"This is a significant contribution to the study of the Brazilian Roman Catholic Church which not only provides a rich analysis, but also an illustrative example of an approach which seeks to relate the case study method...to wider theoretical issues.... This work offers a concise definition of the modernist utopian project, a clear and brisk survey of the `popular church's' ideological...and theological bases on the socialist version of the Western modernist utopia, all skillfully set in the context of the institutional Church and the related internal and external ecclesiastical pressures on the national and international levels. This careful and provocative work is a worthy addition to the Cambridge Studies in Ideology and Religion. It fills a lacuna in scholarly work on the Brazilian church...." Iain S. Maclean, H-Net Reviews

• Preface; Introduction; Part I. Background to the Crisis: 1. The popular Church's utopian project: ideological and theological bases; 2. The consolidation of the Igreja Popular and its impact on Brazilian society; Part II. The Nature of the Crisis: 3. The internal dimension: a crisis of participation; 4. The external dimension: the growth of popular Pentecostalism; Part III. Explaining the Crisis: 5. Intra-Institutional Explanations; 6. The crisis in local perspective: a Brazilian base community; 7. Brazilian capitalism since the 1980s: redefining the limits of the possible; Part IV. Reinterpreting the Crisis: 8. The popular church and the crisis of modernity; 9. Rethinking the Popular Church's project: lessons for this-worldly religious utopias; Conclusion; references.

"This is a significant contribution to the study of the Brazilian Roman Catholic Church which not only provides a rich analysis, but also an illustrative example of an approach which seeks to relate the case study method...to wider theoretical issues.... This work offers a concise definition of the modernist utopian project, a clear and brisk survey of the `popular church's' ideological...and theological bases on the socialist version of the Western modernist utopia, all skillfully set in the context of the institutional Church and the related internal and external ecclesiastical pressures on the national and international levels. This careful and provocative work is a worthy addition to the Cambridge Studies in Ideology and Religion. It fills a lacuna in scholarly work on the Brazilian church...." Iain S. Maclean, H-Net Reviews

• Preface; Introduction; Part I. Background to the Crisis: 1. The popular Church's utopian project: ideological and theological bases; 2. The consolidation of the Igreja Popular and its impact on Brazilian society; Part II. The Nature of the Crisis: 3. The internal dimension: a crisis of participation; 4. The external dimension: the growth of popular Pentecostalism; Part III. Explaining the Crisis: 5. Intra-Institutional Explanations; 6. The crisis in local perspective: a Brazilian base community; 7. Brazilian capitalism since the 1980s: redefining the limits of the possible; Part IV. Reinterpreting the Crisis: 8. The popular church and the crisis of modernity; 9. Rethinking the Popular Church's project: lessons for this-worldly religious utopias; Conclusion; references.

"This is a significant contribution to the study of the Brazilian Roman Catholic Church which not only provides a rich analysis, but also an illustrative example of an approach which seeks to relate the case study method...to wider theoretical issues.... This work offers a concise definition of the modernist utopian project, a clear and brisk survey of the `popular church's' ideological...and theological bases on the socialist version of the Western modernist utopia, all skillfully set in the context of the institutional Church and the related internal and external ecclesiastical pressures on the national and international levels. This careful and provocative work is a worthy addition to the Cambridge Studies in Ideology and Religion. It fills a lacuna in scholarly work on the Brazilian church...." Iain S. Maclean, H-Net Reviews

• Preface; Introduction; Part I. Background to the Crisis: 1. The popular Church's utopian project: ideological and theological bases; 2. The consolidation of the Igreja Popular and its impact on Brazilian society; Part II. The Nature of the Crisis: 3. The internal dimension: a crisis of participation; 4. The external dimension: the growth of popular Pentecostalism; Part III. Explaining the Crisis: 5. Intra-Institutional Explanations; 6. The crisis in local perspective: a Brazilian base community; 7. Brazilian capitalism since the 1980s: redefining the limits of the possible; Part IV. Reinterpreting the Crisis: 8. The popular church and the crisis of modernity; 9. Rethinking the Popular Church's project: lessons for this-worldly religious utopias; Conclusion; references.