Christ Meets Culture
The Influence of Sociocultural Factors on the Translation of the Gospel in Brazil
by Jair Fernandes de Melo Santos
Foreword by Daniel R. Sanchez
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
How does Christ meet, engage, change, challenge, dialogue, interact with, and bridge cultures? What is the role of the gospel in transforming ethics and culture? These daunting questions guide the present investigation about Evangelical Christianity in Brazil, the largest Catholic country in the world. This book critiques the quantitative and qualitative growth of Evangelical Christianity in Brazil and presents tools for studying the global south and other cultures. Indeed, sociocultural factors play a significant role in the translation of the gospel and may work as bridges and/or barriers within the cultural and religious milieu of the largest country in Latin American. Particularly, four traits impacts the preaching of the Christian message in Brazil, namely: cordiality, religiosity, the Brazilian way of coping, and collectivism. Through oral history methodology, and literature review, this book evaluates how biblically sound translation happens through the Brazilian Baptist Convention as suggested by key leadership writings, practices, and memoirs. This work features an overview of the history of Brazilian Christianity, including its Animistic background, African-Brazilian religious influences, the present Pentecostal majority, and the challenge of Neopentecostalism, in an era of music, TV, and social media.
Jair Fernandes de Melo Santos is Professor of Missiology at Northeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil). He serves as Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Serrinha (Bahia, Brazil). Jair holds a PhD in World Christian Studies and an MDiv from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Fort Worth, Texas) and a bachelor’s in Journalism from Federal University of Bahia (Brazil).
"What is unique about this dissertation is that it engages in scholarly research of key sociological factors in the Brazilian culture that contributed toward the translation of the gospel in that context. This has implications not only for an accurate historical understanding of the manner in which the early Brazilian converts to evangelical Christianity translated the message of the missionaries but also for the manner in which it continues to be translated and transmitted in today's Brazilian cultural context. While this dissertation has a very solid theoretical framework it also has very practical application for contemporary Christian ministry."
--Daniel R. Sanchez, from the foreword
"Jair Santos's Christ Meets Culture is a very welcome contribution to the discussion of evangelical Christianity in Brazil and the Global South. Santos discusses how Brazilian identity and culture create both bridges and barriers to the development of evangelical Christianity in Brazil. I highly recommend Jair Santos's text for his insightful analysis of the development of the Brazilian Baptist Convention and their effort to respond to the challenge posed by the emergence of neo-pentecostal churches in Brazil."
--Luiz C. Nascimento, Dean and Professor of Religion & Society, Northeast Baptist Theological Seminay, Brazil