent studies, argues that Protestantism reproduces hierarchical forms of social organization that channel involvement through interest groups rather than individuals.
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  13. Chesnut, R. Andrew. Competitive Spirits: Latin America’s New Religious Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
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  15. Using an economic framework, the author examines the development of religious pluralism in 20th-century Latin America and explains how three new options—Pentecostalism, Charismatic Catholicism, and African-derived religions—have managed to challenge Catholicism by attracting new converts. Sets Protestantism in a larger socioreligious context.
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  17. Freston, Paul. Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  18. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511487705Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  19. Country-by-country comparative study of Protestant political involvement in the developing world. Establishes a basic framework for understanding how Protestantism in Asia, Africa, and Latin America shares certain characteristics while also drawing attention to the differences in each country and region. Excellent undergraduate resource.
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  21. Martin, David. Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America. Cambridge, MA: B. Blackwell, 1990.
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  23. One of the most geographically thorough analyses of the movement. Argues that the voluntary ethos of Protestantism introduced by missionaries combined with the local social changes of economic development in the 20th century to break the Catholic monopoly in Latin America. Differs from most works by focusing on macro-processes rather than individual actors.
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  25. Míguez Bonino, José. Faces of Latin American Protestantism: 1993 Carnahan Lectures. Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans, 1997.
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  27. Originally published in Spanish in 1995. Identifies and discusses the diversity within Latin American Protestantism in four parts: mainline Protestantism, evangelical Protestantism, Pentecostalism, and ethnic immigration. Argues that these four “faces” operate as overlapping influences rather than competing forms of Protestantism.
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  29. Mondragón, Carlos. Like Leaven in the Dough: Protestant Social Thought in Latin America, 1920–1950. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2010.
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  31. Analyzes the writings of leading Protestant leaders from the first half of the 20th century. The author argues that local Protestants and missionaries contributed to Latin American intellectual history in areas such as justice and national identity. Challenges assumptions about Protestantism as a tool of US cultural imperialism.
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  33. Piedra, Arturo. Evangelización protestante en América Latina: Análisis de las razones que justificaron y promovieron la expansión protestante, 1830–1960. 2 vols. 2d ed. Quito, Ecuador: Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias, 2000.
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  35. A Latin American perspective on the history of North American and European Protestant missionary activity in the region. Analyzes missionary roots in secular ideologies such as pan-Americanism and US imperialism as well as in Protestant theologies such as Biblicism and social reform.
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  37. Stoll, David. Is Latin America Turning Protestant? The Politics of Evangelical Growth. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
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  39. Influential study that was responsible for drawing scholarly and popular attention to the demographic growth of the movement. Argues that Protestantism resonated with the poor more than Liberation Theology did. Makes strong connections between US evangelicalism and Latin American Protestantism that have been challenged by later works.
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  41. Edited Volumes
  42.  
  43. Edited volumes that investigate specific aspects of Latin American Protestantism with case studies from across the region have become the most common scholarly resource in this subfield. These volumes are especially useful because most are interdisciplinary. The essays in many of these volumes are appropriate for undergraduate courses, particularly those in Cleary and Stewart-Gambino 1997, Garrard-Burnett 2000, and Steigenga and Cleary 2007. Garrard-Burnett and Stoll 1993 is one of the earliest and broadest collections of essays about Protestantism in Latin America, and the authors in this volume later produced several monographs based on the research published here for the first time. After this publication, edited volumes became more thematic. Cleary and Stewart-Gambino 1997 and Freston 2008 investigate Protestant political involvement. Boudewijnse, et al. 1998 and Steigenga and Cleary 2007 study the causes and effects of conversion. Corten and Marshall-Fratani 2001 describes the links between globalization and Pentecostalism, and Dow and Sandstrom 2001 investigates the relationship between indigenous identity and Protestantism. The topical nature of these volumes makes them an excellent resource for preparing lectures on Protestantism that might be part of a broader course on history, politics, society, or culture in the region. The primary exception to this topical trend is Garrard-Burnett 2000, which examines religious pluralism writ large and includes essays situating Protestantism in a larger religious milieu.
  44.  
  45. Boudewijnse, Barbara, André Droogers, and Frans Kamsteeg, eds. More than Opium: An Anthropological Approach to Latin American and Caribbean Pentecostal Praxis. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1998.
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  47. Updated edition of 1991 Spanish publication. Ten essays explaining reasons that South Americans convert to Pentecostalism. Essays cover issues related to gender, moral reform, healing, and the Pentecostalization of Catholic practices.
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  49. Cleary, Edward L., and Hannah W. Stewart-Gambino, eds. Power, Politics, and Pentecostals in Latin America. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997.
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  51. Wide-ranging collection of essays addressing both the relationship of Pentecostalism to secular politics and the structure of internal politics in Pentecostal churches. Covers most areas of Latin America as well as immigrant communities in the United States. Excellent source of readings for undergraduates.
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  53. Corten, André, and Ruth Marshall-Fratani, eds. Between Babel and Pentecost: Transnational Pentecostalism in Africa and Latin America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
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  55. Social-scientific study of the relationship between globalization and Pentecostalism in the developing world. The first section offers a theoretical foundation for linking Africa and Latin America. Sections 2 and 3 provide deep analyses of individual cases in each region. Best suited for advanced students.
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  57. Dow, James, and Alan R. Sandstrom, eds. Holy Saints and Fiery Preachers: The Anthropology of Protestantism in Mexico and Central America. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001.
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  59. These essays focus primarily on rural and indigenous communities where Protestantism forms a significant minority. Each contributor analyzes conversion patterns through individual case studies rather than through a broad framework. Somewhat exceptional in its broad definition of Protestantism to include groups such as Adventists and Mormons.
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  61. Freston, Paul, ed. Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
  62. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195174762.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  63. Part of a three-volume series examining Protestantism and politics in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Presents case studies of Protestant political involvement in late-20th-century Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, and Brazil. Demonstrates the diversity of political viewpoints and approaches within Protestantism.
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  65. Garrard-Burnett, Virginia, ed. On Earth as It Is in Heaven: Religion in Modern Latin America. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2000.
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  67. A study of religious pluralism in Latin America that sets Protestantism in a broader context. Includes essays on indigenous spirituality, the public emergence of African-derived religions, and changes within the Catholic Church. Few specific details about Protestantism but useful for understanding the broader socioreligious milieu that accompanied Protestant growth.
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  69. Garrard-Burnett, Virginia, and David Stoll, eds. Rethinking Protestantism in Latin America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993.
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  71. A pioneering collection of essays that constitutes the first broad selection of case studies on Latin American Protestantism. In an attempt to draw attention to the local character of Protestantism, the contributors address a broad range of issues ranging from political mobilization to the relationship between Pentecostalism and Liberation Theology.
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  73. Steigenga, Timothy J., and Edward L. Cleary, eds. Conversion of a Continent: Contemporary Religious Change in Latin America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007.
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  75. Focuses on the process of conversion including motivating factors, the role of converts in new religions, and the social ramifications of switching. Contributors draw on a wide range of cases and theoretical approaches to address the multidirectional movement among Catholicism, Protestantism, indigenous spirituality, and African-derived religions. Excellent source of readings for undergraduates.
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  77. Textbooks, Introductions, and Published Primary Sources
  78.  
  79. Despite its importance, until recently the study of religion in Latin America has lacked a unified, English-language textbook. González and González 2008 offers the first comprehensive text appropriate for use in an undergraduate course and situates Protestantism in the long historical trajectory of Latin American religion. This text in combination with the primary source reader Penyak and Petry 2006 provides a good basis for undergraduate teaching. Deiros 1992 is a useful, Spanish-language textbook for undergraduates. Bastian 1990 is more technical and more narrow in its argumentation. This text is more appropriate for advanced students and can be usefully paired with works cited under Edited Volumes. Comisión de Estudios de Historia de la Iglesia en Latino America 1981–1995 is a comprehensive reference work more useful for lecture preparation than for assigned readings. The Pew Forum report, Spirit and Power, offers current and extremely useful survey data that could serve either as illustrative material for an undergraduate course or as the basis for analytical projects for advanced undergraduates or graduate students.
