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Edward L. Cleary , The Rise of Charismatic Catholicism in Latin America (Gainesville, FL : University Press of Florida , 2011), pp. xii+308, $74.95, hb.
Reviews
Edward Cleary's broad-ranging text on the 'Charismatic Renewal' in Latin America represents one of the first English-language efforts to describe the appearance of the movement in the region. While substantial work in theology and religious studies, and to a lesser extent in sociology and political science, has emerged in Spanish or Portuguese, relatively little has been written about charismatic Catholicism in English, making this text a welcome addition to the canon. Cleary was a Dominican priest and a prominent scholar of Catholicism in Latin America; here he provides a rich historical account of the key figures involved in the rise of charismatic Catholicism in selected countries in the region. The book, published shortly before his death in November 2011, benefits from his long insight but ultimately does not live up to the standard set by his previous work.
Cleary knew Latin America's rich religious history well. He sets the stage for his analysis by pointing out the poverty of available information regarding the charismatic Catholic renewal, a movement with an estimated 73 million adherents. The rise of Pentecostalism and other forms of evangelical Protestantism have rightly commanded much attention throughout the region, but Cleary...