The Pentecostalization Of Latin American And U.S. Latino Christianity

Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars

Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected

| PentecostalTheology.com

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 262

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

The Pentecostalization of Latin American

and U.S. Latino Christianity

Gastón Espinosa*

David Stoll and David Martin argue that Latin America is in the midst of a Protestant Reformation that will forever change the political econ- omy of the region. They challenged and/or nuanced a previous generation of theories that suggested that Pentecostal growth was due to a kind of naive opiate of the masses “pie-in-the-sky after you die” theology and right-wing dictators who used Anglo-American missionaries and Pentecostals to ﬁght against progressive Catholic liberation theologians. They argued that the Catholic Church itself was partly to blame for the massive defections to Pentecostal and evangelical Protestantism because it spent too much time mixing religion and politics and not enough time promoting spiritual renewal and meeting the basic spiritual needs of the people. Martin and Stoll posit that Pentecostal growth is in part due to the continuing inﬂuence (both ideologically and economically) of Anglo-American missionaries and that the spiritual reformation taking place today is a largely Protestant reformation that is challenging the Roman Catholic Church’s historic dominance of the Latin American reli- gious marketplace.1

Is it? Although Martin, Stoll, Christian Lalive d’Epinay, Elizabeth Brusco, John Burdick, R. Andrew Chestnut, Edward L. Cleary, O.P., and Phillip Berryman have all documented the growth of Pentecostal and evan- gelical Protestantism in Latin America, a number of other scholars, such

* The author wishes to thank The Pew Charitable Trusts, Todd M. Johnson and Peter Crossing at the Center for the Study of World Christianity, the Hispanic Churches in American Public Life research directors Virgilio Elizondo and Jesse Miranda, Paul Sullins, and So Young Kim for analyzing the HCAPL data, and Edwin I. Hernández and R. Stephen Warner for critical feedback on early drafts of this essay.

Stoll wrote, “Owing to their reliance on conservative missionaries from the United States, they [Evangelicals and Pentecostals] are often criticized for ﬁnding their promised land north of the Rio Grande.” David Stoll, Is Latin American Turning Protestant? The Politics of Evangelical Growth (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990); see the book jacket, passim. David Martin, Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1993).

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 263

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

as Walter Altmann, T. E. Evans, Kurt Bowen, Anne Motley Hallum, Paul Jeffrey, and Brian H. Smith, have noted that Pentecostal growth is either beginning to taper off or has remained relatively ﬂat over the past decade in some countries.2 Furthermore, as I shall show shortly, the phenomenal growth of the indigenous Protestant Pentecostal and Catholic Charismatic movements challenge and revise these theories. I argue that the demo- graphic shifts taking place in Latin America today continue to shape the religious reformation taking place among Latinos in the United States. In fact, expanding on the work of Andrew Greeley, I point to growing evi- dence that suggests that Latino Protestants and Catholics are arriving in the U.S. already Pentecostal or Catholic Charismatic. If this is true, then many (though still not a majority) of the “mass defections” to Pentecostal and evangelical Protestantism reportedly taking place here in the U.S. are actually taking place in Latin America.3

I contend that all of the discussion over Anglo-American missionary- sponsored Protestant Pentecostal growth has obscured ﬁve trends that lend

I include Brazil in my conceptualization and analysis of Latin America. Martin, Tongues of Fire; Stoll, Is Latin American Turning Protestant? Christian Lalive d’Epinay, Haven of the Masses: A Study of the Pentecostal Movement in Chile (London: Lutterworth, 1969); Elizabeth Brusco, “The Reformation of Machismo: Asceticism and Masculinity among Colombian Evangelicals,” in Rethinking Protestantism in Latin America, ed. Virginia Garrard-Burnett and David Stoll (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993); John Burdick, Looking for God in Brazil (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993); R. Andrew Chestnut, Born-Again in Brazil (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997); Edward L. Clearly, O.P., and Hannah Stewart-Gambino, eds., Conﬂict and Competition: The Latin American Church in a Changing Environment (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1992); Phillip Berryman, Stubborn Hope: Religion, Politics, and Revolution in Central America (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994); Phillip Berryman, Religion in the Megacity: Catholic and Protestant Portraits from Latin America (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996); Walter Altmann, “Religious Pluralism in Latin America,” Latinamerica Press 28, no. 42 (14 November 1996); T. E. Evans, “Religious Conversion in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala,” Ph.D. diss., University of Pittsburgh, 1990; Kurt Bowen, Evangelism and Apostasy: The Evolution and Impact of Evangelicals in Modern Mexico (Buffalo, NY: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1996); Anne Motley Hallum, Beyond Missionaries: Toward an Understanding of the Protestant Movement in Central America (New York: Rowan & Littleﬁeld Publishers, 1996); Paul E. Sigmund, ed., Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America: The Challenge of Religious Pluralism (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999); Brian H. Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America: Pentecostal vs. Catholic (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1998); Paul Freston, Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa and Latin America (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001).

For an analysis of the demographic shifts taking place today among U.S. Latinos, see Gastón Espinosa, “Demographic Shifts in Latino Religions in the United States” (English translation of the French title), Social Compass (Fall 2004). Andrew Greeley, →AQ “Defections among Hispanics,” America, 30 July 1988, 61–62; Andrew Greeley, “Defection Among Hispanics” (Updated), America, 27 September 1997, 12–13.

263

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 264

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

credence to the theory that we are witnessing the Pentecostalization of Latino Christianity in Latin America and in the United States: (1) Protestant Pentecostal growth, (2) the Pentecostalization of Latin American Catholicism, (3) indigenization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Pentecostalism, (4) Latin American evangelization of the United States, and (5) the growth of Catholic and Protestant ecumenical cooperation. This Pentecostalization process is not simply a Protestant phenomenon limited to Latin America. In fact, I will argue that this is a largely pan-Christian phenomenon tak- ing place among many Latino Protestants and Catholics in Latin America and in the United States. The evidence suggests that the religious refor- mation taking place today is much more denominationally pluralistic than hitherto believed and that the Catholic Church has rebounded through the work of the Catholic Charismatic movement, which has in many respects served as a bulwark against Pentecostal proselytism.4 The impact of this pan-Christian Pentecostalization process is that it is indirectly contribut- ing to the separation of church and state, the disestablishment of Roman Catholicism, the democratization of Latin America, and the revitalization of Roman Catholicism. This process is not taking place evenly through- out Latin America, but is instead being shaped by key historical, politi- cal, sociological, and religious factors unique to each country. These trends and developments are having a profound impact on religion not only in Latin America but also in the U.S., where they are contributing to the Pentecostalization, the re-Christianization, the de-Europeanization, the Catholicization, and the heterodoxization of Latino Christianity and poten- tially American religions in the twenty-ﬁrst century.

Methodology

The ﬁndings in this transnational, hemisphere-wide study are based on the World Christian Encyclopedia database at the Center for the Study of World Christianity directed by Todd M. Johnson and David Barrett, the Hispanic Churches in American Public Life national survey (hcapl. com), and recent historical, political science, religious studies, anthropo- logical, and sociological scholarship on Latin American religions.5 The

David Martin writes that Catholic Pentecostalism is a “much less massive phenome- non” than Protestant Pentecostalism and that “the Catholic charismatic movement is not on anything like the same scale as evangelical Protestantism.” Martin, Tongues of Fire, 2, 290.

I distinguish between historic and/or mainline Protestants (those traditions that trace their origins directly back to the Protestant Reformation in Europe and that are more lib-

264

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 265

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

World Christian Encyclopedia database is the largest, most comprehen- sive, and most sophisticated statistical analysis of global Christianity in the world. The database has drawn upon 10 million surveys and denom- inational assessments on six continents, including Latin America. It is widely hailed as the most reliable source for statistics on Latin American and world Christianity.

Likewise, the Hispanic Churches in American Public Life (HCAPL) national survey has generated one of the largest ecumenical and nonsec- tarian nationally representative random-sample Hispanic-framed data sets in the United States. The survey is part of the much larger HCAPL research project directed by Virgilio Elizondo of the University of Notre Dame, Jesse Miranda of Vanguard University, and Gastón Espinosa of Claremont McKenna College. This three-year study was funded by a $1.3 million grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts (pewtrusts.com). It was con- ducted in cooperation with the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (trpi.org), one of the premier Latino policy and survey research institutes in the U.S. The ﬁndings presented in this essay are based on a random-sample bilin- gual Hispanic-framed telephone survey of 2,060 U.S. Latino adults in

eral or progressive in their theological and social views), evangelicals (those who are more theologically and morally conservative and insist on having a “born-again” experience with Jesus Christ), and Pentecostal Protestants (those who are theologically and morally con- servative and emphasize being “born-again,” the baptism with the Holy Spirit, speaking in unknown tongues, and the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14). While all Pentecostals are by deﬁnition evangelical because they insist on having a “born-again” experience with Jesus Christ, not all evangelicals and mainline Protestants are necessarily Pentecostal or believe in the practice of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I distinguish a Charismatic Catholic, Orthodox, mainline Protestant, or evangelical Protestant from classic and inde- pendent Pentecostals in that most Charismatics remain within non-Pentecostal denomina- tions, like the Catholic or Presbyterian traditions, while most Pentecostals reside in classic and independent Pentecostal denominations, like the Assemblies of God and the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. David Barrett, George Kurian, and Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Encyclopedia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). Gastón Espinosa, Virgilio Elizondo, and Jesse Miranda, Hispanic Churches in American Public Life: Summary of Findings (Notre Dame, IN: Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame, 2003). The data in this study were generated and provided by author Todd M. Johnson and data analyst Peter Crossing at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. They are based on the most up-to-date projections of the 2001 edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia (hereafter WCE). These statistics differ slightly from the WCE where more recent projections of freshly incorporated data were available. Despite this fact, I have given the citation of the WCE as a reference. Since no data set is one hundred percent accurate, these statistics should only be taken as projections based on the best data available on Christian religious afﬁliation around the world. For the method- ology of the WCE data set, please see the methodology section of the WCE.

