Altar Encounters

Abstract

This chapter examines Latinx religious identities through the lens of change and continuity. For evangelicals, the experience of religious conversion becomes a marker of evangelical identity. Some Catholics, too, have experiences of religious renewal which closely approximate religious conversion. For evangelicals, conversion experiences are closely linked to rupturing with the past. For Catholics, religious renewal is a way to solidify ties to the past, both religious and ethnic. Essentially, Catholics have a stronger sense of continuity with the past and evangelicals tend to emphasize discontinuity with the past. Ultimately, the author addresses the dilemma of how experiences of religious renewal and religious change relate to ethnic identity maintenance. Understandings of the past matter for ethnic identity because they structure the collective memories that people have at their disposal to bolster a sense of shared history. Conversion experiences also shape how people understand themselves in relation to ethnic spaces.