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Conversion of a Continent: Contemporary Religious Change in Latin America
A massive religious transformation has unfolded over the past forty years in Latin America and the Caribbean. In a region where the Catholic Church could once claim a near monopoly of adherents, religious pluralism has fundamentally altered the social and religious landscape.
Conversion of a Continent brings together twelve original essays that document and explore competing explanations for how and why conversion has occurred. Contributors draw on various insights from social movement theory to religious studies to help outline its impact on national attitudes and activities, gender relations, identity politics, and reverse waves of missions from Latin America aimed at the American immigrant community.
Unlike other studies on religious conversion, this volume pays close attention to who converts, under what circumstances, the meaning of conversion to the individual, and how the change affects converts’ beliefs and actions. The thematic focus makes this volume important to students and scholars in both religious studies and Latin American studies.
Conversion of a Continent brings together twelve original essays that document and explore competing explanations for how and why conversion has occurred. Contributors draw on various insights from social movement theory to religious studies to help outline its impact on national attitudes and activities, gender relations, identity politics, and reverse waves of missions from Latin America aimed at the American immigrant community.
Unlike other studies on religious conversion, this volume pays close attention to who converts, under what circumstances, the meaning of conversion to the individual, and how the change affects converts’ beliefs and actions. The thematic focus makes this volume important to students and scholars in both religious studies and Latin American studies.
298 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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July 26, 2022
This collection of 13 essays explores both theory and case studies to religion in Latin America, adding a lot of new and intriguing ideas.
The first 5 chapters focus on theory.
Chapter 1: Understanding Conversion in the Americas.
Conversion is not JUST Catholic to Pentecostal – it also involves Catholicism, African diaspora religions, and even Amerindian religions. It also is not a one-time act, but can involve distinct stages of pre-affiliation, affiliation, conversion, confession, and possibly dis-affiliation/recidivism. Unlike popular understanding, most Pentecostals were born into their church rather than converting, and many people across all religions experiment with a different faith expression at some point in their lives.
Conversion can be understood as part of a religious economy shift from monopoly to free market. On the supply side, the Catholic Church shifted from being a state-enforced religion in the 19th century to losing this support in the 20th century. Combined with priest shortages, over-centralization, and ignoring large swathes of society, the 20th century opened up a large market on the supply-side for new religious expressions. On the demand side, many people are moved to convert based on particular life circumstances.
The most important new concept here is that the demand is elastic – not everyone wants the same thing out of religion, or even wants a religion at all. Particular events, networks, personalities, and institutions need to synergize for a religious group to gain a convert.
Chapter 2: Analyzing Conversion in Latin America
This chapter contrasts conversion studies between Brazilian and Argentinian scholars.
Brazilian scholars often de-emphasize conversion, making such arguments as Brazil is a syncretistic country where people routinely pass from one expression to another, that many people do minimal conversion and do not change their views, and that both dual and multiple membership is common. Unfortunately, the data does not agree with them – when actually analyzing conversions, Brazilians do not freely flit between all religions, but rather there are particular trajectories. (For example – it is common for Pentecostals and Catholics to flip back and forth, but Spiritualists basically never become Pentecostal).
The author’s theory is that this is because 1) Brazilian religious scholars take a very Pauline approach to conversion where if the conversion is not radical and dramatic it doesn’t count; 2) Brazilian scholars rely on one-off interviews rather than actually observing converts over a period of time; 3) Brazilian scholars buy into a particular view of national identity that Brazil is a mixed and syncretic nation, so they discount people forming their own communities.
The Argentinian scholars showed up briefly, mostly by way of contrast in that they recognize conversion.
Chapter 3: Conversion Careers
What factors cause a person to become religiously active? The author can think of 5: personality, social relations, institutions, cultural factors, and contingency (i.e. some initiating event). This is the author that presents the schema of pre-affiliation, affiliation, conversion, confession (deeply involved and missionary), and possible dis-affiliation/recidivism. The author then explains that conversion usually involves a confluence of factors: the initiating contingent event, the right social network to bring people in, and the right institution to receive and retain them. The author than analyzes many conversion careers to show how these succeeded or failed.
Chapter 4: Free Market of Faith
This is my personal favorite chapter because it explores the religious economy model, which I think is brilliant and explains everything. This model does NOT explain the micro level of what individual specifically converts, why specifically they convert, or what specifically they convert to. But it can serve as a macro model for understanding the broad picture of religious change.