265

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 266

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

Table 1

Religious Afﬁliation in Latin America in A.D. 2000 and 2025

Item Number-2000 Percent-2000 Number-2025 Percent-2025

Population 519,000,000 100% 695,000,000 100% Christian 476,000,000 92% 639,000,000 92% Roman Catholic 453,000,000* 87%* 589,000,000* 84.8%* Protestant 89,000,000 17% 144,000,000 21% Catholic Charismatic 75,000,000 14.5%

Protestant Pentecostal 66,000,000 12.7%

Pentecostal/Charismatic 141,000,000 27%** 205,000,000 29%** All Non-Catholics 140,000,000 27% 213,000,000 31%

* These ﬁgures are based on the Catholic Church’s report of baptized Catholics, which does not take into account Catholics that were baptized but later left the Church.

** These ﬁgures are based on combining all Protestant Pentecostals and Catholic Charismatics.

urban and rural areas that cut across all class, occupation, gender, gener- ation, country of origin, political afﬁliation, and religious boundaries.6

Growth of the Protestant Pentecostal Movement

The Latino Pentecostal/Charismatic movement has grown from just a handful of Mexicans at the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles (1906–9) to more than 150 million men, women, and children throughout Latin America (141 million or 27 percent) and the United States (9 million) today. Presently 27 percent of all Latin Americans are either Protestant or Catholic Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian. Consistent with this ﬁnding, the Hispanic Churches in American Public Life national survey found that 7 million Latinos self-identify as Protestant. In total, 9.2 million Latinos are either Protestant Pentecostal (3.8 million) or Catholic Charismatic (5.4 million).7

Despite varying levels of apostasy, fragmentation, and competition, the Latino Protestant Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is still growing rapidly in a number of countries. There are 66 million Protestant Pentecostal/

For a more in-depth examination of the methodology and strengths and weaknesses of the Hispanic Churches in American Public Life national survey see Espinosa et al., Hispanic Churches in American Public Life; and Espinosa, “Demographic Shifts.”

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics will be rounded to the nearest 100,000 for imputed numbers over one million and to the nearest 10,000 for imputed numbers over 100,000. Hallum, Beyond Missionaries, 84, 87–89; Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 14; Espinosa et al., Hispanic Churches in American Public Life, 16.

266

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 267

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

Charismatic Christians in Latin America, which make up the majority of Latin America’s 89 million Protestants. Nearly 40 percent of all Pentecostals around the world live in Latin America. Today, 17 percent of all Latin Americans are Protestant, largely Pentecostal. The Catholic Church esti- mates that between 8,000 and 10,000 Catholics convert to Protestantism every day throughout Latin America. On any given Sunday in Latin America, scholars now report that there may be more Protestants than Catholics attending church. Furthermore, scholars predict that as early as 2010 one in three Latin Americans may be Protestant or non-Catholic, largely Pentecostal or evangelical.8

Pentecostal growth in Latin America has been uneven. Mexico, for example, has one of the lowest percentages of Pentecostal Protestantants per national population in all of Latin America. Despite this fact, there are 7 million Protestants (out of a national population of 99 million) in Mexico, the second largest number in Latin America after Brazil. The 1990 Mexican Census found that 76 percent of all non-Catholics were evangelical (largely Pentecostal) and that they have experienced the largest growth in regions like Tabasco and Chiapas, where they make up 17 and 15 percent of the population respectively. Mexican Pentecostals are served by more than 166 Pentecostal denominations, of which approximately 159 are com- pletely independent and indigenous. The modest level of growth has been shaped by the strength of popular Catholicism, especially devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, recent Catholic evangelization efforts, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, the perception that Protestantism is somehow tied to American imperialism, and, most importantly, to high apostasy rates. Kurt Bowen argues in Evangelism and Apostasy: The Evolution and Impact of Evangelicals in Modern Mexico that the annual evangelical (which includes mainline Protestants) growth rate has dropped to 7.4 percent and

In discussing the role of the Catholic Charismatic movement in the Church and in Central America, Anne Motley Hallum writes, “The pope sought more control over the charismatic movement by moving the World Catholic Charismatic Headquarters from Belgium to the Vatican. He also appointed ‘shepherd’ coordinators for different countries to direct the local movement. The charismatic meetings and crusades were instructed not to allow Protestant speakers and to demonstrate loyalty to Catholic doctrines by singing songs to Mary and the saints. Ironically the Vatican’s response to the charismatic groups is similar to its response to Christian base communities—initial support, developing ambiva- lence, and attempts to reassert control.” Hallum, Beyond Missionaries, 89–90. Also see Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America, 2–3, 64, 74–75; Bowen, Evangelism and Apostasy, 10; Sigmund, Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America, 2; Pedro C. Moreno, “Evangelical Churches,” as cited in Sigmund, Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America, 50.

267

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 268

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

that 43 percent of second generation evangelicals (most of which are Pentecostal) were no longer part of the evangelical world. The single most important factor that shaped “defection” from Pentecostal and evangeli- cal traditions was mixed marriages with Catholics. A surprising 93 per- cent of second-generation male evangelicals and 49 percent of second generation female evangelicals married to a Catholic left their tradition and/or practice no particular religion at all. Despite the high rates of apos- tasy, scholars argue that Pentecostals/evangelicals are still growing at a rate 4.5 times faster than the Catholic population in Mexico.9

Mexican Pentecostals and Protestants are contributing to the growth of Latino Protestantism in the United States. Scholars found that 15 percent of all Mexican immigrants arriving in the U.S. are Protestant or Other Christian. They are contributing to the growth of the more than 7 million Latino Protestants in the U.S. today. The HCAPL survey also found that although 700,000 Latinos indicated that they “recently converted” or returned to Catholicism from another non-Catholic denomination or no religious tradition, it also found that over 3 million Latinos recently con- verted away from Catholicism. Thus for every one Latino that has returned to the Catholic Church, four have left it. Furthermore, a clear majority of Latinos (57 percent) that “recently converted” from Catholicism to Protestantism were second- or third-generation U.S. citizens.10

Not all countries in Latin America have experienced Mexico’s low Protestant growth rate. Protestants make up 29 percent (50 million) of all Brazilians, 27 percent (4 million) of all Chileans, 25 percent (2.8 million) of all Guatemalans, 22 percent (1.4 million) of all El Salvadorians, 22 per- cent of all Puerto Ricans (867,000), 20 percent (7 million) of all U.S. Latinos, 19 percent (950,000) of all Nicaraguans, and 18 percent of all Hondurans

Bowen, Evangelism and Apostasy, 7, 48, 63–65, 70–75, 225; Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 495, 497, 499.

For the 15 percent ﬁgure see: R. Stephen Warner, “The De-Europeanization of American Christianity,” in Stephen Prothero, ed., A Nation of Religions: The Politics of Pluralism in the United States (book forthcoming); Guillermina Jasso, Douglas Massey, Mark R. Rosenzweig, and James P. Smith, “Family, Schooling, Religiosity, and Mobility among New Legal Immigrants to the U.S.: Evidence from the New Immigrant Survey Pilot,” in Lydio F. Tomasi and Mary G. Powers, eds., Immigration Today: Pastoral and Research Challenges (Staten Island, NY: Center for Migration Studies, 2000), 52–81; Guillermina Jasso, Douglas Massey, Mark R. Rosenzweig, and James P. Smith, “Exploring the Religious Preferences of Recent Immigrants to the United States: Evidence from the New Immigration Survey Pilot,” in Ivan Yazbeck Haddad, Jane I. Smith, and John L. Esposito, eds., Religion and Immigration: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Experiences in the United States (Lanham, MD: Alta Mira Press, 2003), 217–53. For the other ﬁgures, see Espinosa et al., Hispanic Churches in American Public Life, 15–16; Espinosa, “Demographic Shifts.”