  80.  
  81. Bastian, Jean Pierre. Historia del protestantismo en América Latina. Mexico City: Casa Unida de Publicaciones, 1990.
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  83. Interprets Protestantism as a dissident religious expression adopted in Latin America as a response to social conditions. Argues that Protestantism’s position is precarious because it depends on Catholicism not meeting certain social needs. One of the most useful overviews available in Spanish but should be compared to more recent research.
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  85. Comisión de Estudios de Historia de la Iglesia en Latinoamerica. Historia general de la Iglesia en América Latina. 11 vols. Salamanca, Spain: Ediciones Sigueme, 1981–1995.
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  87. Comprehensive historical introduction to Christianity in Latin America produced by a group of Catholic and Protestant scholars. Integrates theology with social scientific and historical research. Each volume focuses on a specific country or subregion and includes discussions of Protestantism in local political and religious contexts.
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  89. Deiros, Pablo Alberto. Historia del Cristianismo en América Latina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana, 1992.
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  91. A combined historical and theological analysis of religion in Latin America presented chronologically. Section 4 focuses on Protestantism.
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  93. González, Ondina E., and Justo L. González. Christianity in Latin America: A History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
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  95. Accessible undergraduate textbook. Chapters 7, 8, and 10 deal directly with Protestantism. This volume introduces several important themes concerning Latin American Protestantism but does not address them in depth. It is best used in conjunction with supplemental readings from the works cited under Edited Volumes.
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  97. Penyak, Lee M., and Walter J. Petry. Religion in Latin America: A Documentary History. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2006.
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  99. Thorough collection of primary sources produced between the 16th and 21st centuries. About one-fifth of the documents are related to Protestantism. Most are found in chapters 11, 13, and 21. The selected sources offer a balance of missionary and local voices.
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  101. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2006.
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  103. Includes extensive survey data from Brazil, Chile, and Guatemala that offers insights on the religious, social, and political beliefs and practices of Pentecostals. The raw data is also available from the Pew Forum and the Association of Religious Data Archives (ARDA) for analysis.
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  105. Mexico
  106.  
  107. Although Protestantism is not as numerically strong in Mexico as it is in many other Latin American countries, the literature about Mexican Protestants is one of the most diverse in the region. Bastian 1989 and Baldwin 1990 connect Protestantism to one of the most important historical events of 20th-century Latin America, the Mexican Revolution. These texts offer the opportunity to weave Protestant history into the larger fabric of Latin American history rather than treating it as an isolated movement. Hartch 2006 and Dormady 2011 continue this integrated historical analysis in the revolution’s institutional period by examining the interplay between Protestants and central authorities. The accessible writing style of these books makes them suited for advanced undergraduates. Fortuny 2005 is also a useful companion to Dormady 2011 because the authors of both of these volumes examine religious groups often considered to be on the edges of Protestant orthodoxy. These texts are valuable for the questions they raise about definitions of Protestantism in Latin America. Among works written by sociologists of Latin American Protestantism, Bowen 1996 shifts the conversation about Protestantism from conversion to commitment and, as such, offers a useful counterpoint for consideration in graduate seminars. Cahn 2005 and Dow 2005 offer competing anthropological views of how Protestantism operates in indigenous communities and especially how Protestants related to civic life after conversion. These two texts are useful in tandem for advanced undergraduates or graduate students.
  108.  
  109. Baldwin, Deborah. Protestants and the Mexican Revolution: Missionaries, Ministers, and Social Change. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
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  111. One of the earliest studies to connect Protestantism to broader historical trends and events. Presents Protestantism as an ideology of change that helped fuel the Mexican Revolution in some areas of the country. Strongly grounded in literature on the Mexican Revolution but lacks interaction with literature on Latin American Protestantism.
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  113. Bastian, Jean-Pierre. Los disidentes: Sociedades protestantes y revolución en México, 1872–1911. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1989.
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  115. Traces the religious and secular networks that led to the early spread of Protestantism in Mexico and defines the constituencies that provided the first converts in the country. Argues that early Protestantism was confined to geographically and socially peripheral areas.
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  117. Bowen, Kurt. Evangelism and Apostasy: The Evolution and Impact of Evangelicals in Modern Mexico. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1996.
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  119. Sociological study analyzing the commitment level of Protestants after conversion. The author documents high rates of attrition among converts and concludes that Mexican Protestantism will remain small but strong because it offers little middle ground between complete commitment and apostasy.
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  121. Cahn, Peter S. All Religions Are Good in Tzintzuntzan: Evangelicals in Catholic Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005.
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  123. Anthropological study of Catholic-Protestant relations in an indigenous community. Unlike most studies, Cahn focuses his research on an area where Protestantism is not particularly strong, and he finds that Catholics and Protestants have created a process of mutual accommodation rather than conflict.
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  125. Dormady, Jason. Primitive Revolution: Restorationist Religion and the Idea of the Mexican Revolution, 1940–1968. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2011.
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  127. Historical study arguing that sectarian groups focused on religious purity helped to promote the institutionalization of the Mexican Revolution by preaching messages of Mexican specialness in the eyes of God. Two of the book’s three case studies are Protestant groups with charismatic, prophetic leaders.
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  129. Dow, James W. “The Expansion of Protestantism in Mexico: An Anthropological View.” Anthropological Quarterly 78.4 (2005): 827–850.
  130. DOI: 10.1353/anq.2005.0054Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  131. Argues that Protestant growth in indigenous communities results from a rejection of indigenous civil-religious hierarchies rather than a rejection of Catholicism.
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  133. Fortuny Loret de Mola, Patricia. Los “otros” hermanos: Minorías religiosas protestantes en Jalisco. Guadalajara, Mexico: Secretaría de Cultura, Gobierno del Estado de Jalisco, 2005.
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  135. Government-sponsored anthropological study of the diverse religious landscape around Guadalajara, Mexico. Argues that Protestants and groups on the edge of Protestantism such as Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are integral to regional cultural identity.
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  137. Hartch, Todd. Missionaries of the State: The Summer Institute of Linguistics, State Formation, and Indigenous Mexico, 1935–1985. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2006.
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  139. Examines the relationship between missionaries and Mexican president Lázaro Cárdenas as they partnered to “modernize” Mexico’s indigenous peoples. A primarily narrative-driven text that is rigorous but easily accessible and raises significant questions about the unexpected alliances forged between foreign missionaries and nationalist governments in the 20th century.
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  141. Central America
  142.  
  143. Central America is one of the two demographic centers of Protestantism in Latin America, the other being Brazil. This also means that Central America is central to the literature of the movement, especially literature produced in English. Research on Protestantism in Central America has focused especially on the relationship among religion, politics, and violence. This stems from the fact that the countries with the highest conversion rates in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s—Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua—also experienced some of the most devastating civil wars during those same decades.
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  145. Regional
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  147. Research on the regional level in Central America has been especially preoccupied with political questions and specifically questions about how Protestants engage with social issues in the political arena. Hallum 1996 investigates the question of Protestant political participation with a special interest in the differences between local Protestants and foreign missionaries. It is instructive to compare the author’s findings with the assumptions made in Stoll 1990 (cited under Regional Analyses). Steigenga 2001 builds on Hallum’s research and pushes the argument for Protestant political diversity even further, concluding that predictors of political affiliation exist in religion but that these predictive factors cross institutional lines. Hoksbergen and Espinoza Madrid 1997 offers a contrasting perspective to Steigenga 2001 and Hallum 1996. It actively encourages developmentalist policies and a particular style of political engagement. This argument echoes the position of Sherman 1997, cited under Guatemala.
  148.  
  149. Hallum, Anne Motley. Beyond Missionaries: Toward an Understanding of the Protestant Movement in Central America. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996.
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  151. Political science study that argues that Protestantism in Central America is a local social movement rather than a simple extension of missionary ideologies. Relies on interviews in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala to track the multiple factors that influence the political decisions of Protestants.
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  153. Hoksbergen, Roland, and Noemí Espinoza Madrid. “The Evangelical Church and the Development of Neoliberal Society: A Study of the Role of the Evangelical Church and Its NGOs in Guatemala and Honduras.” Journal of Developing Areas 32.1 (1997): 37–52.
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  155. Notes the lack of local Protestant support for neoliberal economic and political models in Central America and advocates for the encouragement of neoliberal policies in the region.
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  157. Steigenga, Timothy J. The Politics of the Spirit: The Political Implications of Pentecostalized Religion in Costa Rica and Guatemala. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2001.
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  159. Political science study that challenges assumptions in prior literature that Protestantism correlates to political quiescence. The author finds that Protestants are politically diverse but that Pentecostalism, in both Protestant and Catholic contexts, can be used to predict political conservatism.
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  161. Guatemala
  162.  
  163. Guatemala is the most Protestant country in Latin America and also the country that has received the most attention from scholars. Annis 1987 offers a unique perspective from an author who did not set out to study religion at all. Instead, the author’s initial focus on the economics of weaving in indigenous towns led him to observe differences based on religious affiliation. Such accidental scholarship on the topic serves as an excellent window into the intersection of Protestantism and daily life. By contrast, Schäfer 1991 offers a deliberate view from inside the Presbyterian denomination that expertly blends theology and history. This detailed study of responses to violence during the peak of Guatemala’s civil war in the early 1980s presaged future studies that saw the war as a turning point for Protestants, much like trends in the literature for El Salvador and Nicaragua. Garrard-Burnett 1998 offers a long view of Protestant history but focuses especially on the development of the movement during the conflict of the late 20th century. This monograph is the most comprehensive historical treatment of Protestantism in any Latin American context. Garrard-Burnett 2010 takes a more focused approach and specifically maps the intersection of Protestantism and state-sponsored violence in 1982 and 1983, two years during which tens of thousands of Maya died at the hands of government forces led by a Protestant president. Both of these volumes are useful undergraduate textbooks for religion courses, and the second is also useful in courses on Cold War Latin America. Another important issue in Guatemala, as in all of Central America, concerns the intersection of Protestantism and politics. Sherman 1997 follows a Weberian model proposed by Sheldon Annis (Annis 1987) and argues that Protestantism promotes development, which has been a somewhat controversial position. O’Neill 2010 offers a more nuanced view of Protestant civil engagement and citizenship, and this book is useful for advanced undergraduate or graduate level discussions on this topic. Finally, the question of ethnicity is important to any literature about Guatemala, and Protestantism is no exception. While most works include references to ethnicity, Ruz and Garma Navarro 2005 makes it central to the authors’ investigation and presents case studies of how Protestantism functions in indigenous communities. Samson 2007 continues this line of inquiry in greater detail, and both texts are useful for tempering older arguments that present Protestantism as an imperialistic and culture-destroying force.
  164.  
  165. Annis, Sheldon. God and Production in a Guatemalan Town. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1987.
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  167. A sociological study of the intersection of Protestant conversion and economic choices in the indigenous town of San Antonio Aguas Calientes. The author argues that conversion is most common among residents willing to replace subsistence agriculture with small-scale capitalism. One of the earliest social scientific studies of Protestantism in Guatemala.
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  169. Garrard-Burnett, Virginia. Protestantism in Guatemala: Living in the New Jerusalem. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998.
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  171. One of the most thorough historical treatments of Protestantism in Latin America. Emphasizes the importance of local agency in the growth of Protestantism in the late 20th century and connects early missionary efforts to later trends toward nationalization. Also investigates Protestant involvement in politics.
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  173. Garrard-Burnett, Virginia. Terror in the Land of the Holy Spirit: Guatemala under General Efraín Ríos Montt, 1982–1983. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
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  175. Study of Guatemala’s civil war that focuses on the first Protestant president in Latin America. Discusses how the Protestant faith of military dictator Ríos Montt influenced his public rhetoric and Guatemala’s national security programs during the worst period of state-sponsored violence in modern Latin American history.
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  177. O’Neill, Kevin Lewis. City of God: Christian Citizenship in Postwar Guatemala. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.
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  179. Anthropological study of a Protestant mega-church in Guatemala City that examines how Protestants use Christian practices to redefine what it means to be a good national citizen. Challenges assumptions about Protestant inactivity in local and national civil life.
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  181. Ruz, Mario Humberto, and Carlos Garma Navarro, eds. Protestantismo en el mundo maya contemporáneo. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, 2005.
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  183. Collection of essays about Maya Protestants in Guatemala and southern Mexico. The contributors use historical and social-scientific methodologies to analyze how Maya people have created unique expressions of Protestantism that reinforce cultural identities. The authors also address why conversion rates in Maya areas often outpace rates in nonindigenous communities.
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  185. Samson, C. Mathews. Re-Enchanting the World: Maya Protestantism in the Guatemalan Highlands. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2007.
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  187. Anthropological study comparing how two different Maya groups integrate Protestantism with their cultural identities. Highlights Protestant pluralism, challenges secularization theory, and argues that in some communities Protestantism actually serves as a tool to reclaim indigenous identity rather than as an external force to replace that identity.
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  189. Schäfer, Heinrich. Church Identity between Repression and Liberation: The Presbyterian Church in Guatemala. Geneva, Switzerland: World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 1991.
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  191. Originally published in Spanish. A combined theological and historical investigation into how Guatemalan Presbyterians used their beliefs and practices to navigate the violent political terrain of the country’s civil war. Highlights the ways that some local Protestants challenged official programs and positions.
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  193. Sherman, Amy L. The Soul of Development: Biblical Christianity and Economic Transformation in Guatemala. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
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  195. Assesses Protestantism from a neoliberal economic perspective and argues that conversion causes behavioral changes that lead to adoption of democratic politics and capitalist economic models. These findings are challenged by later researchers (see Hallum 1996 and Steigenga 2001, both cited under Regional).
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  197. El Salvador
  198.  
  199. In El Salvador, studies of political responses to violence dominate the literature on Protestantism. As in the cases of Guatemala and Nicaragua, this focus reflects the leading trends in broader historical and social science literatures on the country. Although written during a period of violence, Wilson 1983 downplays this emphasis and instead offers a general defense of Pentecostalism in El Salvador as local rather than foreign in character. Martín-Baró and Sloan 1990 indirectly challenges this thesis by portraying Protestants as implicit allies, although not direct supporters, of authoritarian regimes allied with the US government. Aguilar, et al. 1993 disputes this characterization with detailed survey evidence that finds Protestants to be no more conservative than the general population when controlled for other social and economic factors. Williams and Peterson 1996 offers yet another perspective on the question of Protestants and war-time politics by comparing the level of engagement on social issues of Catholic and Protestant leaders and concluding that Protestants offer a theology of refuge compared to Catholic theologies of confrontation. Wadkins 2008 endorses this view but adds a caveat that generational differences point to shifts in Protestant outlooks. Gómez 1999 also compares Protestants and Catholics but avoids dichotomous analyses. Instead, the author analyzes postwar efforts by religious bodies to cope with the aftermath of violence and describes the marginalization of these groups by governing authorities. This rich exchange of ideas is easily accessible in leading journals and presents an easy-to-follow example of one of the leading debates in the study of Latin American Protestantism, that is, how Protestants respond to political and social crisis. Beyond this literature, El Salvador has also invited several transnational comparative studies. Vásquez, et al. 2003 examines the transnational organizational structure of Salvadoran Pentecostal churches while Offutt 2010 compares cultural and spiritual exchange between Pentecostal organizations in El Salvador and South Africa.