A monopoly model is characterized by 3 elements: the church curries favors with the state, the church has zero incentive to provide a good product, and the church causes large amounts of nominal or non-practicing members. All of this could be seen in Latin America – in the early 20th century the Church attendance rate was around 15%, and there were massive priest shortages due to a lack of vocations. Just as with a monopoly for physical goods, consumers have 3 options: they can consume the dubious official product, they can consume nothing and not practice religion, or they can adulterate the product with indigenous religion, folk magic, etc.
A free market system is much more vibrant because there is a mutual interchange between producers and consumers: new producers emerge to meet the diverse consumer demands even as consumers in turn propagate or spurn different producers. There is a constant pressure to improve the produce or reach more consumers, which leads to bureaucracy, marketing, individual and group problem solving, and better organization in general. Additionally, free market promotes specialization.
The major change in Latin America is that a religious monopoly was replaced with a free market. What is interesting in Latin America is the historical changes that prompted this shift – especially the development of Pentecostal Christianity. The countries that first started to have Pentecostal growth (Central America, Brazil, Chile) are also the first to experience both Catholic CEBs and Catholic Charismatics. These countries also had Catholic bishops that famously opposed dictatorships and supported human rights – effectively a member retention strategy. In contrast, countries with minimal Pentecostal populations such as Mexico or Argentina showed less shifts and later shifts, and often did not speak out against authoritarian governments.
As a result, some faiths are winners (Pentecostalism, African religions, and Charismatic Catholicism) and some are losers (Historical Protestants, traditional Catholicism). What all of the former have in common is that they are spirit-focused religions with some faith healing component. Additionally they each offer a specialized experience. Pentecostalism focuses on being born again and making a radical break with the past, Charismatic Catholicism focuses on the Eucharist and Mary and emphasizes community reform and continuity, and African religions offer amoral spirit figures that can do work that Christian figures cannot do.
Chapter 5: Relational Analysis
This uses a case study of Venezuelan converts to explore how social networks shape conversion experiences.
The next 8 chapters apply theory to specific conversion varieties.
Chapter 6: Afro-Brazilian to Pentecostal
This focuses on people who converted from African diaspora religions to Pentecostalism in Brazil. The Pentecostal church focuses especially on spiritual warfare and exorcism of those African spirit figures, with exorcists even talking to the spirits by name. The irony is that in many ways the conversion keeps the previous worldview but shifts the value judgment, because people still believe in witchcraft and African spirit entities.
Chapter 7: Conversion to Afro-Brazilian Religion
This chapter focuses on how the Afro-Brazilian practioners need to slowly ease interested people into their religion, because jumping in with animal sacrifice and trance dance would come on a bit strong.
Chapter 8: Catholic Charismatic Renewal
CCR encourages people to confess their sins, improve their lives, and be open to the indwelling of the spirit – and also sometimes faith healing. Despite the original pushback from bishops who were horrified at speaking in tongues and faith healing, CCR is now widely approved among the bishops and the Vatican. This is perhaps because CCR supports the Church in many ways – spiritual revival, increase in vocations and in lay workers, reinforcing Catholic identity especially among cultural Catholics, increasing confidence in the Church, engaging pop culture and media, training Catholics to donate and give tithes, and actively evangelizing people.
CCR especially focuses on conversion – a change of life – and on faith healing. Despite this, the movement does distinguish itself from Protestantism in such was as emphasizing the sacraments, the Eucharist, and Mary; diving into the mystical tradition of the ancient and medieval Church; and quickly discontinuing speaking in tongues.
Chapter 9: Conversion to Native Spirituality in the Andes
The irony is that the neo-Andean religions actually end up suppressing local traditions by trying to create a pan-Andean spirituality that incorporates elements from US Native religion.
Chapter 10: Chiapas
This chapter focuses on “Word of God” Catholics, a movement that emphasizes gender equality in the home, banning alcohol, reading the Bible, and trying to reform the community in love/justice. A major issue in Chiapas is that most villages are controlled by a traditional power structure linked to local caciques and national parties. Thus, a change in religion challenges authority and Traditional Catholics persecute both Word of God Catholics and Pentecostals.
Chapter 11: Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios
This chapter focuses especially on the history and nature of Prosperity Theology (p. 221 – 223), which despite being a brief few pages is very clear and well-sources. Additionally, the author explores how IURD works in the US: they focus on Latin American immigrants (especially Afro-Latinos) and emphasize media, a distinct style of preaching, and prosperity theology.
Chapter 12: Social Change in Bolivia
Bolivian Pentecostals work to fight corruption and present a positive, hopeful, and compassionate vision for Bolivia.
Chapter 13: Pentecostalization of Guatemala
The most important point is on Page 265: religious belief can be more important than religious affiliation.
