Prosperity Gospel Latinos and Their American Dream - (Where Religion Lives) by Tony Tian-Ren Lin (Paperback)

About the Book

"Building on in-the-field immersive ethnographies and extended interviews conducted in Spanish in California, Virginia, and New York City (the NYC piece is new), Lin shows how Latino Pentecostals form a new "American" identity in the process of following the teachings of Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism. While past studies have looked at how Latino immigrants become Pentecostals, Lin looks at how Latino Pentecostals become "American." This work arises from the intersection of two major trends transforming the United States in the twenty-first century. First, the rapid, continuing growth of the Latino population-many of them immigrants both documented and undocumented; second, the increasing influence of Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism in American culture. (Just as Latinos have evolved from presenting as a relatively small and ignored population in the USA to one that wields significant economic and cultural influence, so has Prosperity Gospel Christianity, at one point mocked and derided in the mainstream, gained influence in American culture.)"--

Book Synopsis

In this immersive ethnography, Tony Tian-Ren Lin explores the reasons that Latin American immigrants across the United States are increasingly drawn to Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism, a strand of Protestantism gaining popularity around the world. Lin contends that Latinos embrace Prosperity Gospel, which teaches that believers may achieve both divine salvation and worldly success, because it helps them account for the contradictions of their lives as immigrants. Weaving together his informants' firsthand accounts of their religious experiences and everyday lives, Lin offers poignant insight into how they see their faith transforming them both as individuals and as communities.

The theology fuses salvation with material goods so that as these immigrants pursue spiritual rewards they are also, perhaps paradoxically, striving for the American dream. But after all, Lin observes, prosperity is the gospel of the American dream. In this way, while becoming better Prosperity Gospel Pentecostals they are also adopting traditional white American norms. Yet this is not a story of smooth assimilation as most of these immigrants must deal with the immensity of the broader cultural and political resistance to their actually becoming Americans. Rather, Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism gives Latinos the logic and understanding of themselves as those who belong in this country yet remain perpetual outsiders.

Review Quotes

"[An] evocative debut. . . . Lin's well-reasoned work makes a strong case that the Prosperity Gospel provides a way for immigrants to survive, remain liberated, and pursue their American dream."--Publishers Weekly

"An important contribution to our understanding of the prominence of prosperity theology in American culture."--Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"Exceptionally clear in both prose and argumentation. . . . [A] valuable contribution to the sociology of American Christianity."--American Religion

"Lin's compelling book creates a complex narrative that encourages readers to take a nuanced, while still critical, look at prosperity gospel Pentecostalism."--Christian Century

"That Lin is himself an immigrant--born in Taiwan, raised in Argentina, now living in the US--lends depth and nuance to his description of the Latinx experience. . . . Recommended."--CHOICE Reviews

"With scholars of modern Christianity increasingly interested in migration, transnational linkages, and global Pentecostalism, Lin's book represents a well-timed and inventive endeavor."--Reading Religion