This book is an undertaking I began nearly seven years ago, and there are many individuals I must acknowledge for assistance in its writing. I thank the Cambridge Commonwealth, European, and International Trust for funding my research and the Centre for Latin American Studies at the University of Cambridge for providing additional resources to support my work in Chile and various archives scattered across Europe. I must also thank Union College and the Consortium for Faculty Diversity for providing me with useful financial and technical support in 2019 and 2020, during which I was able to review and revise my original drafts.
I cannot pass up the opportunity to thank the many archivists and community members who aided my research. In Santiago, I am grateful for the assistance of staff members at the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, the Archivo Judicial de Santiago, the Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile, and the Fundación de Ayuda Social de Iglesias Cristianas. Catalina Tapia at the Fundación de Documentación y Archivo of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad deserves special mention. Her tireless efforts to guide me through the archive’s mountainous records of human rights abuses during the dictatorship were beyond commendable. I would also like to thank Patricio Romero, Marcela Ponce, and Juan Ortiz of the Centro de Documentación Evangélico Protestante Sendas for their warm welcome and incredible insights into the history of evangelicalism in Chile. Humberto Lagos Schuffeneger and Omar Cortés from the Oficina Nacional de Asuntos Religiosos likewise provided useful comments and perspectives on this work. In Europe, I must recognize the staff at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland and at the Archiv für Diakonie und Entwicklung in Berlin for their help in locating materials related to the networks of international ecumenical aid that flowed into Chile during the dictatorship. Finally, I owe a special debt to Harvard University’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Regional Office in Santiago for generously providing a workspace and a bevy of useful contacts across the country.
I must acknowledge Gabriela Ramos. As a mentor and colleague, her ideas, perspectives, and suggestions were invaluable to the development of this work. Throughout the process, she challenged me to look deeper at issues and question my assumptions – exercises that have proven essential for my research, but also for life beyond the library, archives, and oral histories.
This work is a story of religious transformation, but it is not my story and none of this would have been possible without the generosity and willingness of the Misión Iglesia Pentecostal and the religious activists that peopled its
This book has been enriched through the insights of two close friends, Ashley Thomo and Héctor Martínez Morales. Thank you for providing comments on sections of this work, and life in general. Many of my ideas were improved by your thoughtful input. A very special thank you to Vogue Hughes, who many, many years ago convinced me that the impossible was only a short plane trip away. Little did I know it then, but those conversations would set me on a path that would eventually lead to this book.
Finally, I would like to recognize my family who has accompanied me over the years of research and writing. What otherwise might have been a solitary and daunting road was filled with the constant reminders of your optimism and reassurance. I am eternally thankful.