RT Review
T1 Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism
JF Sociology of religion
VO 70
IS 4
SP 459
OP 461
A1 Nepstad, Sharon Erickson
LA English
PB Oxford Univ. Press
YR 2009
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1819426289
AB Numerous studies have examined the explosive growth of Evangelicalism in parts of Latin America. David Smilde's book—grounded in several years of ethnographic field work in Venezuela—adds to our growing knowledge of this phenomenon by focusing on the practical reasons for conversion among impoverished men in Caracas. He documents how many of his respondents turned to Evangelicalism to cope with substance abuse, marital conflicts, and economic difficulties. Since drinking, drug use, and gambling are forbidden among Evangelicals, new converts find themselves in a social context where there is strong support for refraining from these activities. Moreover, their sense of masculinity is undercut by economic marginalization, which is compounded by Venezuela's macho culture.
K1 Rezension
DO 10.1093/socrel/srp058