  200.  
  201. Aguilar, Edwin Eloy, José Miguel Sandoval, Timothy J. Steigenga, and Kenneth M. Coleman. “Protestantism in El Salvador: Conventional Wisdom versus Survey Evidence.” Latin American Research Review 28.2 (1993): 119–140.
  202. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  203. Uses survey data from 1988 and 1989 to describe Protestants in El Salvador rather than to attempt to explain the movement’s growth. Identifies most Protestants as poor and conservative but not significantly more so than the general population.
  204. Find this resource:
  205. Gómez, Ileana. “Religious and Social Participation in War-Torn Areas of El Salvador.” Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 41.4 (December 1999): 53–71.
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  207. Contrasts the involvement of religious groups in organizing peace conferences during El Salvador’s civil war with their marginalization by the government following the end of hostilities. Using one Protestant church and two Catholic congregations as examples, the author argues that churches are foundational for rebuilding democracy.
  208. Find this resource:
  209. Martín-Baró, Ignacio, and Tod Sloan. “Religion as an Instrument of Psychological Warfare.” Journal of Social Issues 46.3 (1990): 93–107.
  210. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1990.tb01936.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  211. Published during El Salvador’s civil war. Hypothesizes that the military benefited from an increase in Protestant conversions and Charismatic Catholicism because the individualistic nature of these faiths made their adherents more submissive to authority. This thesis was later challenged by scholars in works such as Aguilar, et al. 1993.
  212. Find this resource:
  213. Offutt, Stephen. “The Transnational Location of Two Leading Evangelical Churches in the Global South.” Pneuma 32.3 (2010): 390–411.
  214. DOI: 10.1163/157007410X531925Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  215. Comparative study of two churches in South Africa and El Salvador documenting Pentecostalism’s shift toward upper-middle-class converts. Also analyzes the transnational nature of this newer form of Pentecostalism.
  216. Find this resource:
  217. Vásquez, Manuel A., Marie F. Marquardt, and Ileana Gómez. “Saving Souls Transnationally: Pentecostalism and Gangs in El Salvador and the United States.” In Globalizing the Sacred: Religion across the Americas. Edited by Manuel A. Vásquez and Marie F. Marquardt. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003.
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  219. A comparison in the social organizations and practices provided to Salvadoran youth by gangs and Pentecostal churches. Argues that despite their differences, gangs and Pentecostal churches actually produce similar structures that are heavily influenced by globalization.
  220. Find this resource:
  221. Wadkins, Timothy. “Getting Saved in El Salvador: The Preferential Option for the Poor.” International Review of Mission 97.384 (2008): 31–49.
  222. DOI: 10.1111/j.1758-6631.2008.tb00625.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  223. Ethnographic analysis of Protestant social involvement in El Salvador. Concludes that outside critiques of Protestants as politically passive in the face of social injustice are correct, but also identifies a generational shift toward social awareness and relief work that is transforming Protestant social engagement.
  224. Find this resource:
  225. Williams, P. J., and A. L. Peterson. “Evangelicals and Catholics in El Salvador: Evolving Religious Responses to Social Change.” Journal of Church and State 38.4 (1996): 873–900.
  226. DOI: 10.1093/jcs/38.4.873Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  227. A comparative analysis of pastoral strategies during the Salvadoran civil war. Argues that while Catholic leaders engaged with large, social issues, Protestant pastors offered distance from ideological conflicts by emphasizing personal spirituality over social transformation.
  228. Find this resource:
  229. Wilson, Everett A. “Sanguine Saints: Pentecostalism in El Salvador.” Church History 52.2 (1983): 186–198.
  230. DOI: 10.2307/3166951Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  231. One of the earliest analyses of Central American Protestantism. Traces the institutional development of Pentecostalism and argues that the movement’s growth is driven by internal logic and spirituality as much as by external forces and social change.
  232. Find this resource:
  233. Nicaragua
  234.  
  235. As with Guatemala and El Salvador, Nicaragua’s civil war is the dominant motif in literature about Protestantism in the country. In Nicaragua, however, scholarly analysis differs from the other two countries because of the political victories of the leftist Sandinistas. This different political context led scholars to ask questions about Protestant relationships with the political left, whereas in other contexts inquiries focused more often on relationships with the political right. Early studies such as Martínez 1989 avoid strong political claims and instead seek to describe Protestant identity in spiritual terms while making only limited connections to secular politics. Sediles Real 2007 continues this analysis, and the authors of both works point to an internal diversity that is a key element of more politically oriented studies. Zub 1993 endorses this idea of Protestant diversity and applies it directly to politics, demonstrating how other social factors are more predictive of political choices than religious affiliation. Hawley 1997 zeroes in on a specific subset of Protestantism among Miskitu indigenous Nicaraguans on the Caribbean coast and describes how ethnicity mixed with religion to develop a decidedly anti-Sandinista, but not necessarily right-wing, political movement. This short piece offers several valuable points for classroom discussion about the intersection of different identity markers. Focusing on mestizo areas of Nicaragua, Smith and Haas 1997 makes a bolder claim that a majority of Protestants actually supported the Sandinistas. A decade later, Smith 2007 supports this claim but the author notes that Protestant support for the Sandinistas occurred at a particular historical moment that did not last and that Protestant backing of the political left later declined. Davis 1997 notes that these shifting religious-political allegiances were not limited only to Protestants, and that Catholics and Protestants often moved together in their political opinions despite their religious differences. Gooren 2003 also notes the interrelated fates of Catholics and Protestants in Nicaragua and not only in the political field. The author describes how the growth of Protestantism also affects the development of Catholic practices.
  236.  
  237. Davis, Charles L. “Religious Transformations and Partisan Polarization in Latin America: The Case of the Urban Informal Sector in Nicaragua.” Journal of Developing Areas 31.2 (1997): 183–202.
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  239. Sociological investigation of the relationships between religious and political conflicts. The author finds that despite the precedent set in Europe and despite popular perception to the contrary, there is little relationship between divisions in these two spheres of society. Rather, subgroups of Protestants and Catholics align across the political spectrum.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Gooren, Henri. “The Religious Market in Nicaragua: The Paradoxes of Catholicism and Protestantism.” Exchange 32.4 (2003): 340–360.
  242. DOI: 10.1163/157254303X00271Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  243. Analyzes the growth of Protestantism in Nicaragua using a market-based model that views Protestants and Catholics as competing products vying for consumers. Argues that as the social cost of conversion decreases, conversions increase. Also demonstrates how Catholicism adapts to Protestant competition.
  244. Find this resource:
  245. Hawley, Susan. “Protestantism and Indigenous Mobilisation: The Moravian Church among the Miskitu Indians of Nicaragua.” Journal of Latin American Studies 29.1 (1997): 111–129.
  246. DOI: 10.1017/S0022216X96004658Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  247. Describes how Moravian Protestantism became a marker of ethnic identity on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast. Also explains the role of Protestant churches in mobilizing against the Sandinistas in Miskitu indigenous areas.
  248. Find this resource:
  249. Martínez, Abelino. Las sectas en Nicaragua: Oferta y demanda de salvación. San José, Costa Rica: DEI, 1989.
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  251. Detailed study of Protestant thought and activity in late-20th-century Nicaragua. Offers an in-depth description of seventeen congregations and how their locally developed theologies inform their participation in national society.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Sediles Real, Carlos. “Pentecostalisms in Nicaragua: General Aspects of Their Foundations, Growth and Social Participation.” Exchange 36.4 (2007): 386–396.
