Conversion of a Continent
298 pages, 6 x 9
Paperback
Release Date:29 Nov 2007
ISBN:9780813542027
Conversion of a Continent
Contemporary Religious Change in Latin America
Edited by Timothy Steigenga and Edward L. Cleary
Rutgers University Press
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.
TIMOTHY J. STEIGENGA is an associate professor of political science and Latin American studies at the Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University. He is coeditor (with Cleary) of Resurgent Voices in Latin America: Indigenous Peoples, Political Mobilization, and Religious Change (Rutgers University Press).
EDWARD L. CLEARY is a professor of political science and the director of Latin American studies at Providence College.
EDWARD L. CLEARY is a professor of political science and the director of Latin American studies at Providence College.
Acknowledgments
Part One. Approaches to Conversion
Part Two. Conversion to What?
Part Three. The Implications of Conversion
Contributors
Index
Part One. Approaches to Conversion
Part Two. Conversion to What?
Part Three. The Implications of Conversion
Contributors
Index
