The soul of development

About this book

This book examines the astounding recent growth of Protestantism in Central America and the social and economic consequences it has had for life in the region. Author Amy Sherman centers on a much debated issue: to what extent do the burgeoning evangelical populations of Latin America have an affinity for democratic capitalism? She chooses Guatemala as the focus of her study because of its significant evangelical population. Basing her work on information gathered during a field study, as well as a major national survey of one thousand rural Guatemalan households, Sherman seeks to discover how converts to Protestant Christianity seem to differ from their neighbors. She argues that when the poor of Guatemala embrace orthodox Christianity - as evangelicals or Roman Catholics - and leave behind the fatalistic localism of folk-Catholicism, or "Christo-paganism," they do indeed adopt new patterns of thinking and behaving which are demonstrably conducive to socio-economic advancement: This provocative study should be of great interest to students and scholars in the fields of religion, sociology, economic development, Latin American studies, and Third World development.