The author explores the spread of Pentecostal beliefs and practices – biblical literalism, speaking in tongues, millenarianism, etc. – across not only Pentecostals but also Catholics, Historical Protestants, and the unaffiliated. Turns out – a lot of people hold Pentecostal beliefs!
A secondary exploration was politics. It turns out that Pentecostal BELIEFS (not just Pentecostals in name, but people who subscribe to those beliefs) correlate with very dim views towards the poor. In terms of actual politics Pentecostals eschew actual political organizing and emphasize obedience to government. However, they vote at the same rate as other Guatemalans and are not noticeably more conservative in terms of party votes.
This was a great book, I really liked how clear the theory was and how well each author referenced and incorporated each other’s work. This means that the book is both an anthology with diverse writing styles while also remaining conceptually unified.
The first 5 chapters focus on theory.
Chapter 1: Understanding Conversion in the Americas.
Conversion is not JUST Catholic to Pentecostal – it also involves Catholicism, African diaspora religions, and even Amerindian religions. It also is not a one-time act, but can involve distinct stages of pre-affiliation, affiliation, conversion, confession, and possibly dis-affiliation/recidivism. Unlike popular understanding, most Pentecostals were born into their church rather than converting, and many people across all religions experiment with a different faith expression at some point in their lives.
Conversion can be understood as part of a religious economy shift from monopoly to free market. On the supply side, the Catholic Church shifted from being a state-enforced religion in the 19th century to losing this support in the 20th century. Combined with priest shortages, over-centralization, and ignoring large swathes of society, the 20th century opened up a large market on the supply-side for new religious expressions. On the demand side, many people are moved to convert based on particular life circumstances.
The most important new concept here is that the demand is elastic – not everyone wants the same thing out of religion, or even wants a religion at all. Particular events, networks, personalities, and institutions need to synergize for a religious group to gain a convert.
Chapter 2: Analyzing Conversion in Latin America
This chapter contrasts conversion studies between Brazilian and Argentinian scholars.
Brazilian scholars often de-emphasize conversion, making such arguments as Brazil is a syncretistic country where people routinely pass from one expression to another, that many people do minimal conversion and do not change their views, and that both dual and multiple membership is common. Unfortunately, the data does not agree with them – when actually analyzing conversions, Brazilians do not freely flit between all religions, but rather there are particular trajectories. (For example – it is common for Pentecostals and Catholics to flip back and forth, but Spiritualists basically never become Pentecostal).
The author’s theory is that this is because 1) Brazilian religious scholars take a very Pauline approach to conversion where if the conversion is not radical and dramatic it doesn’t count; 2) Brazilian scholars rely on one-off interviews rather than actually observing converts over a period of time; 3) Brazilian scholars buy into a particular view of national identity that Brazil is a mixed and syncretic nation, so they discount people forming their own communities.
The Argentinian scholars showed up briefly, mostly by way of contrast in that they recognize conversion.
Chapter 3: Conversion Careers
What factors cause a person to become religiously active? The author can think of 5: personality, social relations, institutions, cultural factors, and contingency (i.e. some initiating event). This is the author that presents the schema of pre-affiliation, affiliation, conversion, confession (deeply involved and missionary), and possible dis-affiliation/recidivism. The author then explains that conversion usually involves a confluence of factors: the initiating contingent event, the right social network to bring people in, and the right institution to receive and retain them. The author than analyzes many conversion careers to show how these succeeded or failed.
Chapter 4: Free Market of Faith
This is my personal favorite chapter because it explores the religious economy model, which I think is brilliant and explains everything. This model does NOT explain the micro level of what individual specifically converts, why specifically they convert, or what specifically they convert to. But it can serve as a macro model for understanding the broad picture of religious change.
A monopoly model is characterized by 3 elements: the church curries favors with the state, the church has zero incentive to provide a good product, and the church causes large amounts of nominal or non-practicing members. All of this could be seen in Latin America – in the early 20th century the Church attendance rate was around 15%, and there were massive priest shortages due to a lack of vocations. Just as with a monopoly for physical goods, consumers have 3 options: they can consume the dubious official product, they can consume nothing and not practice religion, or they can adulterate the product with indigenous religion, folk magic, etc.
A free market system is much more vibrant because there is a mutual interchange between producers and consumers: new producers emerge to meet the diverse consumer demands even as consumers in turn propagate or spurn different producers. There is a constant pressure to improve the produce or reach more consumers, which leads to bureaucracy, marketing, individual and group problem solving, and better organization in general. Additionally, free market promotes specialization.
