Prolegomenon to religious revolutions in Latin America

Abstract

It has become incresingly apparent in recent years that those who would have like to see "progressive" Catholicism and the ideas associated with Liberation Theology become powerful force for change in the Church and in society have been disappointed. In contrast the headlong growth of the Pentecostal variety of Protestantism which is commonly identified with modern North American culture has surprised and even shocked many observers. Based on field work in Salvador (Bahia), this article compares these two movements and shows what divides them and also what they have in common, in the light of their approaches to popular culture, the models of development they embody, and their insertion in the phenomenon of globalization.