Like Leaven in the Dough

In Like Leaven in the Dough: Protestant Social Thought in Latin America, 1920-1950, Carlos Mondrag n offers an introduction to the ideas of notable Protestant writers in Latin America during the first half of the twentieth century. Despite their national and denominational differences, Mondrag n argues that Protestant intellectuals developed a coherent set of ideas about freedom of religion and thought, economic justice, militarism, and national identity. This was a period when Protestants comprised a very small proportion of Latin America's total population; their very marginality compelled them to think creatively about their identity and place in Latin American society. Accused of embracing a foreign faith, these Protestants struggled to define national identities that had room for religious diversity and liberty of conscience. Marginalized and persecuted themselves, Latin America's Protestants articulated a liberating message decades before the appearance of Catholic Liberation Theology.