The Third Church in Latin America: Religion and Globalization in Contemporary Latin America

Competitive Spirits: Latin America's New Religious Economy. By R. Andrew Chesnut. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. 170. $50.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.)

Between Babel And Pentecost: Transnational Pentecostalism In Africa and Latin America. Edited by André Corten and Ruth Marshall-Fratani. (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2001. Pp. 312. $49.95 cloth, $22.95 paper.)

Reinventing Religions: Syncretism and Transformation In Africa And The Americas. Edited by Sidney M. Greenfield and André Droogers. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. Pp. 232. $65.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.)

Religions/Globalizations: Theories And Cases. Edited by Dwight N. Hopkins, Lois Ann Lorentzen, Eduardo Mendieta and David Batstone. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001. Pp. 259. $64.95 cloth, $19.95 paper.)

The Next Christendom: The Coming Of Global Christianity. By Philip Jenkins. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Pp. 270. $28.00 cloth, 14.95 paper.)

Christianity, Social Change, and Globalization In The Americas. By Anna A. Peterson, Manuel Vásquez and Philip J. Williams. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2001. Pp. 259. $60.00 cloth, $22.00 paper.)

All the works reviewed in this essay, to one degree or another, examine how religion and globalization are intertwined within transnationalized societies. Most of these works lie on the cutting edge of new research on religion in Latin America. Several of the studies invite us to try out new models (such as the idea of a "religious supermarket") for understanding the variety of roles that religion can play in hypermodern, or globalized, societies. Others are notable for their general willingness to move beyond some of the weary clichés that have weighted down the study of religious change in Latin America, such as the much-ballyhooed North American association with Protestantism. All of the studies reviewed here accept the premise that Roman Catholicism no longer enjoys a religious monopoly in Latin America, but most also point out that Catholicism, particularly in its syncretic and in its charismatic forms, continues to be a vigorous competitor in the de-regulated religious marketplace.

Several of these works also suggest not long into this century, Christianity will not longer be considered so much a "Western" religion associated with colonialism and domination, but a polycentric, transnational force that, increasingly, has its two main centers in Latin America and Africa. Both regions, where Christianity's numbers swell from both rising birthrates and increasing numbers of conversion from nominalism or non-Christian beliefs, may well be home to four out of every five Christians in the world by the year 2050. This "Third Church"—continuous with the "Third World"—suggests a new tradition of Christianity that will be as transformed by the culture, traditions, and worldview of the South, as Christianity (which had its origins in the Middle East) was once influenced by Europe and the rest of the North. Clearly, such a drastic reconfiguration of what one author calls the "New Christendom" calls for a reexamination of the ways in which we as scholars try to measure the interstices of religion, identity, and culture in Latin America.

The works under review here fall into roughly three categories: (1) works concerned with Christianity and globalization; (2) studies of the application of rational-choice theory to religious behavior; and (3) an examination of the expansion of the "Third Church," which draws heavily from the first two categories. In writing this review, unless otherwise noted, I will use the term "religion" nearly interchangeably with "Christianity," because, with a few exceptions, the vast majority of people who identify themselves as religious in Latin America also self-identify as Christians, and I take this at face value. I also elect to use the terms "Christian" and "Christianity" as some defiance of scholarly convention, since both terms within popular discourse in recent decades have...