Conservative Christian Competitors: Pentecostals and Charismatic Catholics in Latin America's New Religious Economy (original) (raw)

In Latin America's religious economy, the most remarkable trend over the past several decades has been the rise in popularity of two Christian denominations-Pentecostalism and, more recently, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Both groups offer their adherents pneumacentric worship, which involves direct communion with the Holy Spirit and intervention to heal suffering. Their success points to the decline of the traditional Catholic Church from its hegemony in the Latin American religious marketplace, and in increasing demand among the region's religious consumers for a conservative brand of Christian worship. L atin America in recent decades has experienced a trend towards open markets in the economic realm and greater pluralism in the political and cultural realms. These fundamental social changes have a corollary in religion. The development of commercial market economies and rise of cultural and political pluralism have taken place concurrently with the transformation of the Latin American religious landscape. As with economic liberalization and political plurality, the rise of a free economy of faith has increased the choices available to Latin American religious consumers, who had historically been monopolized by the traditional Catholic Church. In this context, Latin Americans are increasingly choosing the religious products offered by Charismatic Christianity-a fundamentally conservative brand of the Christian religion.