| Summary: | 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.
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