A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
“They Are Very Different from Us”: Institutional Form, Leadership, and Inter-denominational Relations in Amazonia
Authors: Opas Minna
Editors: Capredon Élise , Ceriani Cernadas César, Opas Minna
Publishing place: Cham
Publication year: 2023
Book title : Indigenous Churches Anthropology of Christianity in Lowland South America
Series title: Contemporary Anthropology of Religion
First page : 59
Last page: 84
ISBN: 978-3-031-14493-6
eISBN: 978-3-031-14494-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14494-3_3
Web address : https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-14494-3_3
This chapter investigates the role of institutional form and leadership in informing inter-denominational relations in the context of the Amazonian Yine people living in southeastern Peru. Approaching denominations as institutions provides a view on inter-denominationalism that pays attention to the role of materiality without excluding theological and sociocultural factors. The examination focuses on one Yine community counting with three different Christian churches: Evangelicals, Catholics, and Pentecostals. In the community, understandings of different churches as institutions worked as a platform for Christians to express their views on what constitutes legitimate kind of Christianity, and on the ways in which they considered themselves differing from other groups self-identifying as Christian. They therefore also served as grip surfaces for inter-denominational disputes. The spheres revealed central for these disputes and the negotiation of denominational boundaries were economics, education, and leadership.