Latin America is undergoing a period of intense religious transformation and upheaval. This book analyzes some of the more important new discoveries about religious movements in the region. It examines important shifts such as the expansion and politicization of Protestantism, the ongoing transformation of the Catholic church, the growth of Afro-Brazilian religions, and the genuine pluralization of faith.

This collection of articles is based on an earlier book in Spanish, entitled Algo más que opio, which was published in 1991 by DEI in Costa Rica. The present edition appears in response to the accelerated rate of expansion in recent years of the region's Pentecostalism. The editors have updated the original edition with five chapters (three written by Latin American anthropologists) as well as three revised chapters. Two chapters were translated without modification. In this diverse collection, the authors address the expansion of Pentecostalism; the gender dimension; the analysis of discourse and practice; the power dimension; comparisons with similar, competing groups; the urban/rural comparison; and the contribution of Pentecostalism to the resolution of social problems.

A study of heroism in the myths of the world - an exploration of all the elements common to the great stories that have helped people make sense of their lives from the earliest times. It takes in Greek Apollo, Maori and Jewish rites, the Buddha, Wotan, and the bothers Grimm's Frog-King.

During the 1980s in Argentina, what had hitherto seemed an inexpungible Catholic dominion gave way to dozens of different forms of religious expression. Many were latent forms which blossomed in that decade by winning the media and the man and woman in the street. Pentacostalism flourished the most, as it has in other parts of Latin America. Why did this happen? What economic, political, cultural, social and religious factors explain this phenomenon? As an ethnographic study, this book probes answers to these questions by illustrating how people of a particular neighborhood of Buenos Aires have come to choose their denomination. Choices, however, are not disconnected from the way society as a whole functions. Thus, the stories and the neighborhood are situated within a global context. This specific approach, which is done by drawing on the theory of practice and the concept of social identity, provides insights that challenge some of the more widely accepted theories explaining the growth of Pentecostalism in Latin America, especially the perceptions of Martin, Stoll and Brusco concerning Latin American culture and social dynamics.