Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty

Abstract

An exciting and provocative book! Without sensationalizing, Chesnut brings us to an understanding of the spiritual and emotional profundity of conversion. --Virginia Garrard-Burnett, Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, Austin An engaging case study of one of the most successful Pentecostal bodies in Latin America. Importantly, it focuses on what most Latin American Pentecostals do--personal healing. --David Stoll, author of Is Latin America Turning Protestant? For vivid insight, lively narrative, and persuasive use of life histories, this is a major piece of ethnography. --David Martin, University of London A spiritual revolution is transforming the religious landscape of Latin America. Evangelical Protestantism, particularly Pentecostalism, has replaced Catholicism as the leading religion in thousands of barrios on the urban periphery. But in few Latin American nations have Protestants multiplied as rapidly as Brazil. What accounts for this rise? Combining historical, political, and ethnographic research, R. Andrew Chesnut shows that the relationship between faith healing and illness in the conversion process is integral to the popularity of Pentecostalism among Brazil's poor. He augments his analysis of the economic and political factors with extensive interview material to capture his informants' conversion experience. In doing so, he presents both a historical framework for a broad understanding of Pentecostalism in Latin America and insight into the personal motivations and beliefs of the crentes themselves. R. Andrew Chesnut is an assitant professor in the department of history at the Universit of Houston.