Sowing the Sacred by Lloyd Daniel Barba
Sowing the Sacred traces the development of Mexican-American Pentecostalism among farmworkers from the 1910s to the 1960s, drawing on oral histories, photographs taken by farmworkers, and material from new archival collections to tell an intimate story of sacred-space making in a context of labor exploitation.
A terrific glimpse into previously untold histories, Sowing the Sacred is a beautiful, moving, and an important work of scholarship on the material and spiritual lives of ethnic Mexican farmworkers and church leaders in CaliforniaPlease read this book. * Jacqueline M. Hidalgo, Professor of Latina/o/x Studies and Religion, Williams College *
With a beautiful mix of photographs, oral histories, and archival research, Barba gracefully uncovers the tragic and resilient worlds of Mexican Pentecostal farmworkers as they labored in the fields, created sacred spaces, and lived dignified lives in the American West. Sowing the Sacred more than fills a significant gap in the literature on Latina/o religion and labor, it changes the field entirely. Simply put, this book is groundbreaking. * Felipe Hinojosa, author of Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio *
Sowing the Sacred impressively reframes the history of proletarian religion in California's harsh agribusiness. Lloyd Barba deftly demonstrates how subaltern Pentecostal farmworkers sacralized the very soil and water of their labor and fired the imaginations of key Chicano/a Movement leaders. * Daniel Ramírez, