A Prohibited History of Pentecostal Social Engagement

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the dynamic intersection of community, conflict, and personal faith among a small group of Pentecostals during Chile’s military dictatorship (1973–1990). It argues that Pentecostal religious experience did not occur only within the framework of prescribed religious traditions and dogma. It seeped deep into the shadows of a powerful military state bent on a radical reordering of the economy and society; one that was willing to reach unthinkable levels of violence to do so. It concludes that we must examine less emblematic manifestations of pentecostal religiosity to fully understand the forms religion and religious practice took as they were folded into the limitations and complications of quotidian life, recognizing, moreover, that devotional and practical improvisations were not always understood as impious or immoral lapses. They were often necessary religious innovations used by believers to find meaning in the difficult circumstances of life under military rule.