Pragmatic Consumers and Practical Products: The Success of Pneumacentric Religion among Women in Latin America's New Religious Economy

The development of a free-market religious economy in Latin America over the past half-century has resulted in a profileration of new spiritual enterprises. In the highly competitive popular religious marketplace where spiritual goods are produced, offered, and consumed by the region's impoveri...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chesnut, R. Andrew 1964- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: 2003
In: Review of religious research
Year: 2003, Volume: 45, Issue: 1, Pages: 20-31
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:The development of a free-market religious economy in Latin America over the past half-century has resulted in a profileration of new spiritual enterprises. In the highly competitive popular religious marketplace where spiritual goods are produced, offered, and consumed by the region's impoverished majority, pneumacentric or spirit-centered groups have prospered like no others. Pentecostalism, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and African diasporan faiths have been successful in their appeal to popular religious consumers to the point that they have cornered the market of faith among the disprivileged of the region. Since the great majority of Latin American religious consumers are women, any religious enterprise interested in growing must produce and market spiritual goods and services that meet the specific tastes and preferences of those who constitute the majority of the market. Thus, employing the theoretical tools of religious economy, this article analyzes the success of the three major pneumacentric enterprises among Latin American women of the popular classes.
ISSN:2211-4866
Contains:Enthalten in: Review of religious research
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.2307/3512497