EBOOK
In the Hands of God
How Evangelical Belonging Transforms Migrant Experience in the United States
Johanna Bard Richlin(0)
About
Johanna Bard Richlin is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Oregon.
How evangelical churches in the United States convert migrant distress into positive religious devotion
Why do migrants become more deeply evangelical in the United States and how does this religious identity alter their self-understanding? In the Hands of God examines this question through a unique lens, foregrounding the ways that churches transform what migrants feel. Drawing from her extensive fieldwork among Brazilian migrants in the Washington, DC, area, Johanna Bard Richlin shows that affective experience is key to comprehending migrants' turn toward intense religiosity, and their resulting evangelical commitment.
The conditions of migrant life-family separation, geographic isolation, legal precariousness, workplace vulnerability, and deep uncertainty about the future-shape specific affective maladies, including loneliness, despair, and feeling stuck. These feelings in turn trigger novel religious yearnings. Evangelical churches deliberately and deftly articulate, manage, and reinterpret migrant distress through affective therapeutics, the strategic "healing" of migrants' psychological pain. Richlin offers insights into the affective dimensions of migration, the strategies pursued by evangelical churches to attract migrants, and the ways in which evangelical belonging enables migrants to feel better, emboldening them to improve their lives.
Looking at the ways evangelical churches help migrants navigate negative emotions, In the Hands of God sheds light on the versatility and durability of evangelical Christianity. "A needed contribution. . . . Richlin's ethnographic and qualitative research [are] both engaging and heartening."---Philip Letizia, Reading Religion "A beautifully written and carefully researched account of the appeal of evangelical Christianity to Brazilian migrants. Rather than focusing on the material rewards of conversion, Richlin takes seriously what these congregants say about their loneliness and the intense emotional satisfactions of their faith. The result is one of the best and richest portraits of faith experience that we have seen for many years."-T. M. Luhrmann, author of How God Becomes Real "In the Hands of God makes a significant and timely contribution to the anthropology of Christianity. While a great deal has been written about new forms of Christianity in Latin America, there is not a tremendous amount of work about Latin American Christians in the United States. I am full of praise for this book."-Kevin Lewis O'Neill, University of Toronto "Well-researched and well-written, In the Hands of God examines the relationship between evangelical Christianity, migration, and affective experience in the United States. Richlin grounds her lucid observations in sound anthropological methods and theories, and the revelations about Brazilian migrants are fascinating."-J. Derrick Lemons, University of Georgia
How evangelical churches in the United States convert migrant distress into positive religious devotion
Why do migrants become more deeply evangelical in the United States and how does this religious identity alter their self-understanding? In the Hands of God examines this question through a unique lens, foregrounding the ways that churches transform what migrants feel. Drawing from her extensive fieldwork among Brazilian migrants in the Washington, DC, area, Johanna Bard Richlin shows that affective experience is key to comprehending migrants' turn toward intense religiosity, and their resulting evangelical commitment.
The conditions of migrant life-family separation, geographic isolation, legal precariousness, workplace vulnerability, and deep uncertainty about the future-shape specific affective maladies, including loneliness, despair, and feeling stuck. These feelings in turn trigger novel religious yearnings. Evangelical churches deliberately and deftly articulate, manage, and reinterpret migrant distress through affective therapeutics, the strategic "healing" of migrants' psychological pain. Richlin offers insights into the affective dimensions of migration, the strategies pursued by evangelical churches to attract migrants, and the ways in which evangelical belonging enables migrants to feel better, emboldening them to improve their lives.
Looking at the ways evangelical churches help migrants navigate negative emotions, In the Hands of God sheds light on the versatility and durability of evangelical Christianity. "A needed contribution. . . . Richlin's ethnographic and qualitative research [are] both engaging and heartening."---Philip Letizia, Reading Religion "A beautifully written and carefully researched account of the appeal of evangelical Christianity to Brazilian migrants. Rather than focusing on the material rewards of conversion, Richlin takes seriously what these congregants say about their loneliness and the intense emotional satisfactions of their faith. The result is one of the best and richest portraits of faith experience that we have seen for many years."-T. M. Luhrmann, author of How God Becomes Real "In the Hands of God makes a significant and timely contribution to the anthropology of Christianity. While a great deal has been written about new forms of Christianity in Latin America, there is not a tremendous amount of work about Latin American Christians in the United States. I am full of praise for this book."-Kevin Lewis O'Neill, University of Toronto "Well-researched and well-written, In the Hands of God examines the relationship between evangelical Christianity, migration, and affective experience in the United States. Richlin grounds her lucid observations in sound anthropological methods and theories, and the revelations about Brazilian migrants are fascinating."-J. Derrick Lemons, University of Georgia