268

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 269

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

(1.1 million) and all Panamanians (520,000). Brazil has witnessed the most dramatic numerical growth, going from 12.8 percent (12.3 million) of the national population in 1970 to 50 million in 2000. The largest Protestant denomination in Brazil (and Latin America) is the Assemblies of God, which reportedly has over 20 million afﬁliates. Scholars now claim that in Brazil there are twice as many Assemblies of God congregations (85,000) as Catholic congregations (35,598). The numerically largest Latino Protestant denomination in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic is Pentecostal, often the Assemblies of God or an independent indigenous Pentecostal tradition.11

Mainline Protestantism, especially in its more theologically and morally progressive manifestations, has not attracted a signiﬁcant numerical fol- lowing in Latin America. By 1950, after almost one hundred years of work, mainline Protestants made up less than one percent of Latin America. Its appeal has been primarily among the highly educated. Despite this fact, there is a small but noticeable trend of middle-class Pentecostals join- ing mainline and non-Charismatic evangelical Protestant denominations both in Latin America and in the United States. This appears to be due to the fact that mainline Protestant churches are increasingly adopting Pentecostal/Charismatic music, spirituality, and theology. Mainline and evangelical Protestantism have been particularly attractive to intellectu- ally curious Pentecostal college and seminary students looking for a more theologically and/or morally ﬂexible tradition that offers an historic, pro- gressive, rationalistic, orderly, and rich liturgical approach to Christianity. This is especially true for second- and third-generation Pentecostals attend- ing mainline Protestant or interdenominational seminaries.

There are a large number of Latino mainline and evangelical Protestant scholars and leaders today in the U.S. and in Latin America that were either raised or converted into Pentecostalism and then left to join a main- line or non-Charismatic evangelical Protestant tradition. In most cases, they have brought their beliefs in the charismatic gifts and born-again experience along with them into their adopted tradition. In fact, there is a long tradition of second- and third-generation Pentecostals embracing other forms of Protestantism. This helps to explain why the HCAPL national

I do not classify Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons as Protestant because most do not self-identify with the Protestant Reformation or historic Protestantism. Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America, 2; Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 131, 134, 186, 256, 327, 356, 612.

269

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 270

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

arismatics.

Charismatic

Table 2

National Number/Percent Number/Percent Number/Percent Number/Percent*

Latin American and U.S. Latino Catholic and Protestant Afﬁliates by Number and Percentage of Country/Group

* The number and percentage of Pentecostals and Charismatics are based on combining all Protestant Pentecostals and Catholic Ch

Country Population Catholic Protestant Prot. Pentecostal Pentecostal &

Brazil 170,400,000 104,000,000 61% 50,000,000 29% 41,000,000 24% 76,000,000 45%

Chile 15,000,000 8,600,000 57% 4,100,000 27% 3,700,000 24% 5,400,000 35%

Guatemala 11,400,000 7,600,000 67% 2,800,000 25% 1,900,000 17% 2,800,000 25%

El Salvador 6,300,000 4,500,000 71% 1,400,000 22% 1,100,000 17% 1,500,000 24%

Puerto Rico 3,900,000 2,700,000 69% 867,000 22% 617,000 16% 1,100,000 28%

United States 35,000,000 25,000,000 70% 7,000,000 20% 3,800,000 11% 9,200,000 28%

Nicaragua 5,000,000 3,800,000 76% 950,000 19% 606,000 12% 822,000 16%

Panama 2,900,000 1,800,000 62% 520,000 18% 381,000 12% 580,000 20%

Honduras 6,400,000 4,700,000 73% 1,100,000 18% 692,000 11% 1,200,000 18%

Argentina 37,000,000 28,500,000 77% 4,700,000 13% 3,900,000 11% 9,000,000 24%

Venezuela 24,000,000 20,500,000 85% 1,800,000 7.4% 1,350,000 6% 4,500,000 19%

Mexico 99,000,000 84,000,000 85% 7,100,000 7.2% 4,300,000 4% 13,500,000 14%

Colombia 42,000,000 38,300,000 91% 1,900,000 5% 1,300,000 3% 12,300,000 29%

270

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 271

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

survey found that 43 percent (666,000) of all U.S. Latino mainline Protestants self-identify as “born-again” Christian and 21 percent (330,000) self-iden- tify as both “born-again” and Pentecostal, Charismatic or “spirit-ﬁlled.” Furthermore, a recent study on Latino leadership found that almost one third of U.S. Latinos surveyed in the study with a Pentecostal background are now afﬁliated with a mainline or non-Pentecostal evangelical denomination.12

Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Catholicism

The strongest evidence for the Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity is not the growth of Protestant Pentecostalism but rather the growth of the Catholic Charismatic movement. With the notable exception of R. Andrew Chestnut, most scholars have treated this trend as largely peripheral to the study of Latin American Catholicism. Yet, it is one of the largest and fastest growing grass-roots movements in Latin America today.13

Today there are 75 million Catholic Charismatics in Latin America and 5.4 million Latino Catholic Charismatics in the United States.14 In fact, the vast majority of the world’s 119 million Catholic Charismatics are

Bowen, Evangelism and Apostasy, 5; Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America, 2, 42, 86; Espinosa et al., Hispanic Churches in American Public Life, 16, 27. For a good set of essays on U.S. Latino mainline Protestantism, see David Maldonado, ed., Protestantes/Protestants: Hispanic Christianity within Mainline Traditions (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999). The national survey questions about being born-again and Pentecostal, Charismatic or spirit-ﬁlled read: Q# 24—“Do you consider yourself a Pentecostal Christian, Charismatic Christian, or spirit-ﬁlled Catholic?” Q# 36—“Do you consider yourself a born- again Christian, that is, have you personally had a conversion experience related to Jesus Christ?” I did not count any Catholics as Charismatic unless they also reported that they were born-again, one of the distinctives of traditional Pentecostal Christians and most Catholic Charismatic Christians. Edwin I. Hernández and Patricia Rodríguez, “Religious Switching among Latino Religious Leaders” (unpublished paper, 2003).

For an excellent recent essay on the Latin American Catholic Charismatic move- ment, see R. Andrew Chestnut, “A Preferential Option for the Spirit: The Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Latin America’s New Religious Economy,” Latin American Politics and Society 45, no. 1 (Spring 2003). Unfortunately, I came across this article after completing the semi- ﬁnal draft of this essay. For other discussions of the Catholic Charismatic movement, see Berryman, Stubborn Hope, 168, 210–21; Bowen, Evangelism and Apostasy, 58–59; Sigmund, Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America, 217–18; Hallum, Beyond Mission- aries, 71, 76, 82, 84, 87–89, 94; Martin, Tongues of Fire, 27, 29–30, 30, 37, 40, 50, 290, 291; Berryman, Religion in the Megacity, 13, 79–87, 122–24, 161–62.

271

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 272

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

located in Latin America south of the U.S. border, where they participate in an estimated 102,873 weekly prayer groups and are supported (although not necessarily directed) by more than 2,000 priests, 100 bishops, and tens of thousands of lay leaders. The movement has witnessed uneven growth throughout Latin America and the U.S. over the past thirty-six years. It has experienced the largest numerical growth in Brazil (35 million), Colombia (11 million), Mexico (9 million), the U.S. (5.4 million), Argentina (5 million), Venezuela (3 million), Chile (1.6 million), and Ecuador (1.2 million).15

The Latin American Catholic Charismatic movement traces its roots back to the United States and to Bogotá, Colombia. The movement’s four primary origins are: (1) the U.S.-based Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) in 1967, (2) a Bogotá, Colombia-based Catholic Charismatic prayer group in 1967, (3) the U.S.-based Charisma in Missions Catholic Evan- gelization and Renewal Society in 1972, and (4) Latin American Catholics who defected to Pentecostalism and then later returned to Catholicism over the past century.16

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal began at Duquesne University, USA, in 1967 after two lay instructors in the department of theology named Ralph Keifer and Patrick Bourgeois became interested in the Pentecostal Movement after reading John Sherrill’s They Speak with Other Tongues (1964) and Assemblies of God evangelist David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade (1963), which presciently depicted the conversion of an impoverished Latino named Nicky Cruz to Pentecostalism. Keifer became so curious about the Pentecostal Movement that he began attend- ing a Charismatic prayer group held in the home of a Presbyterian lay- woman. A short while later, he received the baptism with the Holy Spirit.17

Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia , 131, 135–38; Barrett et al., World Christian Trends, 276–77. These ﬁndings and all other statistics on Latin America in this essay are based on statistical analyses performed by Todd M. Johnson and Peter Crossing at the Center for the Study of World Christianity in the summer of 2003. They are more up-to-date than those found in the WCE.

These ﬁgures are based on the number of “baptized” Catholics as reported by the Roman Catholic Church. They do not take into account Catholics that were baptized but later left the Catholic Church for another religious tradition. Gastón Espinosa, “‘Let the Spirit Fly’: Marilynn Kramar and the Origins of the Latino Catholic Charismatic Movement in the United States” (unpublished paper, 2000), 1–30. Gastón Espinosa, “Charisma in Missions,”“Marilynn Kramar,” in The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, ed. Stanley M. Burgess (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 472–73, 825–26; Sigmund, Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America, 2.

