Daniel Ramirez

Migrating Faith: Pentecostalism in the United States and Mexico in the Twentieth Century Daniel Ramirez

Marc Notes: Based on the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Duke University, 2005, entitled Migrating faiths.; Includes bibliographical references and index. Commendation Quotes: With a great deal of creativity and sophisticated theoretical analysis, Ramirez tells the fascinating and largely unexplored history of transnational Pentecostalism in the borderlands of the United States and Mexico. He helps us hear the voices of men and women who negotiated new social and cultural settings while developing powerful new musical and worship practices, popular theologies, and religious innovation.--Randall Stephens, Northumbria University Commendation Quotes: Daniel Ramirez's groundbreaking work will invigorate Latino religious history with the study of culture, art, and music. Adding many rich, deep layers, "Migrating Faith" without a doubt will become a standard text in the field of Latino religious history.--Arlene Sanchez-Walsh, Azusa Pacific University Publisher Marketing: Daniel Ramirez's history of twentieth-century Pentecostalism in the U. S.-Mexico borderlands begins in Los Angeles in 1906 with the eruption of the Azusa Street Revival. The Pentecostal phenomenon--characterized by ecstatic spiritual practices that included speaking in tongues, perceptions of miracles, interracial mingling, and new popular musical worship traditions from both sides of the border--was criticized by Christian theologians, secular media, and even governmental authorities for behaviors considered to be unorthodox and outrageous. Today, many scholars view the revival as having catalyzed the spread of Pentecostalism and consider the U. S.-Mexico borderlands as one of the most important fountainheads of a religious movement that has thrived not only in North America but worldwide. Ramirez argues that, because of the distance separating the transnational migratory circuits from domineering arbiters of religious and aesthetic orthodoxy in both the United States and Mexico, the region was fertile ground for the religious innovation by which working-class Pentecostals expanded and changed traditional options for practicing the faith. Giving special attention to individuals' and families' firsthand accounts and tracing how a vibrant religious music culture tied transnational communities together, Ramirez illuminates the interplay of migration, mobility, and musicality in Pentecostalism's global boom.