  254. DOI: 10.1163/157254307X225043Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  255. Offers a critical analysis of the theological, social, and liturgical elements that constitute Nicaraguan Pentecostalism. Argues that Pentecostalism is actually a diverse collection of similar movements that are not easily treated as a unified whole.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Smith, Calvin L. Revolution, Revival, and Religious Conflict in Sandinista Nicaragua. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
  258. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004156456.i-312Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  259. Explores the relationships between Protestants and Sandinistas during the Nicaraguan Revolution. Explains how many local Protestants sided with the revolutionaries before later separating from the movement as they began to recognize ideological conflicts between socialism and Protestantism.
  260. Find this resource:
  261. Smith, Christian, and Liesl Ann Haas. “Revolutionary Evangelicals in Nicaragua: Political Opportunity, Class Interests, and Religious Identity.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 36.3 (1997): 440–454.
  262. DOI: 10.2307/1387860Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  263. Using national survey data from 1990, the authors show that Protestants supported leftist Sandinista candidates at a higher rate than Catholic Nicaraguans. Challenges characterizations of Protestants as politically conservative or quiescent and calls for a more careful integration of the sociopolitical context in the study of Protestantism.
  264. Find this resource:
  265. Zub, K. Roberto. Protestantismo y elecciones en Nicaragua: Estudio sobre la estratificación socio-religiosa y las actitudes político-electorales de los protestantes en Nicaragua. Managua, Nicaragua: Ediciones Nicarao, 1993.
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  267. Using 1991 survey data, the author reaches conclusions later explained more completely in Smith and Haas 1997. Argues that any correlation between conservative politics and Protestant affiliation derives from other socioeconomic factors and that Protestant voters are as diverse as the national electorate. Also demonstrates latent support for a Protestant political party.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Honduras and Costa Rica
  270.  
  271. Although both countries have sizable Protestant populations, neither Honduras nor Costa Rica has received the same level of academic attention as other Central American countries. In part, this paucity reflects the general state of social scientific and historical literature about these countries. For Honduras, Winn 1973 offers a thorough explanation of how and why early foreign missionaries established Protestant churches in the country. However, a large gap exists in the historiography between this treatment of foreigners in the country’s western area and the anthropological study of Wolseth 2011, which analyzes local religion in the capital city. Wolseth’s work is not a study of Protestantism itself but rather how Protestantism and other religious options interact with gang culture. For Costa Rica, Millett 1970 offers a broad history of how secular politics and anticlerical sentiment fostered the growth of Protestantism. This article is useful for understanding the external factors and alliances that shaped Protestantism. At the same time that scholars elsewhere in Latin America were focused on explaining Protestant growth, the author of Gómez 1996 began asking whether the movement had reached a plateau or had even begun to decline in Costa Rica. This analysis stands at the forefront of understanding the next phase of Protestantism in Latin America and serves a useful comparison to Bowen 1996 (cited under Mexico).
  272.  
  273. Gómez, Jorge I. El crecimiento y la deserción en la iglesia evangélica costarricense. San José, Costa Rica: Publicaciones IINDEF, 1996.
  274. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  275. An internal theological study probing the reasons behind a numerical decline in Costa Rican Protestant churches in the 1990s.
  276. Find this resource:
  277. Millett, Richard L. “Protestant-Catholic Relations in Costa Rica.” Journal of Church and State 12 (1970): 41–57.
  278. DOI: 10.1093/jcs/12.1.41Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. A historical study of Protestantism in Costa Rica related through the lens of conflict with the majority Catholic Church. Describes the lessening of tensions in the middle to late 19th century as Protestants became an established minority and anticlerical rhetoric diminished in secular politics.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Winn, Wilkins B. Pioneer Protestant Missionaries in Honduras: A. E. Bishop and J. G. Cassel and the Establishment of the Central American Mission in Western Honduras, 1896–1901. Cuernavaca, Mexico: Centro Intercultural de Documentación, 1973.
  282. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  283. Analysis of the ideologies and programs of the first permanent Protestant missionaries to Honduras. Primarily focused on missionaries themselves rather than on the development of Protestantism in the country.
  284. Find this resource:
  285. Wolseth, Jon. Jesus and the Gang: Youth Violence and Christianity in Urban Honduras. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011.
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  287. Anthropological study that investigates how religious institutions mediate between gangs and residents in violent areas of Honduras. Also illustrates how individual youth use religious symbols to create safe identities and to navigate neighborhoods permeated by gang culture.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. The Caribbean
  290.  
  291. Protestantism in the Spanish Caribbean has a unique history compared to other parts of Latin America. In the colonial period, Cuba and Puerto Rico were in close proximity to colonies of northern European nations where Protestantism was the official religion; and, unlike the rest of the region, these two islands fell under the direct influence of the United States after leaving Spanish control. Edmonds and González 2010 is an edited volume that explains both of these contexts clearly and is useful for undergraduate courses. Pantojas García 1976 addresses the US influence in the Caribbean by equating Protestantism to US cultural and political imperialism in Puerto Rico in the early 20th century. Yaremko 2000 and Cepeda 2001 make similar claims for the same period in Cuba, and both works focus almost exclusively on missionary Protestantism. Martínez-Fernández 2002 challenges this neat correlation by tracing the multiple origin points of Protestantism in both Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the author concludes that immigration and native leadership was just as important to Protestant growth as foreign missionaries. Looking at a more recent period, Martínez-Ramírez 2005 notes a new type of relationship between Puerto Rican Protestants and the United States that is not dependent on missionaries. The author argues that local Protestants align their interests with the US mainland in an attempt to guard against the potential alliance of Catholicism and national identity. For Cuba, Corse 2007 explores the relationship between Protestants and the Cuban Revolution and offers one of the most nuanced views of historical Protestant development in the Caribbean. The author treats Protestantism as both missionary and local and offers interesting guidance on how to understand the change of Protestant institutions in a revolutionary context. Although not technically covering Latin America, Austin-Broos 1997 offers important insights into the growth of Pentecostal Christianity among African-descended populations in the Caribbean and offers several observations that are relevant to the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking regions near Jamaica.
  292.  
  293. Austin-Broos, Diane J. Jamaica Genesis: Religion and the Politics of Moral Orders. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
  294. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  295. Examines the multiple sources of Jamaican Pentecostalism with a special focus on the intersection of foreign missionaries’ ideas and African-derived cultural patterns. Argues that Pentecostalism on the island is a locally unique creation that, nonetheless, parallels larger transnational religious developments such as revivalism.
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Cepeda, Rafael. “Los misioneros norteamericanos en Cuba: Visión de los cubanos y las iglesias, 1899–1925.” In Culturas encontradas: Cuba y los Estados Unidos. Edited by Rafael Hernandez and John Coatsworth. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
  298. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  299. Analyzes US missionary views of Cuba in the early 20th century and their contribution to imperial and racial models of interaction.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Corse, Theron Edward. Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-US Bond. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007.
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  303. Historical study of how the Cuban Revolution affected Protestant institutions and denominations in Cuba. Argues that the revolution at first destabilized Protestant churches by evicting missionaries but, over time, strengthened churches by requiring autonomous growth. Also addresses internal Protestant divisions about whether or not to support the revolution.
  304. Find this resource:
  305. Edmonds, Ennis, and Michelle González. Caribbean Religious History: An Introduction. New York: New York University Press, 2010.
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  307. Useful as an undergraduate textbook. Includes two chapters on Protestantism in the Caribbean. Chapter 4 discusses how the English and Dutch used religion to challenge Spanish hegemony in the region. Chapter 7 addresses US missionary presence in the 20th century and the emergence of local, self-directed churches.
  308. Find this resource:
  309. Martínez-Fernández, Luis. Protestantism and Political Conflict in the Nineteenth-Century Hispanic Caribbean. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002.