F. A. Sullivan, “Catholic Charismatic Renewal,” in Stanley M. Burgess and Gary B.

272

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 273

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

Shortly thereafter, Keifer, Bourgeois, and their students organized the ﬁrst Catholic Charismatic prayer group at Duquesne University. This series of events helped birth the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement in the U.S.18 The renewal spread to other Catholic universities such as the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, where Ralph Martin and Stephen Cook, two recent graduates of Notre Dame, quickly became leaders of the ﬂedgling movement. By late 1967, the movement was attract- ing the attention of major national Catholic weeklies such as The National Catholic Reporter and Our Sunday Visitor. The ﬁrst nationwide Catholic Charismatic convention took place at the University of Notre Dame on April 7–9, 1967. By the early 1970s, the Catholic Charismatic movement attracted the support of national and international Catholic leaders like Father Kilian McDonnell and Belgian Cardinal Leon Joseph Suenens.19

Little is known about the Catholic Charismatic prayer group that began in Colombia. We do know, however, that the Charisma in Missions renewal and evangelization society was organized by two former Assemblies of God missionaries to Colombia named Glenn and Marilynn Kramer in the Los Angeles area in 1972. They ﬁrst began evangelizing and spreading the Pentecostal message in Colombia in 1967 before they returned to the United States. After receiving a pastoral blessing from Cardinal Timothy Manning in 1982, they opened up the Charisma in Missions headquarters in East Los Angeles. They brought some of the evangelistic strategies and spirituality they practiced in the Assemblies of God into the Catholic Charismatic movement. They also spread their version of the Catholic Charismatic movement throughout the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, and Central and South America by organizing prayer groups and conferences, and sell- ing workbooks and an estimated 2 million cassette tapes in Spanish.20 From these two origins and others the Catholic Charismatic movement quickly spread to Puerto Rico (1969), Venezuela (1969), Mexico (1971), Brazil (1971), Argentina (1972), Chile (1972), Guatemala (1972), El Salvador (1977), and throughout the rest of Spanish-speaking Latin America by 1977. Vatican II, the Cursillo movement, and the theology of liberation

McGee, eds., Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 111–12; Vinson Synan, The Twentieth-Century Pentecostal Explosion: The Exciting Growth of Pentecostal Churches and Charismatic Renewal Movements (Altamonte Springs, FL: Creation House, 1980), 39–53.

Sullivan, “Catholic Charismatic Renewal,” 111–12.

Ibid., 112–14; Edward D. O’Connor, C.S.C., The Pentecostal Movement in the Catholic Church (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1971), 39–107.

Espinosa, “‘Let the Spirit Fly,’” 1–30.

273

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 274

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

movements all helped pave the way for the Catholic Charismatic move- ment because of their emphases on spiritual renewal, lay leadership, and faith-based empowerment. R. Andrew Chestnut has argued that the Catholic Charismatic movement has surpassed the liberation theology movement as the largest and most vibrant grass-roots Catholic movement in Latin America today.21

Many scholars are surprised to hear that there are more Catholic Charismatics than Protestant Pentecostals in Mexico. In fact, 9.2 million of Mexico’s 13.5 million Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians are Roman Catholic. The movement has grown very rapidly since it began in Mexico City in June 1971. Although, as Chestnut points out, some clerics are crit- ical toward or ambivalent about the movement, it has garnered strong sup- port from more than 700 priests and 53 bishops. It is largely the small but growing institutional support that has enabled it to hold national services like the one conducted at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City that attracted 71,000 participants. The movement has also witnessed notable growth on the island of Puerto Rico, where it has also grown from a handful of peo- ple in 1969 to over 215,000 people (one third of whom were under the age of twenty-ﬁve) attending 850 weekly prayer meetings by 1997. There is little reason to doubt that the immigration of Catholic Charismatics from Mexico and Puerto Rico has not contributed to the growth of the move- ment among U.S. Latinos. Today there are 5.4 million U.S. Latino Catholic Charismatics, making it one of the largest overlooked popular grass-roots religious movements in the U.S.22

In South America, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina have witnessed signiﬁcant Catholic Charismatic growth over the past thirty-six years. The country that has witnessed the most notable numerical growth is Brazil. The movement has grown from a small prayer group in 1971 to more than 35 million afﬁliates in 2000. Together with Pentecostal and Charismatic Protestants, there are 76 million Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians in Brazil. In fact, 15 percent of all Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians in the world today are located in Brazil. The Brazilian Catholic Charismatic

These ﬁndings and all other statistics on Latin America in this essay are based on statistical analyses performed by Todd M. Johnson and Peter Crossing at the Center for the Study of World Christianity in the summer of 2003. They are more up-to-date than those found in the WCE. Also see Barrett et al., World Christian Trends, 276–77. Chestnut, “A Preferential Option for the Spirit.”

Espinosa, “‘Let the Spirit Fly,’” 1–30; Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 495, 612; Barrett et al., World Christian Trends; Espinosa et al., Hispanic Churches in American Public Life, 14, 27; Chestnut, “A Preferential Option for the Spirit.”

274

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 275

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

movement sponsors 60,000 weekly prayer groups and is supported by over 500 priests, ﬁve bishops, and thousands of lay leaders. In São Paulo, a recent annual renewal event attracted 120,000 participants. Whether or not it (and other Protestant Pentecostal movements) will have long-term gen- erational staying power is uncertain, although I am a little skeptical given the strict moralism and the unusually high level of involvement it requires of its participants.23

Regardless of its staying power, it would be inaccurate to conclude that the Catholic Charismatic movement has simply brought Protestant Pentecostalism wholesale into Latin American Catholicism. They have reinvented and rearticulated their Charismatic beliefs in light of traditional Catholic teachings and encyclicals on spiritual renewal. Precisely because they have been accused of being too lay-driven and of serving as a Trojan horse for Protestantism, Catholic Charismatics have been very careful to emphasize that they are faithful Catholics that wholly support the doc- trines, discipline, and hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, many see themselves as the new vanguard for Catholic evangelization and renewal. Despite this fact, the hierarchy has stressed that the Charismatic Renewal (which is largely led by women) must remain under clerical con- trol and should avoid interacting with Pentecostal and Charismatic Protestants.24

Indigenization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Pentecostalism

The growth of the largely overlooked independent and indigenous Latino Pentecostal Movement helps explain the rapid growth of Pentecostalism throughout Latin America and the United States. There are three major reasons why this process took place so early in Latin American Pentecos- talism. First, many early Pentecostal missionaries like Henry C. Ball (1896–1989), who was the Superintendent of the Assemblies of God work in Latin America in the 1940s, pushed for self-supporting, self-propagating,

Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 131; Barrett et al., World Christian Trends.

Phillip Berryman wrote, “The Catholic Charismatic movement renewal, Trigo, and SINE have a number of Evangelical-like features in common. All emphasize the Bible…. They see their primary role as evangelizing Catholics to the point where they accept Jesus as their personal Savior, and they propound a morality centered on the individual and fam- ily. Yet their devotion to the Virgin Mary and respect for the Pope mark them as distinctly and conservatively Roman Catholic.”As cited in Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America, 69–70; Hallum, Beyond Missionaries, 88–90; Espinosa, “‘Let the Spirit Fly,’” 1–30.

275

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 276

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

and self-governing indigenous churches. Second, indigenous “indepen- dent” U.S. Latino Pentecostal preachers from the Azusa Street Revival, such as Abundio L. López, A.C. Valdez, Susie Villa Valdez, Brígido Pérez, Luís López, and Juan Martínez Navarro, along with other evangelists such as Juan Lugo, Francisco Llorente, Antonio Castañeda Nava, Francisco Olazábal, Carlos Sepúlveda, Matilde Vargas, and Leoncia Rosado Rosseau began conducting evangelistic work in the U.S. and Latin America in the early twentieth century. Third, Pentecostal churches and districts went through a number of schisms and fragmented or developed into new inde- pendent and indigenous denominations (or concilios—councils), which in turn did the same. It is precisely the indigenization and localized reartic- ulation of Pentecostalism in the regional vernacular language, culture, and customs of the people that help explain its phenomenal growth.25

The chronic fragmentation and indigenization of the Pentecostal Movement in Latin America is one of the primary reasons why the move- ment has been able to adapt and spread throughout Latin America over the past one hundred years. In fact, the majority of Latin American Pentecostals are now part of independent (36 million) rather than classi- cal (29 million) Pentecostal denominations. Most scholars have overlooked the rapid growth of independent Pentecostalism. The vast majority of Latin America’s 1,991 Pentecostal denominations and councils are independent (1,767) rather than tied to classical (224) Pentecostal bodies with historic ties to the U.S. This fragmentation thesis hypothesizes that Pentecostal leaders invoke direct unmediated experiences with God as a pretext or basis for splitting off from an existing denomination to form another in an effort to restore Christianity back to its apostolic roots as described in the Acts of the Apostles.26

Contrary to popular perception, one of the ﬁrst Latin American coun- tries to indigenize the Pentecostal message was Mexico. Although the

Anonymous, “C. Juárez, Mexico,” El Mensajero Cristiano (January 1927): 24; anony- mous, “Notas del Campo,” El Mensajero Cristian, (January 1938): 10; Bowen, Evangelism and Apostasy, 149–57; anonymous, “Notas del Campo,” El Mensajero Cristiano (September 1938): 6–7, 10–11; anonymous, “Décima Convención,” El Mensajero Cristiano (November 1938): 4–7; Hallum, Beyond Missionaries, 30, 50–51; Gastón Espinosa, “Borderland Religion: Los Angeles and the Origins of the Latino Pentecostal Movement in the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico, 1900–1945,” Ph.D. diss., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1999, 117– 35, 155–71, 226–27, 252, 255–68; Gastón Espinosa, “El Azteca: Francisco Olazábal and Latino Pentecostal Charisma, Power, and Faith Healing in the Borderlands,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 67, no. 3 (September 1999): 597–616.

