Henri Gooren
Biographic Data
| ID | 163105 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Henri Gooren |
| GIVEN NAMES | Henri |
| FAMILY NAME | Gooren |
| SIGNATURE | GOOREN H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Oakland University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 54 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 39 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Non-Catholic Church Growth in Honduras, 1960–2025
Latter-day Saints Membership Growth in Haiti, 1978–2018
In 1984, sociologist of religion Rodney Stark predicted there could be 267 million Mormons in the world by 2080, after extrapolating the 1982–1983 Latter-day Saints (LDS) growth rates into the far future. “His optimistic projections have so warmed the hearts of the faithful that they are often quoted over the pulpit, even in general conference now and then,” Armand Mauss dryly noted.2 Stark argued that this growth explosion offered scholars a uni…
Non-Catholic Church Growth in Haiti, 1970-2018
Leadership, Retention, and Perception of the United States in the LDS Church in Latin America and Europe
This article explores how membership growth and retention in the Mormon Church in Latin America and Europe is influenced by its local leadership and perceptions of the United States. I analyze the sociocultural background and performance of local leaders, LDS leader and member perceptions of the United States, and how these factors impact membership growth and retention. Have the Mormon Church's strong U.S. roots indeed slowed growth in Europe (a…
Leadership, Retention, and US culture in the LDS Church in Latin America and Europe
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a global church based in the United States. The cultural context of the Church as a top-down, global entity with centralized leadership necessarily interacts with local cultural contexts in complex ways. Many have pointed out ways that US culture serves to attract and retain converts. This article explores one aspect of this cultural exchange in the form of leadership culture. Examples from Europ…
Guarded by Two Jaguars. A Catholic Parish Divided by Language and Faith, written by Eric Hoenes del Pinal
Sacrifice and Regeneration
Sacrifice and Regeneration analyzes the surprising success of Seventh-day Adventism in the Andean highlands, focusing especially on Peru. Between 1890 and 1930, the Seventh-day Adventist mission started churches, schools, hospitals, and clinics, recruiting many Indigenous people and mestizos (but few people from the elite). Conversion from Catholicism to Adventism had a huge impact on the functioning of socioeconomic, political, and social instit…
The Mennonitization of the Mass Media in Paraguay
This article investigates how the churches in Paraguay have used multiple mass media as evangelization instruments and which churches dominate the mass media in 2010–2012, following the growth explosions of Pentecostalism in the 1980s–1990s and especially after 2002. Church uses of the printed media (books, magazines and newspapers), radio, television, and internet in Paraguay are all analyzed. Pentecostal and Protestant church leaders used radio…
Conversion Processes and Social Networks in Latin America
Different varieties of Pentecostalism are successful in Latin America, where Chile, Brazil, and the Central American countries are now 20 to 30 percent Protestant. This chapter analyzes conversion processes and social networks in Latin America by comparing the two extremes of Pentecostal growth. Paraguay is arguably the least Pentecostalized country in the region, whereas Chile is one of the most Pentecostal. Based on recent ethnographic fieldwor…
The Rise of Pentecostalism in Modern El Salvador. From the Blood of the Martyrs to the Baptism of the Spirit, written by Timothy H. Wadkins
Hunted
Reviewed by: Hunted: Predation and Pentecostalism in Guatemala by Kevin Lewis O'Neill Henri Gooren Kevin Lewis O'Neill. Hunted: Predation and Pentecostalism in Guatemala. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019. 224 pp. Kevin Lewis O'Neill. Hunted: Predation and Pentecostalism in Guatemala. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019. 224 pp. This is a heart wrenching ethnographic study, expertly written in a compelling style that is hard to pu…
Conversion Careers in Latin America
Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions
Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions
Pentecostalization and Politics in Paraguay and Chile
This article analyzes Pentecostal churches in Paraguay and Chile, tracing how their older ethos of politics as worldly and corrupt is gradually changing and why. It explores changing church-state relations and conceptions of political culture and citizenship among Pentecostal members and leaders, and assesses some mutual influences that Pentecostal and mainstream Protestant churches exert on each other. Chile has the oldest autochthonous Pentecos…
Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions
The Growth and Development of Non-Catholic Churches in Chile
Different varieties of Protestantism and Pentecostalism have been very successful in Latin America, where Chile, Brazil, and most Central American countries are now 15-30 % Protestant. This article analyzes the growth and development of the ten major non-Catholic churches in Chile, one of the most Pentecostal countries of Latin America. It describes the history and growth of the following churches in the chronological order of their arrival or st…
Anthropology of Religious Conversion
This chapter analyzes important approaches in anthropology that have dealt with religious change. The central question is how anthropologists identify and analyze the main factors in the conversion process. The chapter deals with the approaches in chronological order, describing their main authors and ideas, their conceptualization of religious conversion, and their methodologies. The main conclusion is that anthropologists have struggled to come…
The Mormon Quest for Glory
Journal Article The Mormon Quest for Glory: The Religious World of the Latter-day Saints Get access The Mormon Quest for Glory: The Religious World of the Latter-day Saints, by MELVYN HAMMARBERG. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, 392 pp.; $35.00 USD (cloth). Henri Gooren Henri Gooren Oakland University [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sociology of Religion, Volume 75, Issue 3, AUTU…
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Latin America
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) is the most important lay movement in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America, yet it has received scant academic attention. After describing the start of the CCR, I discuss its expansion into Latin America, its self-understanding, outsider criticisms, responses of national bishops’ conferences, and two country case studies based on my first-hand ethnographic fieldwork: Nicaragua and Paraguay. I end with …
Deconversion
Coming Out of the ‘Iron Cage’
Religious Conversion and Disaffiliation
This book is the first in over a decade to attempt a systematic synthesis of the field of conversion studies, encompassing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, and theology
Ortega for president
This article analyses various connections between Daniel Ortega’s surprising victory in the presidential elections of 5 November 2006, his control of the Frente Sandinista de la Liberación Nacional (FSLN) party, and the changing religious context in Nicaragua, where Pentecostal churches now claim almost one quarter of the population. To achieve this, I draw from my fieldwork in Nicaragua in 2005 and 2006, which analysed competition for members be…
The Pentecostalization of Religion and Society in Latin America
Pentecostalization is the combination of Pentecostal growth, Pentecostal influence on other religions, and Pentecostal impact on the rest of society. Increased competition with other religions (the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and mainstream Protestantism) forces these to adopt Pentecostal elements. Pentecostal elements (like conversion discourses, speaking in tongues, and faith healing) gradually spread in the mass media, affect non-religious gr…
Reassessing Conventional Approaches to Conversion
What are the crucial factors that may cause people to become religiously active at a certain point of their lives? I give an overview of key analytic elements of the conventional approaches to conversion:Lofland and Stark's (1965)social networks model; (spoiled) identity and religious seekership; socialization; religious markets; recruitment; cultural factors; and convert role monitoring and mastering. Subsequent sections present a critique of th…
The Pentecostalization of Religion and Society in Latin America
Pentecostalization is the combination of Pentecostal growth, Pentecostal influence on other religions, and Pentecostal impact on the rest of society. Increased competition with other religions (the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and mainstream Protestantism) forces these to adopt Pentecostal elements. Pentecostal elements (like conversion discourses, speaking in tongues, and faith healing) gradually spread in the mass media, affect non-religious gr…
The Growth and Development of Non-Catholic Churches in Chile
Different varieties of Protestantism and Pentecostalism have been very successful in Latin America, where Chile, Brazil, and most Central American countries are now 15-30 % Protestant. This article analyzes the growth and development of the ten major non-Catholic churches in Chile, one of the most Pentecostal countries of Latin America. It describes the history and growth of the following churches in the chronological order of their arrival or st…
Catholic and Non-Catholic Theologies of Liberation
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Catholic liberation theology seemed poised to become a mass movement in Latin America, whereas evangelical Protestantism did not seem likely to ever receive broad popular appeal. This paper will explore possible reasons why most of the poor in Latin America preferred to join non-Catholic churches, instead of the so-called Christian Base Communities (CEBs) or other grassroot groups connected with liberation theol…
Ortega for president
This article analyses various connections between Daniel Ortega’s surprising victory in the presidential elections of 5 November 2006, his control of the Frente Sandinista de la Liberación Nacional (FSLN) party, and the changing religious context in Nicaragua, where Pentecostal churches now claim almost one quarter of the population. To achieve this, I draw from my fieldwork in Nicaragua in 2005 and 2006, which analysed competition for members be…
The Religious Market in Nicaragua
The Religious Market Model And Conversion
The article gives a critical overview of the religious market model to assess its usefulness for analyzing religious conversion in a context of increasing pluralism. The model's central idea is that religious organizations are competing for adherents, who make (rational?) choices from the available options. I first present the main tenets, contributions, and possible short-comings of the religious market model at three different levels of analysi…
Pentecostalization and Politics in Paraguay and Chile
This article analyzes Pentecostal churches in Paraguay and Chile, tracing how their older ethos of politics as worldly and corrupt is gradually changing and why. It explores changing church-state relations and conceptions of political culture and citizenship among Pentecostal members and leaders, and assesses some mutual influences that Pentecostal and mainstream Protestant churches exert on each other. Chile has the oldest autochthonous Pentecos…
Towards a New Model of Conversion Careers
The central question of this article — why people may change their religious affiliation or become disaffiliated — is relevant from both an academic and a practical point of view. The article makes first an inventory of existing literature on religious conversion. Next I sketch the contours of the new conversion careers approach I am currently working on. I make some comparisons with a region that is not usually mentioned in the literature on con…
Bautizados en fuego
Bautizados en fuego: Protestantes, discursos de conversión. política en Guatemala (1989‐1993). Manuela Cantón Delgado. South Woodstock, VT: Plumsock Mesoamerican Studies, 1998. xviii. 340 pp., notes, references, index
Reconsidering Protestant Growth in Guatemala, 1900-1995
Catholic and Non-Catholic Theologies of Liberation
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Catholic liberation theology seemed poised to become a mass movement in Latin America, whereas evangelical Protestantism did not seem likely to ever receive broad popular appeal. This paper will explore possible reasons why most of the poor in Latin America preferred to join non-Catholic churches, instead of the so-called Christian Base Communities (CEBs) or other grassroot groups connected with liberation theol…
The Religious Market in Nicaragua
Towards a New Model of Conversion Careers
The central question of this article — why people may change their religious affiliation or become disaffiliated — is relevant from both an academic and a practical point of view. The article makes first an inventory of existing literature on religious conversion. Next I sketch the contours of the new conversion careers approach I am currently working on. I make some comparisons with a region that is not usually mentioned in the literature on con…
The Religious Market Model And Conversion
The article gives a critical overview of the religious market model to assess its usefulness for analyzing religious conversion in a context of increasing pluralism. The model's central idea is that religious organizations are competing for adherents, who make (rational?) choices from the available options. I first present the main tenets, contributions, and possible short-comings of the religious market model at three different levels of analysi…
Revolution, Revival, and Religious Conflict in Sandinista Nicaragua
All Abraham's Children
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007 DOI: 10.1163/157254307X225070 Exchange 36 (2007) 410-421 www.brill.nl/exch Book Reviews Armand L. Mauss. All Abraham’s Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lin- eage . Urbana et al.: University of Illinois Press 2003, xvi + 343 p., ISBN 0-252-02803-1, price: US $ 36.95 (hardcover). Th is long-awaited book ‘analyzes the origin and nature of traditional Mormon attitudes and behavior towards Jews, Na…
Religions in Global Society
332 Book Reviews / Exchange 36 (2007) 322-333 1 Cf. Niklas Luhmann, Soziale Systeme: Grundriss einer allgemeinen Th eorie , Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1984; Niklas Luhmann, Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft , Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1997. Peter Beyer, Religions in Global Society , London and New York: Routledge 2006. viii + 323 p., ISBN 0-415-39319-1. Paperback price US $ 41.95. Th e book’s aim is ‘to offer a way of understanding the variety…
Reassessing Conventional Approaches to Conversion
What are the crucial factors that may cause people to become religiously active at a certain point of their lives? I give an overview of key analytic elements of the conventional approaches to conversion:Lofland and Stark's (1965)social networks model; (spoiled) identity and religious seekership; socialization; religious markets; recruitment; cultural factors; and convert role monitoring and mastering. Subsequent sections present a critique of th…
The Spiritual Revolution
The Rise of Mormonism
Japanese Saints
Conversion Growth of Protestant Churches in Thailand
404 Book Reviews / Exchange 38 (2009) 389-405 Marten Visser, Conversion Growth of Protestant Churches in Th ailand , Zoetermeer: Boeken- centrum 2008, xiv + 294 p., ISBN 978-90-239-2327-5, price € 27.50 (paperback). Marten Visser is a Protestant missionary, who has been involved in church planting in Th ailand since 2000. Unlike South Korea, but similar to Japan, Christianity has been unsuccessful in Th ailand: only 0.8 percent of the population …
The Law of the Harvest
Reason to Believe
Religious Conversion and Disaffiliation
This book is the first in over a decade to attempt a systematic synthesis of the field of conversion studies, encompassing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, and theology
Ortega for president
This article analyses various connections between Daniel Ortega’s surprising victory in the presidential elections of 5 November 2006, his control of the Frente Sandinista de la Liberación Nacional (FSLN) party, and the changing religious context in Nicaragua, where Pentecostal churches now claim almost one quarter of the population. To achieve this, I draw from my fieldwork in Nicaragua in 2005 and 2006, which analysed competition for members be…
The Pentecostalization of Religion and Society in Latin America
Pentecostalization is the combination of Pentecostal growth, Pentecostal influence on other religions, and Pentecostal impact on the rest of society. Increased competition with other religions (the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and mainstream Protestantism) forces these to adopt Pentecostal elements. Pentecostal elements (like conversion discourses, speaking in tongues, and faith healing) gradually spread in the mass media, affect non-religious gr…
Deconversion
Coming Out of the ‘Iron Cage’
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Latin America
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) is the most important lay movement in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America, yet it has received scant academic attention. After describing the start of the CCR, I discuss its expansion into Latin America, its self-understanding, outsider criticisms, responses of national bishops’ conferences, and two country case studies based on my first-hand ethnographic fieldwork: Nicaragua and Paraguay. I end with …
Anthropology of Religious Conversion
This chapter analyzes important approaches in anthropology that have dealt with religious change. The central question is how anthropologists identify and analyze the main factors in the conversion process. The chapter deals with the approaches in chronological order, describing their main authors and ideas, their conceptualization of religious conversion, and their methodologies. The main conclusion is that anthropologists have struggled to come…
The Mormon Quest for Glory
Journal Article The Mormon Quest for Glory: The Religious World of the Latter-day Saints Get access The Mormon Quest for Glory: The Religious World of the Latter-day Saints, by MELVYN HAMMARBERG. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, 392 pp.; $35.00 USD (cloth). Henri Gooren Henri Gooren Oakland University [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sociology of Religion, Volume 75, Issue 3, AUTU…
The Growth and Development of Non-Catholic Churches in Chile
Different varieties of Protestantism and Pentecostalism have been very successful in Latin America, where Chile, Brazil, and most Central American countries are now 15-30 % Protestant. This article analyzes the growth and development of the ten major non-Catholic churches in Chile, one of the most Pentecostal countries of Latin America. It describes the history and growth of the following churches in the chronological order of their arrival or st…
Sociology (25 works) · Philosophy (22 works) · Political science (21 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (21 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (19 works) · Law (18 works) · History (14 works) · Latin Americans (13 works) · Religious studies (12 works) · Philosophy (11 works)