Description

Prophetic Pentecostalism in Chile provides a detailed description of the vicissitudes of a small Chilean Pentecostal church, the Misión Iglesia Pentecostal. During the 1960s and 1970s, its leaders attempted to reshape the social and politically conservative face of Chilean Pentecostalism by introducing progressive social ideas into the lives of their church members. This church, which was among the first Pentecostal churches to become members of the World Council of Churches, also created its own development organization supporting social work among Chile's popular classes, with the help of Western donor organizations. Both the progressive church leaders and the development organization tried to organize individual Pentecostals against social and political injustice, while the majority of Pentecostal churches actively supported the military regime of General Pinochet. This anthropological case study describes how this effort at consciousness-raising affected the lives of Pentecostal men and women in the working-class neighborhood of Santiago. Ultimately, the book is a documented illustration of the limited impact that the message of prophetic Pentecostalism of a group of church leaders had on ordinary Chilean church people.