Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.(Book Review)

By Paul Freston. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 334 pp. $59.95.

The study of evangelicals and politics in the developing world has long been plagued by a shortage of high-quality comparable data. Paul Freston sets out to address this problem in his extensive and fair-minded analysis of twenty-seven case studies from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. This carefully researched volume provides both a general review of the literature on evangelicals and politics and a strong critique of theory that posits a necessary link between evangelicals and any single political orientation. Freston's primary thesis is that generalizations about evangelical politics must always be conditioned by an analysis of local context and political opportunity structure.

Not surprisingly, the Brazilian chapter is the strongest in the volume. Freston traces the evolution of Protestants in office--evaluating corporatist connections, political pacts, divisions, and scandals--among Brazil's myriad evangelical denominations and politicians. He carefully documents the correlation between evangelical leaders' approximation to political power and denominational, theological, and institutional divisions that ultimately lead to a disintegration of evangelical political unity. The Brazilian case clearly illustrates evangelicalism's compatibility with multiple political orientations.

Throughout the book, Freston provides useful cautions against definitions of evangelicalism that focus purely on denominational or institutional lines, as these definitions may leave out important religious actors such as African Independent Churches or Brazil's Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. He is also careful to highlight the importance of keeping distinctions between the political views of religious leaders and church membership. A particular strength of the book is the critical treatment of the ambiguous role of evangelicals in civil society. In keeping with the ...