A Social History of Cuba's Protestants: God and the Nation

by James A. Baer

Overview

A Social History of Cuba’s Protestants: God and the Nation presents a religious and social history of Cuba, focusing on the Presbyterian and other Protestant churches, to show the continuity of ties between US and Cuban churches before and after the revolution in 1959. By examining the history of Cuba’s Protestants as agents of social change within Cuba and as partners with US denominations, James A. Baer offers a unique assessment of Cuba’s development as a nation and its relationship with the United States. Scholars of Latin American studies, religion, history, and social movements will find this book particularly useful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498581097
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	07/02/2019
Series:	Lexington Studies on Cuba
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	6.28(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

James A. Baer is retired professor of history at the Alexandria Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Pastors and Patriots (1890-1906)

Chapter 2. Growth and Consolidation (1907-1917)

Chapter 3. Education and Reform (1918-1933)

Chapter 4. National Stirrings (1934-1947)

Chapter 5. Confronting Revolution (1948-1958)

Chapter 6. Through the Valley of Bones (1959-1968)

Chapter 7. Out of Darkness (1969-1991)

Chapter 8. Renewal and Hope (1992-2008)

Editorial Reviews

James Baer offers readers a unique insight into the transnational dimensions of Presbyterianism in Cuba, tracing the 19th-century origins linked to U.S. missions, explaining the growing independence of Cuban Protestants that saw Cuban religious leaders gaining more powerful roles in Cuban organizations, and noting the roles of Protestant leaders working with the revolutionary government from the 1970s to the present. A Social History of Cuban Protestants joins a growing literature that looks at Cuban civil society over the past century, illustrating the role of religious organizations and practitioners in Cuba’s various political struggles. Baer’s history of Protestants generally—and the small but vital Presbyterian church specifically—is a welcome complement to the plethora of business, economic, and political studies of modern Cuban history.

Kirwin Shaffer

The book’s range from the wars for independence through the present is a strength as it allows Baer to analyze the question of Cuban Protestantism vis-à-vis the pressing social and political questions of each era and to consider how Protestants’ commitments have changed Cuba and have changed over time.. .. Baer’s work adds to the body of scholarship on religion and religious practice in Cuba in ways that illuminate how they intersected with social and political change.

H-Diplo