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  311. Challenges the missionary-directed paradigm of early Protestantism in Latin America. The author traces the establishment of native Protestantism in Puerto Rico and Cuba to multiple origin points, including European immigrants, local emigrants returning from the United States, missionaries, and political dissenters.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Martínez-Ramírez, Héctor M. “Pentecostal Expansion and Political Activism in Puerto Rico.” Caribbean Studies 33.1 (2005): 113–147.
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  315. Charts the historical trajectory of Pentecostals in Puerto Rico and argues that support by Protestants for statehood constitutes an effort to protect themselves against a potential Catholic takeover of discussions of national identity should the island gain complete independence from the United States.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Pantojas García, Emilio. La iglesia protestante y la americanización de Puerto Rico, 1898–1917. Bayamon, Puerto Rico: Prisa, 1976.
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  319. Offers a critical analysis of missionary motives and argues that Protestant missionaries intentionally attempted to “de-Hispanicize” Puerto Rico in order to increase US control.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. Yaremko, Jason M. US Protestant Missions in Cuba: From Independence to Castro. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000.
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  323. A missionary-centered history of the spread of Protestantism in Cuba in the early 20th century. Discusses Protestant expansion relative to US interests and programs on the island.
  324. Find this resource:
  325. Brazil
  326.  
  327. Along with Guatemala, Brazil is one of the two most studied national contexts for Protestantism in Latin America. Fernandes, et al. 1998 offers the most comprehensive statistical description of Protestantism in Latin America and is useful as a primary source for classroom research assignments. Willems 1967 is a canonical study of Protestantism in Latin America that established much of the vocabulary scholars still use to describe the motivations for conversion. Mariz 1994 and Chesnut 1997 update this sociological conversation about conversion in examining poverty and healing, respectively, as factors in religious decision making. Both studies are helpful monographs for introducing the subject to advanced undergraduate students. Alves 1985 critiques Brazilian Protestantism for disengaging from social issues, and this work can be used in conjunction with Mariz 1994 and Chesnut 1997 to create a framework for questioning how scholars limit the definition of social engagement. Neo-Pentecostalism dominates much of the recent literature about Brazilian Protestantism. Freston 1999 defines this movement and explains its relevance in Brazilian society. Birman and Lehmann 1999 examines the important relationship between Neo-Pentecostalism and the media, and this easily accessible article is a useful resource for explaining the methods behind recent Neo-Pentecostal growth. This article will be useful for either undergraduate or graduate students. The essays in Oro, et al. 2003 look specifically at the largest Neo-Pentecostal denomination in Brazil and how it has shaped national society.
  328.  
  329. Alves, Rubem A. Protestantism and Repression: A Brazilian Case Study. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1985.
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  331. Originally published in Portuguese in 1979. Theological study written from a Catholic perspective that characterizes Brazilian Protestantism as intolerant and unengaged with social issues. An important text for describing the historical precedents from which both Protestantism and literature about Protestantism began to diverge in the late 20th century.
  332. Find this resource:
  333. Birman, P., and D. Lehmann. “Religion and the Media in a Battle for Ideological Hegemony: The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and TV Globo in Brazil.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 18.2 (1999): 145–164.
  334. DOI: 10.1111/j.1470-9856.1999.tb00080.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  335. Discusses how Brazil’s largest Pentecostal denomination has changed the country’s religious landscape by building a media empire. Analyzes how the denomination’s tactics have upended traditional social norms and examines the responses of groups such as the Catholic Church, the legal profession, and secular media companies.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. Chesnut, R. Andrew. Born again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.
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  339. Ethnographic study that explains Brazilian Pentecostalism as an alternative form of healing for poor people with no viable alternatives. Also includes two chapters discussing the institutionalization of Pentecostalism and its entrance into national politics.
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Fernandes, Rubem Cesar, Pierre Sanchis, Otavio Guilherme Velho, Leandro Picquet Carneiro, Cecilia Mariz, and Clara Mafra. Novo nascimento: Os evangélicos em casa, na igreja e na política. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Mauad, 1998.
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  343. Detailed statistical report of Protestants in Rio de Janeiro based on surveys conducted by Brazil’s well-regarded Instituto de Estudos Superiores de Religião (ISER). Offers measures of commitment, gender roles, socioeconomic status, political involvement, and lifestyle choices.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Freston, Paul. “‘Neo-Pentecostalism’ in Brazil: Problems of Definition and the Struggle for Hegemony.” Archives de sciences sociales des religions 44.105 (1999): 145–162.
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  347. Analyzes the fragmented nature of Brazilian Pentecostalism and the attempts by the large Universal Church of the Kingdom of God to exert control over smaller organizations. Makes a strong statement about the lack of existing historical research and the limiting effect this has on sociological studies.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Mariz, Cecília Loreto. Coping with Poverty: Pentecostals and Christian Base Communities in Brazil. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994.
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  351. Sociological study that characterizes Pentecostalism as a rationalizing tool of the poor that is successful because it provides endurance, not because it provides upward mobility. Compares the theological coping mechanisms provided by Afro-Brazilian religions, Catholic Base Communities, and Pentecostalism.
  352. Find this resource:
  353. Oro, Ari Pedro, André Corten, and Jean-Pierre Dozon, eds. Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus: Os novos conquistadores da fé. São Paulo, Brazil: Paulinas, 2003.
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  355. Essays investigate several theological, social, and cultural aspects of Brazil’s largest Pentecostal denomination, including its relationship to politics, its use of media, and its international expansion.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. Willems, Emílio. Followers of the New Faith: Cultural Change and the Rise of Protestantism in Brazil and Chile. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1967.
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  359. Along with Lalive d’Epinay 1969 (cited under Chile), one of two pioneering studies of Protestantism in Latin America. This sociological investigation connects Protestant growth to periods of intense social change and argues that conversion is an extreme form of social protest that allows individuals to maintain some level of control over their lives.
  360. Find this resource:
  361. Spanish South America
  362.  
  363. It is difficult to treat Spanish South America as a single unit when discussing Protestantism. In some areas, such as Chile, Protestants have a long and rich history, but in others, such as Peru and Uruguay, Protestants have had a difficult time establishing churches. In addition, the various streams of Protestantism in Spanish South America have not interacted and integrated as they have elsewhere. Many large foreign missionary organizations isolate themselves on compounds in rural, indigenous areas and do not partner with national Protestant denominations. Also, several enclave communities of European Protestant migrants exist throughout Spanish South America and purposefully separate themselves from the larger society.
  364.  
  365. Chile
  366.  
  367. Historians consider Chilean Protestants to be the first in Latin America to separate from missionary institutions and to form their own national organizations. National Protestantism in Chile dates back to the first two decades of the 20th century. Kessler 1967 offers the earliest scholarly study of these developments and of the factors that caused division between foreign missionaries and local Protestants. In a canonical sociological work on Latin American Protestantism, Lalive d’Epinay 1969 explains these developments in terms of broader trends toward modernization. Lalive d’Epinay’s theoretical foundation remains influential in many studies of Protestantism across Latin America. Parker Gumucio 1987 adds a historical political explanation of Pentecostalism’s emergence and demonstrates that national Protestantism was only one of several religious movements to emerge during Chile’s liberal period. Sepúlveda 1996 offers the strongest challenge to Lalive d’Epinay’s social model and ties Pentecostalism to local popular culture rather than to global social change. As with many studies of Protestantism in Central America, the relationship between Protestants and Cold War politics is also central to the literature on Chile. Tennekes 1978 finds that Protestants were divided between right-wing leaders and left-wing congregants in the 1970s. However, Steigenga and Coleman 1995 concludes that the internal differences in Chilean Protestant political alignment derive primarily from class divisions. Patterson 2004 enters this conversation with yet another variable, “devoutness,” and the author claims that this factor explains political alignment across the religious spectrum. A highly theoretical work, Kamsteeg 1998 also addresses political involvement but not in an attempt to classify as scholars in other works have done. Instead, the author differentiates between stated beliefs and actual practices among Pentecostals to demonstrate the complexity within the movement’s political actions.