The major change in Latin America is that a religious monopoly was replaced with a free market. What is interesting in Latin America is the historical changes that prompted this shift – especially the development of Pentecostal Christianity. The countries that first started to have Pentecostal growth (Central America, Brazil, Chile) are also the first to experience both Catholic CEBs and Catholic Charismatics. These countries also had Catholic bishops that famously opposed dictatorships and supported human rights – effectively a member retention strategy. In contrast, countries with minimal Pentecostal populations such as Mexico or Argentina showed less shifts and later shifts, and often did not speak out against authoritarian governments.
As a result, some faiths are winners (Pentecostalism, African religions, and Charismatic Catholicism) and some are losers (Historical Protestants, traditional Catholicism). What all of the former have in common is that they are spirit-focused religions with some faith healing component. Additionally they each offer a specialized experience. Pentecostalism focuses on being born again and making a radical break with the past, Charismatic Catholicism focuses on the Eucharist and Mary and emphasizes community reform and continuity, and African religions offer amoral spirit figures that can do work that Christian figures cannot do.
Chapter 5: Relational Analysis
This uses a case study of Venezuelan converts to explore how social networks shape conversion experiences.
The next 8 chapters apply theory to specific conversion varieties.
Chapter 6: Afro-Brazilian to Pentecostal
This focuses on people who converted from African diaspora religions to Pentecostalism in Brazil. The Pentecostal church focuses especially on spiritual warfare and exorcism of those African spirit figures, with exorcists even talking to the spirits by name. The irony is that in many ways the conversion keeps the previous worldview but shifts the value judgment, because people still believe in witchcraft and African spirit entities.
Chapter 7: Conversion to Afro-Brazilian Religion
This chapter focuses on how the Afro-Brazilian practioners need to slowly ease interested people into their religion, because jumping in with animal sacrifice and trance dance would come on a bit strong.
Chapter 8: Catholic Charismatic Renewal
CCR encourages people to confess their sins, improve their lives, and be open to the indwelling of the spirit – and also sometimes faith healing. Despite the original pushback from bishops who were horrified at speaking in tongues and faith healing, CCR is now widely approved among the bishops and the Vatican. This is perhaps because CCR supports the Church in many ways – spiritual revival, increase in vocations and in lay workers, reinforcing Catholic identity especially among cultural Catholics, increasing confidence in the Church, engaging pop culture and media, training Catholics to donate and give tithes, and actively evangelizing people.
CCR especially focuses on conversion – a change of life – and on faith healing. Despite this, the movement does distinguish itself from Protestantism in such was as emphasizing the sacraments, the Eucharist, and Mary; diving into the mystical tradition of the ancient and medieval Church; and quickly discontinuing speaking in tongues.
Chapter 9: Conversion to Native Spirituality in the Andes
The irony is that the neo-Andean religions actually end up suppressing local traditions by trying to create a pan-Andean spirituality that incorporates elements from US Native religion.
Chapter 10: Chiapas
This chapter focuses on “Word of God” Catholics, a movement that emphasizes gender equality in the home, banning alcohol, reading the Bible, and trying to reform the community in love/justice. A major issue in Chiapas is that most villages are controlled by a traditional power structure linked to local caciques and national parties. Thus, a change in religion challenges authority and Traditional Catholics persecute both Word of God Catholics and Pentecostals.
Chapter 11: Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios
This chapter focuses especially on the history and nature of Prosperity Theology (p. 221 – 223), which despite being a brief few pages is very clear and well-sources. Additionally, the author explores how IURD works in the US: they focus on Latin American immigrants (especially Afro-Latinos) and emphasize media, a distinct style of preaching, and prosperity theology.
Chapter 12: Social Change in Bolivia
Bolivian Pentecostals work to fight corruption and present a positive, hopeful, and compassionate vision for Bolivia.
Chapter 13: Pentecostalization of Guatemala
The most important point is on Page 265: religious belief can be more important than religious affiliation.
The author explores the spread of Pentecostal beliefs and practices – biblical literalism, speaking in tongues, millenarianism, etc. – across not only Pentecostals but also Catholics, Historical Protestants, and the unaffiliated. Turns out – a lot of people hold Pentecostal beliefs!
A secondary exploration was politics. It turns out that Pentecostal BELIEFS (not just Pentecostals in name, but people who subscribe to those beliefs) correlate with very dim views towards the poor. In terms of actual politics Pentecostals eschew actual political organizing and emphasize obedience to government. However, they vote at the same rate as other Guatemalans and are not noticeably more conservative in terms of party votes.
This was a great book, I really liked how clear the theory was and how well each author referenced and incorporated each other’s work. This means that the book is both an anthology with diverse writing styles while also remaining conceptually unified.
Displaying 1 of 1 review