Secure the Soul Christian Piety and Gang Prevention in Guatemala [Hardcover]

Im not perfect, Mateo confessed. Nobody is. But I try.Secure the Soulshuttles between the life of Mateo, a born-again ex-gang member in Guatemala and the gang prevention programs that work so hard to keep him alive. Along the way, this poignantly written ethnography uncovers the Christian underpinnings of Central American security. In the streets of Guatemala Cityamid angry lynch mobs, overcrowded prisons, and paramilitary death squadsmillions of dollars empower church missions, faith-based programs, and seemingly secular security projects to prevent gang violence through the practice of Christian piety. With Guatemala increasingly defined by both God and gangs,Secure the Souldetails an emerging strategy of geopolitical significance: regional security by way of good Christian living.

Kevin Lewis O'Neillis Associate Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies, University of Toronto. He is the author ofCity of God: Christian Citizenship in Postwar Guatemala.

Through extraordinary fieldwork, Kevin Lewis ONeill unearths the everyday state of emergency of Guatemala's evangelical Christian response to gang violence. He prompts us to rethink such issues as governmentality, extra-judicial violence, incarceration, addiction, Christian piety, and the soul, while making visible the painful social suffering that so urgently requires understanding. Philippe Bourgois, author ofIn Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio

Powerfully narrated and visually arresting,Secure the Soulis a remarkable study of the interface of Christian ministry, gang networks, and city life in Central America. You will leave this book with a deep and sober understanding of the porous ways Christian piety informs care and security there where the political field has been emptied out and a belief in this world is all but gone. A landmark contributilS=