The outpouring of development

Place, prosperity, and the Holy Spirit in Zion Ministries

Bibliographic Data

ID4371998
AuthorsWilliam Girard (0000-0002-6281-5892), William M Girard (University of California, Santa Cruz, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume43
Issue3
Pages385-402
Publication date2013-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0048-721X • E-ISSN: 1096-1151
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0048721x.2013.798169
OpenAlexW2027380100
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited26

This article explores a Pentecostal vision of economic development in Central America and considers how it becomes ‘really real’ for adherents, in part, through a sense of place. These Christians maintain that economic progress can only occur through the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit, whose role in development becomes apparent to them as they encounter a correspondence between three elements at three different churches: the church's level of prosperity; the intensity of the Holy Spirit; and the level of development associated with the broader locality. The article first describes this development project and explores the town of Copán Ruinas, Honduras – considered the least developed of the three places – and then provides an ethnographic account of all three churches, moving ‘up’ from Copán Ruinas through San Pedro Sula (the wealthiest city in Honduras) and ending in Guatemala City. To track the differences between these churches, the article attends to the variations in texture between them

Ethnography · Intervention (counseling) · Locality · Political science · Prosperity · Sociology · Anthropology · History · Law · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Society, and Development · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development

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