Virginia Garrard – författare

Combining historical and ethnographic research methods, along with a thorough review of existing literature on the study of Latin American Christianity, New Faces of God in Latin America addresses the important question of how global religion and local culture interact, situating the experience of Latin American Christianity in the broader conversations in the field of world Christianity, particularly with respect to the growing understanding of Christianity as a non-Western religion. Through case studies of different Pentecostal experiences in Latin America, Virginia Garrard explores cross-pollination and interaction with indigenous religions and cultures, finding widely varied responses to the material and spiritual needs of Latin Americans. The author locates Latin American religious experience within a field known as the "history of non-Western Christianity." This focuses on the experience, perceptions, and adaptations of those who adopt Christianity outside the context of Western missionary or other colonizing projects. The book engages with the intersection of culture and spirit-filled religion, with an eye to how those interactions help frame an alternative religious modernity. Throughout the book, the author uses culture as both a heuristic lens and as a variable within the equation. She argues that culture helps us understand how people engage with and reconfigure global religious flows within their own imaginations and for their own parochial uses.

Latin America in the Modern World is the first text to situate the history of Latin America within a wider global narrative. Written by leading scholars, the book focuses on five themes: state formation; the construction of national identity through popular culture and religion; economics and commodities; race, class, and gender; and the environment. Emphasizing the distinct experiences of each of the Latin American countries, the book provides students with an entry point into understanding this vital region. Instead of suggesting that all Latin American nations have an interchangeable heritage, the authors seek to clearly identify themes, topics, people, and intellectual currents that help to knit the history of modern Latin America into a coherent category of study. While providing in-depth coverage of the history of the three largest Latin American countries (Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina), Latin America in the Modern World also offers case studies from almost all of the countries, including Central American and Andean nations.