Includes bibliographical references (pages 320-343) and indexes

Anglo and latin: rival civilizations, alternative patterns -- The Methodist model: Anglo-American cultural production reproduced in Latin America -- Profiles of evangelical advance in Latin America -- Brazil: largest society and most dramatic instance -- The southern cone: Chile and the Argentine contrasted -- Smaller contrasting societies -- Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico -- Caribbean comparisons: Jamaica and Trinidad; Puerto Rico and Haiti -- Instructive parallels: South Korea and South Africa -- New spiritual communications: healing and tongues; songs and stories -- Conversions: transformations and turning points -- Protestantism and economic culture: evidence reviewed -- The body politic and the spirit: evidence reviewed -- The argument summarized and extended

"Martin, a leading authority in the sociology of religion, here looks at a recent and largely unstudied phenomenon: the rapid growth of evangelicalism in Latin America, in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Central America, and the Caribbean. This growth is compared to similar growth in South Korea and Africa. Martin discusses spiritual gifts and conversions in terms of the changing socioeconomic situation, carefully analyzing the relationship of Anglo-American and Latin American cultures. He notes especially the appeal of Pentecostalism to the newly urbanized poor, to whom it provides a nonintellectual style and a protective network where skills in self-expression and leadership can be developed. An excellent scholarly analysis that is accessible to the average reader and provides a good bibliography as well ..."--C. Robert Nixon, M.L.S., Lafayette, Ind. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc