If I Give My Soul

Faith Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro

Andrew Johnson

Global Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity

Offers the most detailed glimpse into the daily life inside of prison in Brazil yet written
Provides a personal account of interactions with inmates, gang members, pastors, and prison life

If I Give My Soul

Faith Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro

Andrew Johnson

Global Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity

Description

Pentecostal Christianity is flourishing inside the prisons of Rio de Janeiro. To find out why, Andrew Johnson dug deep into the prisons themselves. He began by spending two weeks living in a Brazilian prison as if he were an inmate: sleeping in the same cells as the inmates, eating the same food, and participating in the men's daily routines as if he were incarcerated. And he returned many times afterward to observe prison churches' worship services, which were led by inmates who had been voted into positions of leadership by their fellow prisoners. He accompanied Pentecostal volunteers when they visited cells that were controlled by Rio's most dominant criminal gang to lead worship services, provide health care, and deliver other social services to the inmates. Why does this faith resonate so profoundly with the incarcerated? Pentecostalism, argues Johnson, is the "faith of the killable people" and offers ex-criminals and gang members the opportunity to positively reinvent their public personas. If I Give My Soul is a deeply personal look at the relationship between the margins of Brazilian society and the Pentecostal faith, both behind bars and in the favelas, Rio de Janeiro's peripheral neighborhoods. Based on his intimate relationships with the figures in this book, Johnson makes a passionate case that Pentecostal practice behind bars is an act of political radicalism as much as a spiritual experience.

If I Give My Soul

Faith Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro

Andrew Johnson

Global Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity

Introduction
Chapter 1
Into the "Belly of the Beast"
Chapter 2
Rio's Famous Favelas and The Killable People
Chapter 3
Pentecostalism: The Faith of the Killable People
Chapter 4
A Gang of Pentecostals: Religious Practice Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro.
Chapter 5
Prison Pentecostalism: A Faith Practiced.
Chapter 6
The Politics of Presence
Conclusion

If I Give My Soul

Faith Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro

Andrew Johnson

Global Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity

Author Information

Andrew Johnson, Research Associate, Center for Religion & Civic Culture, University of Southern California

Andrew Johnson is Assistant Professor at Metropolitain State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He held previous positions at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California, at the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, and was a Foreign Service Officer at the United States Agency for International Development.

If I Give My Soul

Faith Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro

Andrew Johnson

Global Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity

Reviews and Awards

"If I Give My Soul by Andrew Johnson is an excellent book that will raise a number of important questions for researchers, especially in the areas of theoretical explanations of religion, ethnographic methodology, and the role of religion in prisons. ... this book will be required reading for sociologists of religion, scholars of Pentecostalism, and those interested in the role of religion in prisons." - Michael Wilkinson, American Journal of Sociology

"If I Give My Soul builds upon a growing subfield in sociology and anthropology, which increasingly examines the growth of Christianity in Latin America and notes both disturbing trends within such growth as well as its political implications. One of the great strengths of this book is its rich, ethnographic detail, as well as its conceptualization of the destabilizing forces of late modernity in Latin America (especially as a continuation of earlier marginalizing processes). If I Give My Soul also provides a clearly defined conceptthe 'politics of presence'-which gives us a language for moving the debates about late modernity and Latin American evangelicalism forward... With the commendable conceptualizations it affords the field, this book will be of value to undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology, religion, and Latin American studies." - Edward Orozco Flores, Sociology of Religion

"Johnson's heroic research efforts garnered much primary information by getting close enough to see beyond stereotypes and facades in order to deconstruct the nuances of this complicated narco-gang/Pentecostal relationship. In so doing, Johnson has offered to the academy a wealth of information in a truly impressive work." - Margaret English de Alminana, Reading Religion

"If I Give My Soul is a must-read for pastors, chaplains, and others involved in prison ministries here at home." - Chris Hoke, Christianity Today

"Intimately researched, candidly presented, and crisply written, Johnson's book shows how, via their Pentecostal faith, the 'killable' black and brown urban poor incarcerated in Brazil's prisons find dignity and push back, subtly but persistently, against the injustice that engulfs them." - Joshua Dubler, author of Down in the Chapel: Religious Life in an American Prison

"This book is an impressive accomplishment! Based on extensive research, it gives us an exceptionally rich and nuanced understanding of Pentecostalism in Rio's prisons and favelas. Readers will find much to contemplate here about incarceration and religion in the U.S. as well." - Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University