In the hands of God : how Evangelical belonging transforms migrant experience in the United States / Johanna Bard Richlin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Richlin, Johanna Bard, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church work with immigrants--United States.

Church work with immigrants.

Evangelicalism--United States.

Evangelicalism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N. J. : Princeton University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"How evangelical churches in the United States convert migrant distress into positive religious devotionWhy do migrants become more deeply evangelical in the United States and how does this religious identity alter their self-understanding? In the Hands of God examines this question through a unique lens, foregrounding the ways that churches transform what migrants feel. Drawing from her extensive fieldwork among Brazilian migrants in the Washington, DC, area, Johanna Bard Richlin shows that affective experience is key to comprehending migrants' turn toward intense religiosity, and their resulting evangelical commitment.The conditions of migrant life-family separation, geographic isolation, legal precariousness, workplace vulnerability, and deep uncertainty about the future-shape specific affective maladies, including loneliness, despair, and feeling stuck. These feelings in turn trigger novel religious yearnings. Evangelical churches deliberately and deftly articulate, manage, and reinterpret migrant distress through affective therapeutics, the strategic "healing" of migrants' psychological pain. Richlin offers insights into the affective dimensions of migration, the strategies pursued by evangelical churches to attract migrants, and the ways in which evangelical belonging enables migrants to feel better, emboldening them to improve their lives.Looking at the ways evangelical churches help migrants navigate negative emotions, In the Hands of God sheds light on the versatility and durability of evangelical Christianity"-- Provided by publisher.

"How evangelical churches in the United States convert migrant distress into positive religious devotionWhy do migrants become more deeply evangelical in the United States and how does this religious identity alter their self-understanding? In the Hands of God examines this question through a unique lens, foregrounding the ways that churches transform what migrants feel. Drawing from her extensive fieldwork among Brazilian migrants in the Washington D.C. area, Johanna Bard Richlin shows that affective experience is key to comprehending migrants' turn toward intense religiosity, and their resulting evangelical commitment.The conditions of migrant life-family separation, geographic isolation, legal precariousness, workplace vulnerability, and deep uncertainty about the future-shape specific affective maladies, including loneliness, despair, and feeling stuck. These feelings in turn trigger novel religious yearnings. Evangelical churches deliberately and deftly articulate, manage, and reinterpret migrant distress through affective therapeutics, the strategic "healing" of migrants' psychological pain. Richlin offers insights into the affective dimensions of migration, the strategies pursued by evangelical churches to attract migrants, and the ways in which evangelical belonging enables migrants to feel better, emboldening them to improve their lives.Looking at the ways evangelical churches help migrants navigate negative emotions, In the Hands of God sheds light on the versatility and durability of evangelical Christianity"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction. Pilgrims of the Potomac: Migrant Faith in the Shadows

1. Stories of Exceptionalism: Brazilians as a Special Case in the Study of Migration and Religion

2. Stuck and Alone: The Affective Imprint of Migrant Distress

3. Church as Hospital and God as Consoler: The Affective Therapeutics of Migrant Evangelical Churches

4. Hopeful Migrants, Confident Christians: Spiritual Disciplines and Evangelical Efficacy

5. Affective Therapeutics in Comparative Perspective: Catholic and Spiritist Migrant Experience

6. The Evangelization of God among Migrants: Intimate Faith and Embodied Experience across Denominations

Conclusion. When Affective Therapeutics Fail: Migrant Faith and Resilience in Uncertain Times

Appendix

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691230757

0691230757

OCLC:

1312165425