G etting S aved in E l S alvador : T he P referential O ption for the P oor

This essay it an ethnographic analysis of the Evangelical 1 and Pentecostal movement that, like elsewhere in Latin America, are sweeping across El Salvador and threatening to upset the historic dominance of the Roman Catholic Church in the region. Based on the latest information from country‐wide surveys, as well as extensive interviews with clerical leaders, church members, social scientists, politicians, converts and critics, the essay looks deeply into this revival from the standpoint of what most Salvadorian Catholics, liberal Protestants and Liberationists see as its greatest weaknesses, viz. its first‐world missionary antecedents and its passivity toward political and social engagement. The essay concluded by contending that despite the often warranted criticism, this revival it nevertheless producing important social capital, particularly among El Salvador's poor. There is evidence that it could, over time, have a dramatic impact on the political and economic structures of Salvadorian society, even in radical ways envisioned by liberation theologians.