Throughout Latin America, observers and activists have found in religion a promise of deep and long-lasting democratization. But for religion to change culture and politics, religion itself must change. Such change is not only a matter of doctrine, ritual, or institutional arrangements but also arises out of the needs, values, and ideas of average believers. Combining rich interviews and community studies in Venezuela and Colombia with analysis of broad ideological and institutional transformations, Daniel Levine examines how religious and cultural change begins and what gives it substance and lasting impact. The author focuses on the creation of self-confident popular groups among hitherto isolated and dispirited individuals. Once silent voices come to light as peasants and urban barrio dwellers reflect on their upbringing and community, on poverty and opportunity, on faith, prayer, and the Bible, and on institutions like state, school, and church. Levine also interviews priests, sisters, and pastoral agents and explains how their efforts shape the links between popular groups and the larger society. The result is a clear understanding of how relations among social and cultural levels are maintained and transformed, how programs are implemented, why they succeed or fail, and how change appears both to elites and to ordinary people.Originally published in 1992.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

List of Figures
List of Tables

Foreword

Preface and Acknowledgments

Note on the Interviews

Pt. I Issues and Contexts

1 Popular Voices 3

Defining and Finding Popular Groups 6

Initial Perspectives on Theory and Practice 13

Studies in Latin America 20

Studying Popular Groups, Hearing Popular Voices 23

The Structure of This Book 29

2 Liberation Theology, Base Communities, and the Pattern of Change in Latin America 31

Context and Conjuncture: The Pattern of Change in Latin America 32

Central Ideas in Liberation Theology 39

Liberation Theology and Base Communities: Ideas and Action 44

Conclusion 51

3 Colombia and Venezuela: Nations, Churches, and Programs 54

State, Politics, and Associational Life 55

Socioeconomic and Demographic Contrasts 59

The Churches: Contrasts in Structure, Ideology, and Organizational Strategy 65

Popular Work: Alternative Views 82

Conclusion 91

4 Colombia and Venezuela: Dioceses, Villages, and Barrios 94

Facatativa 94

Barquisimeto 107

Cali 116

Comparative Perspectives 124

Pt. II Actors and Experiences

5 Being Religious, Reading the Bible, Becoming Church 133

Being Religious and Reading the Bible 134

Biblical Texts and Readings 139

Becoming Church: Varieties of Popular Experience 146

Transforming Popular Religion 167

Conclusion 177

6 Popular Needs and Popular Ideals 181

Being Poor 182

Fellowship, Sociability, and Self-Image 193

Images of Church and Clergy 199

Empowering the Poor 207

7 Priests, Sisters, and Pastoral Agents 213

Background and Personal History 215

Working 230

Opting for the Poor, Popular Religion, and the Nature of Groups 242

Two Matched Profiles 252

Conclusion 270

8 Selected Life Histories 272

Huberto Vanegas: A Lay Pastoral Agent 273

Two Colombian Women: Olga Ceballos and Susanna Madrid 280

Two Peasant Men: Fortunato Duque and Patricio Alvarez 294

Conclusion 310

Pt. III Theoretical and Comparative Reflections

9 Linking Everyday Life with Big Structures 317

Consciousness, Ideology, and Culture 322

Mediators, Mediations, and the Question of Democracy 335

A Note on Class 344

Conclusion 350

10 The Future of Popular Voices 353

Reprise 354

Explaining Change 362

Are Popular Voices Unique? 365

Facing the Future 368

Knowing about the Future 371

Envoi 374

Bibliography 375

Index 397