Religion in the Megacity: Port - Softcover

Berryman, Phillip

9781570750830: Religion in the Megacity: Port

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1570750831 ISBN 13: 9781570750830

Publisher: Orbis Books (USA), 1996

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From the Back Cover:

Berryman writes against the background of the rise of "megacities" - the sprawling urban centers that are the home of most of Latin America's population. In that context he contrasts Sao Paulo and Caracas. The Catholic Archdiocese of Sao Paulo, under Cardinal Arns and progressive Catholics, was a major point of resistance to military dictatorship. It is also a city in which Protestant Pentecostal churches especially have enjoyed explosive growth. Berryman's sure-footed feel for what is happening gives the reader a concrete feel for what is happening in both Protestant and Catholic communities. Caracas, Berryman shows, is a very different kind of megacity, one that a Protestant missionary called "the Secular City", a place where the relative wealth and consumer lifestyle make it hard for the Gospel to take hold. Catholic and Protestant churches in Caracas face challenges quite different from those of Sao Paulo. Religion in the Megacity explores those similarities and differences within the respective cities and between them. Berryman breaks new ground in showing the way in which Catholics and Protestants face similar situations, and he does so in a dynamic, readable style that gives the reader insights from knowledgeable men and women on the ground who show that facile stereotypes about what is happening in Latin America today need to be corrected.

Synopsis:

"Mega-cities" - sprawling urban centres - are now home to most Latin Americans. This work contrasts religion in two such cities - Sao Paulo in Brazil and Caracas in Venezuela. In Brazil, the Catholic Archdiocese of Sao Paulo, under Cardinal Arns and progressive Catholics, was a rallying point for resistance to the military dictatorship. Sao Paulo is also a city in which Pentecostal Protestant churches have enjoyed explosive growth. The author aims to give a sense of what is happening within both the Catholic and Protestant communities. Venezuela's capital city is very different. Characterized by one Protestant missionary as a "secular city", Caracas is a place where relative wealth and consumer lifestyles have proved obstacles to the spread of Christianity. Here, both Protestant and Catholic churches face quite different challenges to those in Sao Paulo.

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