  368.  
  369. Kamsteeg, Frans. Prophetic Pentecostalism in Chile: A Case Study on Religion and Development Policy. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1998.
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  371. Anthropological study of a small Pentecostal group that challenges growth-oriented narratives of Protestantism. Investigates the relationship between agency and structure by examining how daily life affects Protestant beliefs. Claims that Pentecostal practice may not match publicly declared beliefs and that for some Chilean Protestants social engagement trumps numerical growth.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Kessler, Juan B. A. A Study of the Older Protestant Missions and Churches in Peru and Chile: With Special Reference to the Problems of Division, Nationalism and Native Ministry. Goes, The Netherlands: Oosterbaan & Le Cointre, 1967.
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  375. Historical analysis of the development of missionary Protestantism in Chile and Peru from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries. Primarily descriptive use of archival material coupled with prescriptive conclusions that move into theological analysis. Identifies the early shifts toward local diversity in Latin American Protestantism.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Lalive d’Epinay, Christian. Haven of the Masses: A Study of the Pentecostal Movement in Chile. London: Lutterworth, 1969.
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  379. Originally published in Spanish in 1968. Along with Willems 1967 (cited under Brazil), one of two pioneering studies of Protestantism in Latin America. This ethnographic work connects Protestant growth to social anomie created by modernization. Unlike Willems, Lalive d’Epinay argues that Protestantism represents a retreat from change and an attempt to reproduce patron-client hierarchies.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Parker Gumucio, Cristián. “Anticlericalismo y religión popular en Chile, 1900–1920.” Revista Mexicana de Sociologia 49.3 (1987): 185–204.
  382. DOI: 10.2307/3540482Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  383. Examines the effects of anticlericalism during Liberal rule on the emergence of popular protest religions in Chile. Includes a section on the creation of popular Pentecostalism in this period.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. Patterson, Eric. “Different Religions, Different Politics? Religion and Political Attitudes in Argentina and Chile.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43.3 (2004): 345–362.
  386. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2004.00239.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  387. Uses survey data and statistical analysis to argue that devoutness is a better predictor than affiliation when examining the relationships between religion and support for democratic political policies. Finds that Protestants are, on average, more devout than Catholics in Chile and Argentina.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. Sepúlveda, Juan. “Reinterpreting Chilean Pentecostalism.” Social Compass 43.3 (1996): 299–318.
  390. DOI: 10.1177/003776896043003002Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391. Challenges traditional assumptions that Pentecostalism constitutes a social response to the modernization process and instead characterizes it as an expression of local popular religion.
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Steigenga, Timothy J., and Kenneth M. Coleman. “Protestant Political Orientations and the Structure of Political Opportunity: Chile, 1972–1991.” Polity 27.3 (1995): 465–482.
  394. DOI: 10.2307/3235008Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  395. Uses survey data from 1972 and 1991 to demonstrate that external factors drive Protestant political affiliation more than internal theologies do. The authors conclude that Protestants in different social classes may respond differently to political openness or authoritarianism. Challenges the findings in Tennekes 1978.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Tennekes, Johanne. “Le mouvement pentecôtiste chilien et la politique.” Social Compass 25.1 (1978): 55–80.
  398. DOI: 10.1177/003776867802500106Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  399. Uses 1971 survey data to argue that Pentecostal leaders support conservative political positions while the majority of adherents align more closely with the left.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Rio de la Plata (Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay)
  402.  
  403. The Rio de la Plata region is one of the least Protestant areas in Latin America. Because Protestantism is not as large or influential in this region as it is in places such as Central America and Brazil, studies of the religion in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay tend to focus on specific cases rather than on broad historical, social, or cultural trends. In Argentina, Tort, et al. 1993 examines a single Pentecostal church in order to explain exceptions to secularization theory. The essays in Frigerio 1994 make some larger connections to Argentine culture but generally reinforce the minority status of Protestants, and Míguez 1998 argues that Pentecostalism has an inherently limited appeal in the country. Scholars who do examine bigger questions in this context have focused on issues of religious liberty and Catholic-Protestant relations, both of which also take for granted the marginality of Protestants in this society. Míguez Bonino 1999 traces the ups and downs of how legislation has affected Protestants while Marostica 2000 examines how Argentine pastors have used their minority status as a tool for motivating members. In Uruguay, scholarship has focused almost entirely on foreign expressions of Protestantism. The most common of these is found in enclave communities. Geymonat 2008 traces the history of Waldensian refugees from Europe, who began one of the oldest continually operating Protestant communities in Latin America. Nobbs-Thiesen 2010 focuses on Mennonites, who also have a long history in the region, and investigates how these groups have separated themselves not only from surrounding Uruguayan society but also from global Mennonite communities. A more contemporary foreign Protestant interloper in Uruguay comes from nearby Brazil, from which Neo-Pentecostal churches have arrived not to establish cloistered communities but rather to influence Uruguayan culture. Guigou 1993 examines the way that these churches use money as a tool for expansion in Uruguay.
  404.  
  405. Frigerio, Alejandro, ed. El Pentecostalismo en la Argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Centro Editor de America Latina, 1994.
  406. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407. Collection of anthropological essays analyzing the place of Pentecostalism in Argentine society, including economic networks, relationships to other religious options, and involvement in politics.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Geymonat, Roger. El templo y la escuela: Los valdenses en el Río de la Plata. Montevideo, Uruguay: Planeta, 2008.
  410. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  411. Historical study of patterns of immigrant European Protestantism from the Alps to Uruguay in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Discusses how these communities gradually interacted with, and began to influence, the broader society.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Guigou, L. Nicolás. “El dinero en el proceso de integración y desarrollo de las iglesias pentecostales brasileñas en el Uruguay.” Sociedad y Religión 10–11 (1993): 136–145.
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  415. Analyzes the prominent role of money in Brazilian Pentecostal churches that establish congregations in neighboring Uruguay. Characterizes money as both a liturgical tool and a way to mark social value.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Marostica, Matthew. “La nueva política evangélica: El movimiento evangélico y el complot Católico en la Argentina.” Ciencias Sociales y Religion 2 (September 2000): 11–30.
  418. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  419. Analyzes the use of media by Protestant pastors to promote the idea of a national Catholic conspiracy against Protestants. Argues that religious leaders perpetuate this tactic to mobilize members for political action.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Míguez, Daniel. Spiritual Bonfire in Argentina: Confronting Current Theories with an Ethnographic Account of Pentecostal Growth in a Buenos Aires Suburb. Amsterdam: CEDLA, 1998.
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  423. Examines the roles and public perceptions of Pentecostals in urban Buenos Aires, an area where there have not been a significant number of conversions. Concludes that the ambiguous social roles of Pentecostals limit their appeal and ultimately will limit their growth in the region.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. Míguez Bonino, José. “Argentina.” In Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America: The Challenge of Religious Pluralism. Edited by Paul Sigmund, 187–203. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1999.
  426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427. Historical analysis of immigrant and missionary Protestantisms and how Argentine laws affected their development.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Nobbs-Thiesen, Ben. “Mennonites in Unexpected Places: Sociologist and Settler in Latin America.” Journal of Mennonite Studies 28 (2010): 203–224.
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  431. Examines 20th-century attempts by Mennonite sociologists in the United States to build transnational relationships with Mennonite settlers in Paraguay and Mexico. Discusses the effects of diaspora and seclusion of European and North American immigrant Protestants in Latin America.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Tort, María Isabel, Abelardo Jorge Soneira, and L. Pessina. El pentecostalismo en la Argentina: Un estudio de caso, el Ministerio Ondas de Amor y Paz del pastor H. A. Giménez. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Universidad del Salvador, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales, 1993.