For evidence, see n. 25.

276

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 277

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

arismatics.

Table 3

U.S. Latino Catholic Charismatic and Protestant Pentecostal Afﬁliates

Latin American and

Catholic Protestant Classic Independent All Pentecostal Pentecostal

* The number and percentage of Pentecostals and Charismatics are based on combining all Protestant Pentecostals and Catholic Ch

Country Charistmatic Pentecostal Pentecostal Pentecostal & Charismatics* Denominations

Brazil 35,000,000 21% 41,000,000 24% 21,000,000 12% 20,000,000 12% 76,000,000 45% 414–10/404

Chile 1,600,000 11% 3,700,000 24% 71,000 1% 3,600,000 24% 5,400,000 35% 189–6/183

Guatemala 850,000 8% 1,900,000 17% 790,000 7% 1,100,000 10% 2,800,000 25% 57–7/50

El Salvador 397,000 6% 1,100,000 18% 400,000 7% 690,000 11% 1,500,000 24%

Puerto Rico 490,000 13% 620,000 16% 290,000 8% 325,000 8% 1,100,000 29% 63–6/57

United States 5,400,000 16% 3,800,000 12% 9,200,000 28% 150-estimate

Nicaragua 220,000 4% 610,000 12% 310,000 4% 300,000 8% 822,000 16%

Panama 200,000 7% 380,000 13% 300,000 10% 86,000 3% 580,000 20%

Honduras 480,000 8% 690,000 11% 450,000 7% 240,000 4% 1,200,000 19%

Argentina 5,000,000 13% 3,900,000 11% 1,700,000 5% 2,200,000 6% 9,000,000 24% 95–8/87

Venezuela 3,200,000 13% 1,400,000 6% 620,000 3% 740,000 3% 4,500,000 19%

Mexico 9,200,000 9% 4,300,000 5% 1,000,000 1% 3,300,000 4% 13,500,000 14% 166–7/159

Colombia 10,900,000 26% 1,300,000 3% 410,000 1% 910,000 2% 12,300,000 29% 100–9/91

277

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 278

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

Pentecostal movement in Mexico was shaped by Anglo-American and Swedish Pentecostal missionaries such as Clarissa Nuzum, George and Carrie Judd Montgomery, H.C. and Sunshine Ball, Alice E. Luce, and Axel and Ester Andersson, as alluded to earlier, the ﬁrst Pentecostal evangelists to spread the movement to Mexico and organize a church were indepen- dent Latino Pentecostals from the United States. After attending the fabled Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906, such Mexicans as Abundio L. and Rosa López, A.C. Valdez, Brígido Pérez, Luís López, and Juan Martínez Navarro spread Pentecostalism to Mexicans living along the U.S.- Mexico border between 1906 and 1909, some of whom no doubt returned to Mexico with their newfound faith. Furthermore, Romanita Carbajal de Valenzuela left the Spanish Apostolic Faith Mission in 1914 in Los Angeles to spread the Pentecostal message in her hometown of Villa Aldama, Chihuahua, Mexico, where she converted a Methodist pastor named Ruben Ortéga to Pentecostalism and helped plant the ﬁrst known Pentecostal church in Mexico. The independent and indigenous Mexican work received a shot in the arm when Francisco Olazábal returned to his homeland in the 1920s and 1930s to hold large evangelistic campaigns in Mexico City, Ciudad Juárez, Nogales, Mazatlán, and other parts of Mexico. Not long after the Mexican Revolution simmered down, after 1930 the Mexican government required that all foreign denominations hand over the leader- ship of their movements to Mexican nationals. This led to the nationaliza- tion and indigenization of almost all Anglo-American and Swedish-controlled Pentecostal and Protestant denominations in Mexico. Subsequently, it led to a number of internal struggles for control of the new denominations and to denominational fragmentation that birthed a number of new inde- pendent and indigenous denominations. Today there are more than 159 independent and completely indigenous Pentecostal denominations in Mexico that have no administrative, ﬁnancial, or emotional ties to the United States. They serve more than 4.3 million Protestant Pentecostals in Mexico. However, a growing number of indigenous Mexican denomi- nations, such as the Apostolic Church of the Faith in Jesus Christ, have set up churches and missions among the Mexican Diaspora living in the United States.27

A similar indigenization process took place in Puerto Rico. Although an Anglo-American woman was probably the ﬁrst person to preach the

Espinosa, “Borderland Religion,” esp. 252, 141–60, 170–71, 279–80, 286–87; Espinosa, “El Azteca”; Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 495–97.

278

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 279

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

Pentecostal message in Puerto Rico in 1909, the ﬁrst person to plant a lasting Pentecostal work on the island was Juan León Lugo (1890–1984). After being converted to the Pentecostal Movement by some Puerto Ricans who were themselves converted by Azusa Street Revival (1906–1909) par- ticipants that stopped off in the Hawaiian Islands, he took the Pentecostal message to California (1913) and New York City (1916) before taking it on to his native Puerto Rico in August 1916. He spread the Pentecostal message throughout the island and incorporated his work in 1922 as the Pentecostal Church of God in cooperation with the Assemblies of God. In 1931, he helped pioneer the Pentecostal work among the Puerto Rican Diaspora living in New York City. That same year Francisco Olazábal arrived in Spanish Harlem. At the invitation of some of his converts in New York City, in 1934 and in 1936 he conducted two large-scale evan- gelistic healing campaigns in Puerto Rico. Thousands were converted. His campaign broke the monopoly that Juan Lugo and the Assemblies of God enjoyed over the Pentecostal work on the island. His campaign also led to the creation of a number of indigenous Pentecostal bodies. Twenty years later in 1957, the Pentecostal Church of God based in Puerto Rico split off from the Assemblies of God in the U.S. because their leaders believed they were being discriminated against. The Pentecostal Church of God is now the largest Protestant denomination on the island, followed by the Seventh-day Adventists, the Assemblies of God, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Today there are 63 Pentecostal denominations in Puerto Rico, 57 of which are independent bodies. In 2000, more than 1.1 million Puerto Ricans (28 percent of the population) on the island were part of the Protestant and Catholic Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, 867,000 of whom were Protestant.28

Despite the growth of independent Pentecostal denominations in Mexico and Puerto Rico, the country that has experienced the most rapid inde- pendent Pentecostal growth is Brazil. Today there are 50 million Protestants in Brazil, the vast majority (41 million) of whom are Pentecostal or Charismatic. They make up almost one third (29 percent) of all Brazilians today. Although the Assemblies of God is the largest Protestant body with approximately 20 million afﬁliates, the next ﬁve largest Protestant denom- inations (with 1.8 million adherents or more) in Brazil are independent

Espinosa, “Borderland Religion,” 184–245; Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 612–15. David Ramos Torres, Historia de la Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal, M.I. (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Pentecostal, 1992).

279

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 280

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

and indigenous Pentecostal denominations such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, the God is Love Pentecostal Church, the Cornerstone Gospel Church, Brazil for Christ, and the Christian Congregation of Brazil. Furthermore, there are another 400 independent and indigenous Pentecostal denominations operating in Brazil.29 The HCAPL national survey found that the top three largest Latino Protestant traditions in the U.S. are all Pentecostal and two of these are independent.30

Latin American Evangelization of U.S. Latinos

One of the most important results of the rapid growth of the Pentecostal Movement in Latin America is the decision of a growing number of inde- pendent and indigenous Pentecostal bodies to send missionaries to evan- gelize Latino citizens and immigrants in the United States. The U.S. Latino population is the fourth largest Spanish-speaking “country” or population in the Americas. This has not been lost on mission-minded Latin American Pentecostal denominations and leaders who want to set up churches in the U.S. Although there is no ofﬁcial count of how many independent and indigenous denominations in Latin America have sent missionaries to the U.S. mainland, I would estimate this number to be well over 150. Among independent Latin American Pentecostals, it is a status symbol to say that you have missionaries and churches in the largest and most powerful country on earth.

