RT Article
T1 Migrant Pentecostalism and the rise of Latin American street preachers in Barcelona
JF Journal of contemporary religion
VO 39
IS 2
SP 291
OP 308
A1 Montañés Jiménez, Antonio
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1897434154
AB Street preaching can be defined as a religious practice in which evangelists seek to spread their Christian faith and messages to unknown people in open-air and free transit spaces (e.g. parks, avenues, boulevards, squares). Because of the increasing presence of street preachers in the streets of Barcelona, Spain, encountering evangelists or ‘being approached’ has become intrinsic to the urban experience of some inhabitants. Using a qualitative methodology based on in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations, I explore why and how Pentecostal believers—many of whom are from Latin American backgrounds—engage in street preaching in Barcelona. In so doing, I seek to engage in conversations about the visibility of religious minorities’ performance in European urban settings and contribute to the ‘reverse mission’ debate in World Christianity as well as to the study of migrant Pentecostalism in Europe. I argue that, in order to understand why some Pentecostal Latin American believers venture into urban spaces, it is crucial to complement recruitment-based approaches with perspectives that re-conceptualise street preaching from a social, ethnic, and spatial standpoint. I suggest that street preaching intertwines with Christian beliefs, moral representations of the city, and ethnic concerns and acts as a critical medium through which street preachers claim a space for God in the city of Barcelona.
K1 Barcelona
K1 Religious Minorities
K1 Latin American believers
K1 Evangelisation
K1 migrant Pentecostalism
K1 Street preaching
DO 10.1080/13537903.2024.2347046