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  435. Sociological study of a single church in Argentina that seeks to explain in detail what theologies and practices define Pentecostalism. Reflects on the ways in which Pentecostal growth challenges secularization theory.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. The Andes (Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia)
  438.  
  439. Unlike most other areas of Latin America, the literature on Protestantism in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia focuses primarily on foreigners rather than on local Protestants. Gold 1970 investigates the religious ramifications of foreign Protestant diplomats arriving in Latin America in the 1800s, and it is one of the only studies to address this question in the region. Bamat 1986 takes a polemical approach and denounces Protestants in Ecuador as agents of imperialism in the 20th century. Goffin 1994 makes the same argument and strikes a similar tone, but the author musters more evidence for his argument that Protestantism is an invasive ideology in the Ecuadoran context. Swanson 1995 also focuses exclusively on missionaries in Ecuador, but the author does not make as strong a value judgment as in Bamat 1986 and Goffin 1994. Instead, he explains why foreign missionaries chose to sequester themselves and not to adapt to local cultures. For Peru, Fonseca Ariza 2002 also focuses on foreign missionaries, but the author argues that their connection to local social institutions was stronger than scholars previously realized and that they had outsized effects on the country considering their paltry numbers. Beyond studies of foreigners, scholars of the Andes have investigated how marginalized populations use Protestantism as a social tool. Gill 1990 examines conversions to Protestantism among indigenous women migrating to La Paz, Bolivia. Canessa 2000 studies Protestantism as a tool for resisting national identity programs in indigenous areas of Bolivia, and Gamarra 2000 argues that Protestantism offers a haven from state-sponsored violence. Although their subjects vary greatly, these three authors share a supposition that Protestant conversion is a product of social dislocation.
  440.  
  441. Bamat, Tomás. Salvación o dominación? Las sectas religiosas en el Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador: Editorial El Conejo, 1986.
  442. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  443. Critical evaluation of two Protestant missionary groups in Ecuador in the middle to late 20th century. Questions the motives and social effects of foreign Protestants in a Catholic region.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Canessa, Andrew. “Contesting Hybridity: Evangelistas and Kataristas in Highland Bolivia.” Journal of Latin American Studies 32.1 (2000): 115–144.
  446. DOI: 10.1017/S0022216X99005489Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  447. Comparative analysis of Protestantism and indigenist movements in Bolivia. Argues that despite their differences and sometimes open conflict, these two movements draw their adherents from the same social groups and represent different faces of a common effort to challenge centralized national identities built through hybridity.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Fonseca Ariza, Juan. Misioneros y civilizadores: Protestantismo y modernización en el Perú, 1915–1930. Lima, Peru: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2002.
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451. A historical study of foreign missionary programs in Peru under Liberal rule from a local perspective. Analyzes the parallel modernizing interests of missionaries and the national government and discusses the failure of both to penetrate indigenous communities. Also demonstrates the significant influence Protestants had on national educational models despite low conversion rates.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Gamarra, Jefrey. “Conflict, Post-Conflict and Religion: Andean Responses to New Religious Movements.” Journal of Southern African Studies 26.2 (2000): 271–287.
  454. DOI: 10.1080/03057070050010110Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  455. Discusses how Peruvian peasants used Protestantism as a tool to order their lives during the intense social turmoil caused by state-sponsored violence from 1980 to 1992. Argues that acute conflict encouraged rapid expansion of Protestantism in areas where it was previously peripheral. Also contends that after the conflict, adherence diminished.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Gill, Lesley. “‘Like a Veil to Cover Them’: Women and the Pentecostal Movement in La Paz.” American Ethnologist 17.4 (1990): 708–721.
  458. DOI: 10.1525/ae.1990.17.4.02a00060Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  459. Examines why Aymara women migrants to Bolivia’s capital city convert to Pentecostalism. Argues against models of economic development or advancement and instead posits that Pentecostalism provides a refuge from social change and an opportunity to reinterpret past injustices.
  460. Find this resource:
  461. Goffin, Alvin M. The Rise of Protestant Evangelism in Ecuador, 1895–1990. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1994.
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  463. Historical study connecting Protestantism to foreign imperialism and the undermining of indigenous culture. One of the few recent works to maintain the traditional rhetoric of Protestantism as a primarily external and invasive ideology. Focuses mainly on late-20th-century missionary organizations.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Gold, Robert L. “Problems of Protestantism in Ecuador, 1866–1873.” Journal of Church and State 12.1 (1970): 59–77.
  466. DOI: 10.1093/jcs/12.1.59Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  467. Discusses the effects that conservative policies establishing Catholicism as a religious monopoly had on diplomats and businessmen from Protestant countries in the 19th century. One of the few studies to address the social realities of foreign Protestant residents of Latin America prior to the arrival of missionaries.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Swanson, Jeffrey. Echoes of the Call: Identity and Ideology among American Missionaries in Ecuador. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
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  471. Sociological study of the life of US missionaries in Ecuador. Using his unique position as the son of missionaries, the author offers insight into how foreign Protestants approach the evangelization process and the extent to which they are connected to, or disconnected from, the surrounding society and culture.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. The Northern Coast (Colombia and Venezuela)
  474.  
  475. Although a large body of literature on Protestantism in Colombia and Venezuela does not exist, the few publications that do address this region are particularly well regarded. Flora 1975 is a pioneering study of gender and Protestantism that challenges assumptions made by scholars in works such as Lalive d’Epinay 1969 (cited under Chile) about how the religion reinforced traditional hierarchies. Flora 1976 follows with a detailed statistical portrait of conversion in Colombia. Brusco 1995 carries forward the conversation about Protestantism and gender in one of the most creative and engaging monographs on the subject of Protestantism in Latin America. This work is useful for undergraduate and graduate students. Bomann 1999 may be faulted for its lack of critical evaluation, but it offers one of the most detailed accounts of daily life for Pentecostals in Latin America. Smilde 2007 is a more traditional anthropological account of Protestantism, but it offers significant challenges to material explanations of conversion and presents a framework that incorporates spiritual motivations.
  476.  
  477. Bomann, Rebecca Pierce. Faith in the Barrios: The Pentecostal Poor in Bogotá. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1999.
  478. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  479. Participant-observation study by a sympathetic researcher. Provides one of the most in-depth accounts of day-to-day spirituality of a Pentecostal community and offers a strong counterpoint to the common focus in the literature on social causes of conversion.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Brusco, Elizabeth E. The Reformation of Machismo: Evangelical Conversion and Gender in Colombia. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995.
  482. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  483. Anthropological study that characterizes Protestantism as “a strategic women’s movement” that challenges machismo culture and attempts to replace it with a family-first ethos. Easily accessible book that offers some of the most concrete examples of the social effects of Protestant conversion.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Flora, Cornelia Butler. “Pentecostal Women in Colombia: Religious Change and the Status of Working-Class Women.” Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs 17.4 (1975): 411–425.
  486. DOI: 10.2307/174951Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  487. An early analysis of the relationship between Protestantism and gender in Latin America. Compares gender views in Catholic and Pentecostal congregations. Argues that Pentecostal theology offers new avenues for egalitarianism and increases women’s access to leadership roles. Also notes the limits of these changes.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Flora, Cornelia Butler. Pentecostalism in Colombia: Baptism by Fire and Spirit. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1976.
  490. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  491. One of the earliest sociological studies of South American Protestantism outside of its historical centers in Brazil and Chile. Relies heavily on statistics and top-level data to show the relationship between social change and conversion.
  492. Find this resource:
  493. Smilde, David. Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
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  495. Anthropological study of the motives behind Protestant conversions in Venezuela. Argues that material explanations are not sufficient and posits that Protestantism promises individual reform, which in turn encourages belief. Offers a theoretical framework similar to Míguez 1998 (cited under Rio de la Plata (Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay)) and Kamsteeg 1998 (cited under Chile) that combines individual agency with structural limitations.
  496. Find this resource:
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