Perhaps the best example of the “back to the future” phenomena of Latin American Pentecostals returning to the United States to spread Pentecostalism is the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. The sec- ond largest Protestant body in Brazil after the Assemblies of God, the Universal Church has grown from the preaching of Edir Macedo (born in 1944) in a largely empty funeral parlor in 1977 to more than 4 million people in 2000. He came to the U.S. in 1986 to initiate the work person- ally. Since then, the Church has planted at least twenty-ﬁve mother churches and a number of preaching points in most of the major Spanish-speaking barrios in the U.S. Most of these churches serve as the basis for planting

Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 135–38.

The three largest Latino Protestant traditions (and not necessarily single denomina- tions) in the U.S. are the Assemblies of God, the Assembly of Christian Churches (a Pentecostal denomination and offshoot of Francisco Olazábal’s ministry), and the Pentecostal Church of God. The Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus also tied for the tenth largest Latino non-Catholic Christian tradition in the U.S.

280

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 281

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

new churches throughout a given metropolitan area. At least two Universal Church bishops residing in the U.S. oversee the work. The Universal Church is also targeting English-speaking Anglo- and African-Americans. In addition, they publish, ¡PARE de Sufrir! (Stop Suffering!), which has a U.S. circulation of 50,000. The Universal Church is exporting its “high octane” version of Pentecostalism to the U.S., with evangelistic crusades, divine healing services, and public exorcisms. They also use the latest technology and radio and television to spread their message.31

Not nearly as sophisticated, yet no less determined, are the hundreds of missionaries from Mexico’s Apostolic Church of the Faith in Jesus Christ, the Light of the World Church, Puerto Rico’s Pentecostal Church of God, MI., Guatemala’s Church of Christ, Final Call, and other Latin American Pentecostal denominations that are setting up missions and churches among the Latin American Diaspora in the U.S. They and other independent Pentecostal denominations are aggressively competing for the heart and soul of the Latino community along with Anglo-American and native U.S. Latino Pentecostal denominations such as the Hispanic Districts of the Assemblies of God, the Assembly of Christian Churches, the Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus, Victory Outreach International, and other Pentecostal/Charismatic traditions. These new Latin American imports are theologically and socially diverse. For although the Light of the World Church requires men and women to sit on different sides of the aisles and for women to wear a veil and refrain from cutting their hair and wearing cosmetics, jewelry, or pants, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God uses drama skits, Christian pop music, radio, and television to reach young and old alike. Comportment does not seem to be a major issue for them. Furthermore, although some foreign imports, such as the Apostolic Church of the Faith in Jesus Christ, are non-trinitarian and Oneness in theology, others, such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, are trini- tarian. The long-term impact of these bodies on U.S. Latino Pentecostalism and Christianity are uncertain, although it would seem reasonable to sug- gest that they will reinforce traditional Latin American values and moral- ity in American Christianity.32

Gastón Espinosa, “Universal Church of the Kingdom of God,” in Burgess, ed., The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 1165–66.

Espinosa, “Borderland Religion,” 141–60. Espinosa, “Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus,”“Hispanic Districts of the Assemblies of God,”“Victory Outreach International,” as cited in Burgess, ed., The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 320–21, 829–30, 1175; see also 840–41.

281

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 282

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

Another important development is the inﬂuence that Latin American Pentecostalism is having on Anglo-American Pentecostalism. Perhaps the best example of this is the fact that the founders of the Toronto Blessing Revival in Canada trace their spiritual genealogy back to the Pentecostal revival in Argentina. The Toronto Blessing, the longest such revival in North American history, has in turn helped inspire and inﬂuence the Brownsville revival in Florida.33 This revival has had a direct impact on American and Canadian Pentecostal subcultures. In many respects, we are witnessing a back-to-the-future phenomenon with Latin American Pentecostal evangelists taking their Azusa Street-like message of salvation and divine healing on speaking tours in Anglo-American Pentecostal churches across the U.S. and Canada. The four most famous Argentine evangelists that minister in the U.S. are Carlos Annacondia, Claudio Friedzon, Alberto Mottessi, and Omar Cabrera. Their enormous churches and revival services, which have drawn up to 60,000 people in Argentina, have been closely followed in American Pentecostal circles and have received major multi-page coverage in the most important interdenomi- national Pentecostal magazine in the United States, Charisma. The atten- tion that Annacondia, Friedzon, Mottessi, and Cabrera have received through their speaking tours, books, videos, and revivals in Latin America and in the U.S. has prompted a growing number of American Pentecostal lead- ers to adopt their strategies and even to travel to Latin America to visit their churches in order to bring back to the U.S. new methods and strate- gies for their own ministries.34 American and Canadian Pentecostal leaders are also following similar revival movements in Brazil and Guatemala.35 Finally, although we lack the space to explore fully here, there is anec-

James A. Beverley stated that John Arnott, the leader of the now famous Toronto Blessing Revival in Toronto, Canada, was inﬂuenced and “anointed” by the Argentine Pentecostal evangelist Claudio Friedzon. This revival has had a very important impact on other Pentecostal revivals in the United States, such as the Brownsville and Pensacola Revivals in Florida. James A. Beverley, Holy Laughter and The Toronto Blessing (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995), 14.

Ed Silvoso, “When God Came to Argentina: Special Report,” Charisma (April 1998): 90–92, 110, 112; Billy Bruce, “Pensacola Revival Marks Third Year,” Charisma (August 1998): 16–17; Cindy Jacobs, “Breaking the Spirit of Death in Argentina,” Charisma (May 1999): 58–60; Stephen Strang, “Spreading Argentina’s Fire,” Charisma (August 1999): 106; Andy Butcher, “Argentine Revival Leaders Spread Their Fervor at Charisma ’99 Meetings,” Charisma (February 2000): 18.

“Be at the Epicenter of Global Prayer,” Charisma (May 1998): 23; “Robertson Reaches 1 Million Brazilians,” Charisma (August 1998): 13; Mauricio Zagari, “Scandal Forces Prominent Brazilian Evangelist Caio Fabio to Resign,” Charisma (December 1999): 36.

282

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 283

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

dotal evidence to suggest that Latin American Catholic Charismatics are contributing to the spread of the Catholic Charismatic movement among U.S. Latinos. Esther Garzón, Marilynn Kramar’s right-hand assistant for the past thirty years, is a classic example of this phenomenon. Women have played and continue to play a critical role in the Latino Charismatic movement.36

The result of Latin American Pentecostal missionary work in the U.S., along with high levels of immigration from countries with large Pen- tecostal/Charismatic populations, is that a very high percentage of U.S. Latinos are Pentecostal/Charismatic. The HCAPL national survey found that Latinos of Mexican, El Salvadorian, Guatemalan, Colombian, and Cuban descent are Pentecostal/Charismatic at a higher rate than found in their country of origin. This may be due to the immigration of Protestant Pentecostals and Catholic Charismatics to the U.S. at a higher rate than non-Pentecostals/Charismatics. Although evidence is lacking for all of Latin America, scholars have recently found that Mexican Protestants immigrate to the U.S. at more than twice (15 percent) their percentage of the national Mexican population (7.2 percent). This may also be true for Latin Americans that come from countries with large Protestant popula- tions (e.g., Guatemala, El Salvador) and/or from countries in which there is acute discrimination, persecution, and other forms of historic social dis- enfranchisement (e.g., Cuba, Mexico, Colombia). In total, there are 20 million Pentecostal/Charismatic Protestants and Catholics in the six largest Latin American sending countries to the United States.37

Catholic—Pentecostal Cooperation

The growth of Protestant Pentecostalism has prompted some Catholic leaders to seek out creative ways to work together on common causes. This is an incredibly difﬁcult task because of the deep animosity that exists between Pentecostal Protestants and Catholics in Latin America. This ani- mosity is hard to overcome when Pentecostals accuse the Pope of being the “Antichrist” and Catholics of practicing “idolatry” because they “wor- ship” the Virgin Mary and the saints. Still others insult Catholic leaders by claiming that the devil runs “rampant” in Catholic convents and monas- teries, where “nuns have abortions” and “priests spread homosexuality.”

See n. 36.

Jasso et al., “Exploring the Religious Preferences of Recent Immigrants to the United States,” 52–81.

283

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 284

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

Table 4

Combined Protestant and Catholic Pentecostal/Charismatic Religious Afﬁliation from the 6 Largest Latin American Immigrant Sending Countries to the U.S.

