Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism

David Smilde

Published by University of California Press 2007

Reason to Believe

Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism

David Smilde

Volume 3 in the series The Anthropology of Christianity

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940147

Overview
Contents

About this book

Evangelical Protestantism has arguably become the fastest-growing religion in South America, if not the world. For converts, it emphasizes self-discipline and provides a network of communal support, which together have helped many overcome substance abuse, avoid crime and violence, and resolve relationship problems. But can people simply decide to believe in a religion because of the benefits it reportedly delivers? Based on extensive fieldwork among Pentecostal men in Caracas, Venezuela, this rich urban ethnography seeks an explanation for the explosion of Evangelical Protestantism, unraveling the cultural and personal dynamics of Evangelical conversion to show how and why these men make the choice to convert, and how they come to have faith in a new system of beliefs and practices.

Author / Editor information

Smilde David :

David Smilde is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Georgia. He is co-author, with Margarita López Maya and Keta Stephany, of Protesta y cultura en Venezuela: Los Marcos de acción colectiva en 1999.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Note on Translations and Names Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Part one. Beginnings
1. Making Sense of Cultural Agency Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. The Venezuelan Context: Confronting La Crisis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
Part two. Imaginative Rationality
3. Imagining Social Life I: Confronting Akrasia, Crime, and Violence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
4. Imagining Social Life II: Addressing Personal and Social Issues Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
5. Imagining Evangelical Practice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
Part three. Relational Imagination
6. The Social Structure of Conversion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
7. Two Lives, Five Years Later Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
8. Toward a Relational Pragmatic Theory of Cultural Agency Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Appendix A: Status of Evangelical Respondents after Five Years Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Appendix B: Methods and Methodology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
Appendix C: Quantitative Analysis of Networks and Conversion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Glossary of Spanish Terms Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 277

eBook

Published: July 2, 2007
ISBN: 9780520940147