Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches in Latin America and Eastern Europe: an Introduction

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Notes

The most recent estimates show the percentage of all Protestants in Brazil as 20.8 of the total population, 15.5 for Chile and 7.3 for Argentina; the largest percentages for Protestants (somewhat under 40) are found in smaller Central American countries (Report, 2011). It is assumed that the vast majority of Protestants belong to the Pentecostal/Charismatic brand of Christianity.

In the Polish case, which is covered by one of the papers in this issue, the hegemony of the Roman Catholicism was uncontested.

Burgess (2006, pp. 348–49) argues that Eastern Orthodox tradition always included a strong Charismatic emphasis, going far back to the Cappadocian Fathers of the fourth century and later Byzantine theologians, that is compatible with the Charismatic renewal of the twentieth century. He explains the resilience of the Eastern Orthodox against Pentecostals by the fact that similar experience was well known in this tradition. In my opinion this thesis is far from convincing, but this short Introduction is not the place for further discussion of this issue.