Pentecostal/Charismatic* Pentecostal/Charismatic* Pentecostal/Charismatic* Country/Territory Percent Nat’l Pop Percent in U.S. Latino Total Adherents by Country

1. Puerto Rico 27% 25% 1,025,000 2. El Salvador 24% 32% 1,480,000 3. Guatemala 22% 36% 2,490,000 4. Mexico 13% 26% 13,050,000 5. Dominican Republic 11% 29% 1,410,000 6. Cuba 5% 23% 571,000

Sub-Total 20,026,000 7. United States (Latinos only) 28% 9,200,000

Grand Total 29,226,000

* The number and percentage of Pentecostals and Charismatics are based on combining all Protestant Pentecostal and Catholic Charismatics.

In similarly sharp rhetoric, in 1992 at the Latin American Conference of Catholic Bishops Pope John Paul II accused Pentecostals and other “sects” of being “rapacious wolves” and “pseudo-spiritual movements” that were devouring Latin American Catholics and caused “division and discord in our communities.” Girolamo Prigione, the Vatican representative to Mexico, said that the “Protestant sects… divide… families and denationalize the country, sow confusion, and originate strife.” This is why he “condemned” them. He concluded by saying that “the sects, like ﬂies, need to be thrown out.”38

Despite the real hostility that exists between Latino Protestants and Catholics in the Americas, there is a small but growing trend toward ecu- menical/interdenominational cooperation. Brian H. Smith notes that Pentecostals and Catholics have joined forces on moral issues in a num- ber of Latin American countries to promote family values, oppose any measures to legalize abortion or homosexual marriage, ﬁght corruption and military dictatorships, and champion human rights and social justice. In Costa Rica, for example, a number of Catholic and Pentecostal ministers joined forces in 1993 to oppose a legislative proposal that would instruct

Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America, 4, 14–19, 62, 92–93; Bowen, Evangelism and Apostasy, 60, 127–28; Hallum, Beyond Missionaries, 86.

284

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 285

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

high school students on how to have safe sex outside of marriage. Similarly in Chile in 1995, some Catholics and Pentecostals worked together to oppose a new law that would grant equal rights to gays and lesbians. In Central America, some Pentecostals collaborated with Catholic Christian base com- munities to aid those attacked by right-wing militias. In Brazil, Bishop Manoel de Mello of the Brazil for Christ denomination praised Catholic bishops for speaking out against human rights violations and sharply crit- icized evangelicals for remaining silent. There are also other examples of Catholic and Protestant scholars working together in seminary education and in writing church histories. Smith argues that there are three possible future scenarios for Catholic-Pentecostal interaction: (1) mutually rein- forcing ﬂight from the world, whereby they focus on inward spirituality and neglect social responsibilities; (2) conﬂicting religio-political agen- das, whereby Catholics would support existing government structures while Pentecostals would defend free-market capitalism and political democ- racy; and (3) prophetic social catalysts moving in tandem for moral reform and social and political change. He is cautiously optimistic that they may move down this third path. The transdenominational and transnational Pentecostal/Charismatic movement may be one of the most important ecu- menical bridges available today. However, anti-Catholic bigotry and man- dates from the Catholic hierarchy that Catholic Charismatics should not invite Protestant Pentecostals to speak at Catholic Charismatic church- sponsored events undermine this potentially important ecumenical/inter- denominational bridge in Catholic-Pentecostal relations.39

This movement toward ecumenical/interdenominational cooperation between Latino Pentecostals and Catholics is moving ahead at a much faster pace in the United States. A number of seminary programs, insti- tutes, and conferences, such as the now defunct Fund for Theological Education (FTE), Hispanic Summer Program, AETH, and the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI), have brought Latino Catholics, mainline Protestants, evangelicals, and Pentecostal students and/or faculty together for funding, seminary training, ministry workshops and seminars, and net- working opportunities. Another example of Pentecostal-Catholic cooperation

Smith writes, “Until this thorny constitutional issue of unequal treatment of denom- inations before the law is settled, there is little hope of any strategic alliance between Catholics and Pentecostal.” Sigmund, Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America, 23–24; Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America, 14–19, 37, 39–41, 44–45, 57–60, 69–70, 85–99; Hallum, Beyond Missionaries, 88-95; Sigmund, Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America, 40.

285

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 286

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

was the recent Pew Charitable Trusts—funded $1.3—million Hispanic Churches in American Public Life (HCAPL) research project. Jesse Miranda, a Pentecostal, and Virgilio Elizondo, a Roman Catholic, directed the HCAPL project. It was an ecumenical and nonsectarian study that sought to exam- ine the impact of religion on political, civic, and social engagement among U.S. Latinos.40 It is important to note that The Pew Charitable Trusts ﬁrst approached Jesse Miranda about directing the study himself. In an effort to build bridges with the Latino Catholic community, however, he informed the Trusts that he would not accept the project unless they brought on a Latino Catholic leader like Virgilio Elizondo to codirect the project. The Pew Charitable Trusts agreed. Miranda and Elizondo agreed to work together to address the social, political, and civic needs of the Latino com- munity without having to set aside or “water down” their deep theologi- cal convictions. So although they disagree profoundly on a number of theological positions, they have agreed to work together for the sake of the larger Latino community on social and civic issues and have, as a result, developed a strong friendship.

Impact of These Trends on Latin American Religions and Society

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity is transforming Latin American society in at least four major ways. First, Pentecostalism is contributing to denominational and religious pluralism. By mid-2000, the number of Pentecostals, evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Anglicans, Orthodox, other non-Catholic Christians, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses had grown to 96 million throughout Latin America south of the U.S. border, and 104 million if we include U.S. Latinos. On top of this, another 38 million Latin Americans practice a world religion other than Christianity (e.g., Judaism, Bahai, Hindu, Buddhism, Chinese folk reli- gions, Shintoists, Spiritism, and Native American traditions) or are non- religious or atheist. In total, 140 million Latin Americans (out of 519 million) south of the U.S. border no longer identify primarily as Roman Catholic. By 2025, the number of Catholics is expected to grow to 606 million and the number of non-Catholics is expected to reach 213 million, or 30 percent of all Latin Americans.41

Espinosa et al., Hispanic Churches in American Public Life, 13.

Pedro C. Moreno, “Evangelical Churches,” in Sigmund, Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America, 57; Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 14.

286

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 287

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

Second, the growth of non-Catholic traditions in Latin America has prompted a growing number of religious, lay, and political leaders to call for religious tolerance and the separation of church and state. In Colombia, where the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, the Catholic Church is given a privileged status and Catholicism is taught in all public schools. It was only after Pentecostals, Protestants, and Jews pushed for religious toleration that the government decided to grant tax-exempt status to Protestant churches and Jewish synagogues in Colombia in 1975. In Argentina and Chile, Protestants and Jews have also demanded that they be afforded the same kinds of rights and ﬁnancial subsidies given to their Catholic counterparts.42 The push for the separation of church and state has been particularly acute in countries with large and growing Protestant populations like Guatemala and El Salvador, where Catholicism has ofﬁcial state sponsorship. Protestant growth has translated into political power. In 1974 General Ernesto Geisel, a Protestant, became president of Brazil, and in 1982 General Efraín Ríos Montt, a member of a Pentecostal denom- ination, became president of Guatemala after a coup d’état. In Guatemala, Jorge Serrano Elías, a former Catholic Charismatic who joined a Protestant Pentecostal denomination, was the ﬁrst Protestant to be democratically elected president of a Latin American country in 1990. In fact, between 1980 and 1994, twenty-four evangelical political parties were created in eleven Latin American countries. These parties pushed for the separation of church and state and for removing all special privileges afforded the Catholic Church that were not also extended to Protestants.43 The grow- ing number of non-Catholic religious minorities calling for religious tolerance, pluralism, and the separation of church and state are chipping away at the historic Catholic religious establishment. In some countries, Protestants are calling for an end to government support, special status,

For an excellent examination of evangelicals in Latin American politics, particularly Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, see Freston, Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa and Latin America; Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 73–75, 133–34, 188, 204, 244, 257; Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America, 60–62.

These ﬁndings and all other statistics on Latin America in this essay are based on statistical analyses performed by Todd M. Johnson and Peter Crossing at the Center for the Study of World Christianity in the summer of 2003. They are more up-to-date than those found in the WCE. For a discussion see Bowen, Evangelism and Apostasy, 4, 212–16; Hallum, Beyond Missionaries, 106–12; Freston, Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa and Latin America, 11–60, 263–80; Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America, 43–45.

287

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 288

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

legal privileges, ﬁnancial subsidies for Catholic schools, and the secular- ization of marriage.44

Third, the growth of Pentecostal, evangelical, and other non-Catholic traditions is contributing to the democratization of Latin America. Although, to be sure, some Pentecostals and evangelicals have supported military dictators like Efrain Ríos Montt, a surprising number have been out- spokenly critical of military dictatorships, right-wing military regimes, and government repression. Furthermore, a small number have also been sympathetic to leftist causes. Brian H. Smith has argued that while some Protestant politicians came to power as a result of a coup d’état, they have been no more likely to support dictators and the CIA than their Catholic counterparts. In fact, the growth of Pentecostal groups has contributed to a growing emphasis on freedom of religion, freedom of thought, and free- dom of conscience. Given the fact that they are a religious minority, many Protestants have emphasized the need for open and corruption-free elec- tions in order to guarantee religious toleration and to change the legal sys- tem so that Protestants as well as Catholics beneﬁt from state subsidies and protection.

