Faculty Seminar Advisor
Dr. John L. Rector
Master of Arts
This study of the Growth of Pentecostalism in Brazil found that as the country grows more developed and richer, the spread of Pentecostalism quickens. Many scholars have found a correlation between poverty and Pentecostal growth. By contrast, Maureen Dean discovered that as absolute poverty in Brazil decreased, converts to Pentecostalism increased. She used both the GINI and SWID indices to measure inequality. She then looked at the case of the United States and found a similar trends.
In the 1960s Brazil was a center for the growth of converts to the Theology of Liberation. There was a proliferation of Catholic Based Communities (CEBs) as Catholic Church leaders worked to organize peasants to solve their socioeconomic problems. But the CEBs have shrunk and the Pentecostal churches have grown. A parallel growth of income inequality has occurred during the same period.
Dean, Maureen. "The Growth of Pentecostalism in Brazil." Department of History seminar paper, Western Oregon University, 2012.