|Espinosa Pentecostalism

Discusses the trends in religions in Latin America in 2005. Impact of the trends on U.S. religions; Growth of Pentecostalism in the region; Revitalization of Latin American Catholicism.

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"Martin and Stoll posit that Pentecostal growth is in part due to the continuing influence (both ideologically and economically) of Anglo-American missionaries and that the spiritual reformation taking place today is a largely Protestant reformation that is challenging the Roman Catholic Church's historic dominance of the Latin American religious marketplace.' ¹(262)

"have noted that Pentecostal growth is either beginning to taper off or has remained relatively flat over the past decade in some countries" ²(263)

"the Pentecostalization of Latino Christianity in Latin America and in the United States: (I) Protestant Pentecostal growth, (2) the Pentecostahzation of Latin American Catholicism, (3) indigenization of Latin American and U.S. Latino Pentecostal ism, (4)Latin American evangelization of the United States, and (5) the growth of Catholic and Protestant ecumenical cooperation."³ (264)

Charismatic Catholicism (1) indicates a wider denominational influence of Pentecostalism (2) has acted as a bulwark for the RCC ⁴(264)

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table with statistics on religious affiliation in Latin America⁵ (266)

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"The largest Protestant denomination in Brazil (and Latin America) is the Assemblies of God,which reportedly has over 20 million affiliates. Scholars now claim that in Brazil there are twice as many Assemblies of God congregations (85,000) as Catholic congregations (35,598)."⁶ (269)

"Despite this fact, there is a small but noticeable trend of middle-class Pentecostals joining mainline and non-Charismatic evangelical Protestant denominations both in Latin America and in the United States. This appears to be due to the fact that mainline Protestant churches are increasingly adopting Pentecostal/Charismatic music, spirituality, and theology. Mainline and evangelical Protestantism have been particularly attractive to intellectually curious Pentecostal college and seminary students looking for a more theologically and/or morally flexible tradition that offers an historic, progressive, rationalistic, orderly, and rich liturgical approach to Christianity. This is especially true for second- and third-generation Pentecostals attending mainline Protestant or interdenominational seminaries." (269) "In most cases,they have brought their beliefs in the charismatic gifts and born-again experience along with them into their adopted tradition."⁷

1G Espinosa ' The Pentecostal of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity', Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 26:2 (2004), 262–292, 262.

2G Espinosa ' The Pentecostal of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity', Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 26:2 (2004), 262–292, 263.

3G Espinosa ' The Pentecostal of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity', Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 26:2 (2004), 262–292, 264.

4G Espinosa ' The Pentecostal of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity', Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 26:2 (2004), 262–292, 264.

5G Espinosa ' The Pentecostal of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity', Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 26:2 (2004), 262–292, 266.

6G Espinosa ' The Pentecostal of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity', Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 26:2 (2004), 262–292, 269.

7G Espinosa ' The Pentecostal of Latin American and U.S. Latino Christianity', Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 26:2 (2004), 262–292, 269.