Like Leaven in the Dough

Protestant Social Thought in Latin America, 19201950

By (author) Carlos Mondragón Translated by Daniel Miller, Ben Post

Not available to order

Publication date:

10 December 2010

Length of book:

186 pages

Publisher

Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

ISBN-13: 9781611470574

In Like Leaven in the Dough: Protestant Social Thought in Latin America, 1920-1950, Carlos Mondragón, offers an introduction to the ideas of notable Protestant writers in Latin America during the first half of the twentieth century. Despite their national and denominational differences, Mondragón argues that Protestant intellectuals developed a coherent set of ideas about freedom of religion and thought, economic justice, militarism, and national identity. This was a period when Protestants comprised a very small proportion of Latin America's total population; their very marginality compelled them to think creatively about their identity and place in Latin American society. Accused of embracing a foreign faith, these Protestants struggled to define national identities that had room for religious diversity and liberty of conscience. Marginalized and persecuted themselves, Latin America's Protestants articulated a liberating message decades before the appearance of Catholic Liberation Theology.
The concise work by Carlos Mondragón . . . locates the development of Protestant social thought within the history of ideas in Latin America. Through their books and articles, the intellectual leadership of Protestantism influenced public debate far beyond the membership of the churches. Daniel Miller and Ben Post, through their highly readable translation, have given English readers access to this piece of Latin American and political history.