The growth of religious pluralism, the push for the separation of church and state, and the democratization of Latin American society are all con- tributing to a fourth development, which is the revitalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Catholicism, by making it more competitive and sensitive to the needs of poor and working-class Catholics and non- Catholics. Although the Cursillo, liberation theology, and the Christian Base Communities movements have all made the Catholic hierarchy and parish priests more sensitive to the needs of Latin American Catholics, the fear of apostasy and defections has brought this issue into sharper focus and given it a certain urgency.45 Furthermore, some Catholic bish- ops and priests are adopting some of the tactics, strategies, and spiritual- ity of their Pentecostal and Protestant counterparts. This is most evident in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal that is sweeping through Latin America.

Freston, Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa and Latin America, 100–3; Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America, 44–45, 52, 60–64, 80, 92, 94.

For an excellent analyses of the impact of religious pluralism and proselytism on Latin American Catholicism and society, see Sigmund, Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America. Particularly insightful are the chapters on the Catholic Church, Evangelical Churches, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. Also see ibid., 6–7; Smith, Religious Politics in Latin America , 4, 62, 92.

288

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 289

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

Impact of these Trends on U.S. Latino Religions and Society

These trends and developments in Latin American religions are con- tributing to ﬁve important developments in American and Latino religions in the United States. First, the massive level of immigration from Latin America is contributing to the re-Christianization of American religions because they are Christian (92 percent) at a higher rate than the general U.S. public (76 percent). In fact, the U.S. Latino population grew by 58 percent between 1990 and 2000, going from 22.4 million to 35.4 million. Furthermore, they have higher birthrates than the average “American” family and make up more than one half (16.1 million) of the nation’s 31.1 million foreign-born residents. On top of this, 50 percent (8 million) of all Latin American immigrants to the U.S. come from Mexico, where 95 percent of the population is Christian. If U.S. Latino fertility, assimilation, and immigration rates from countries like Mexico remain at their present levels, there is good reason to believe that the overall number and percentage of Christians in American society may actually increase in the twenty-ﬁrst century. Thus, rather than seeing a secularization of American religion and culture, Latinos may actually contribute to a re-Christianization of American society, albeit with a more Catholic, Pentecostal/Charismatic, experiential, and hybrid Latin American ﬂair. This would seem indirectly to call into question the ﬁndings in Diana Eck’s path-breaking book, A New Religious America: How a “Christian Nation” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation, in which she may underestimate the seismic demographic changes that Latin American immigration to the U.S. may have on the future complexion and texture of American religions. Far from being less Christian, the inﬂux of millions of largely theologically, morally, and socially conservative Catholic, evangelical, and Pentecostal Latin American immigrants and other Christian immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa may contribute to an increase in the overall number and per- centage of Christians in the U.S. in the twenty-ﬁrst century. Thus, while the raw number of practitioners of world religions may increase, their per- centage of American society may actually decrease. In fact, we are just as likely to see what Phillip Jenkins, in his book The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, calls the re-evangelization of the for- merly Christian northern hemisphere by the hitherto scorned, poor, and

289

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 290

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

marginalized Christian southern hemisphere. As we have seen in this essay, this has already begun.46

The second development is related to the ﬁrst. The high levels of immi- gration from Latin America are contributing to the growth and Latinization of American Catholicism and the potential future Catholicization of American religions. Today Latinos make up 40 percent of all U.S. Catholics and are a major reason why the Church has increased in size over the past twenty years. In fact, there are 25 million Latino Catholics in the U.S. The growth of Latino Catholicism is largely the result of high Catholic birthrates and massive levels of immigration from countries with extremely high Catholic populations, such as Mexico and Colombia.47

Both of these developments are contributing to a third development that Steve Warner calls the “de-Europeanization” of American Christianity. He argues that the signiﬁcant levels of immigration from Latin America and other Catholic countries and regions are de-Europeanizing American Christianity. He found that at least two thirds of all immigrants to the United States after 1965 are Christians from such countries as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, Guatemala, the Philippines, El Salvador, Poland, Russia, and Ireland. Furthermore, immigrants from osten- sibly Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu-inﬂuenced countries such as Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and India are mostly (e.g., Korea) or disproportionately (e.g., India) Christian. This is also the case for a growing number of African immigrants from Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, and the Congo.48

The fourth important development for theologians and trend watchers is the heterodoxization of Latino Christianity in the Americas. There are

Kosmin, Myer, and Keysar claim that 76 percent of Americans maintain Christian allegiances. Barry A. Kosmin, Egon Myer, and Ariela Keysar, American Religious Identiﬁcation Survey (New York: Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 2001). Barrett, Kurian, and Johnson in the World Christian Encyclopedia report that the percentage of “professing Christians” is 84.7 percent. Barrett et al., World Christian Encyclopedia, 14, 772. U.S. Census Bureau, “Facts for Features Press Release: Hispanic Heritage Month 2002,” http://census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/cb02ff15.htm. Diana Eck, The New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001); Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).

Espinosa et al., Hispanic Churches in American Public Life, 14–16.

Warner, “The De-Europeanization of American Christianity”; Espinosa et al., Hispanic Churches in American Public Life.

290

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 291

The Pentecostalization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity

a growing number of Oneness or “Jesus Only” and other non-trinitarian theologically “heterodox” Pentecostal denominations making large num- bers of converts throughout Latin America and the U.S. Furthermore, Apostolic Assembly and other Oneness and Apostle-centered Pentecostals were in the top ten largest Latino non-Catholic Christian traditions in such countries as Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, and the U.S. Although it is well known that a small but growing number of U.S. Latinos are embracing non-Christian religions like Islam or Judaism, most scholars have overlooked the fact that alternative Christian traditions like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons are also growing both in Latin America and in the U.S. According to recent surveys, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are the numerically largest non-Catholic Latino “Christian” tradition (by self- deﬁnition) in Mexico, Cuba, and the U.S. Furthermore, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons are two of the top ten largest non-Catholic Christian traditions in many countries throughout Latin America. In fact, there are more Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons (1.1 million) in the U.S. than all Latino Baptists (1 million) combined.49

Conclusions

What can we conclude about the present trends in Latin American reli- gions and their subsequent impact on U.S. Latino and American religions? First, Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity are undergoing a Pentecostalization process that is helping to usher in a period of spiritual renewal throughout the Spanish-speaking Americas. Second, Latin American and U.S. Latino Protestant Pentecostals are independent and indigenous. Third, the growth of Pentecostalism in all of its myriad forms is con- tributing to the disestablishment of Roman Catholicism in many countries, the democratizing of Latin American politics, and the revitalization of Latin American Catholicism by making it more competitive. Fourth, these trends are contributing to the re-Christianization, de-Europeanization, Catholicization, Pentecostalization, heterodoxization, and Latinization of American religions. Fifth, these trends indicate that far from being con- trolled by Anglo-American missionaries or the CIA, Latin American Pentecostalism has gone through an indigenization and fragmentation process that has given birth to over 1,767 independent denominations and

Espinosa et al., Hispanic Churches in American Public Life , 14–15. Espinosa, “Demographic Shifts.”

291

Pneuma 26,2 f5_262-292I 2/27/06 11:56 AM Page 292

Pentecostal Theology, Volume 26, No. 2, Fall 2004

concilios that are beginning to transform not only the religious marketplace but also the political and social structure of Latin American society. Sixth, a small but noticeable number of Latino Pentecostals are joining mainline and evangelical Protestantism. Seventh, we are starting to see Catholics and Pentecostals begin to work together on key moral, social, and politi- cal issues on behalf of the Latino community. Eighth, we are seeing the rise of transdenominational forms of spirituality and religiosity that are producing new combinative and hybrid religious traditions that, although rooted in Pentecostalism, now have morphed into new and dynamic reli- gious traditions that will challenge not only Catholicism but also classi- cal forms of Protestant Pentecostalism. Finally, this study argues that David Martin and David Stoll’s religious reformation is much broader and more indigenous than originally hypothesized and that it will continue to reju- venate Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in Latin America well into the twenty-ﬁrst century.

292

The Pentecostalization Of Latin American And U.S. Latino Christianity

Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars

Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected

PentecostalTheology .com

Be first to comment Click here to cancel reply.

Cancel reply

Chapter 16 Revelation Chapter 16 In Revelation 11:14-18, we find…

Haber oku tuzla evden eve nakliyat

Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars

Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected

PentecostalTheology .com

Be first to comment Click here to cancel reply.

Cancel reply

Chapter 16 **Revelation Chapter 16** In Revelation 11:14-18, we find…

Haber oku tuzla evden eve nakliyat

Chapter 16 Revelation Chapter 16 In Revelation 11:14-18, we find…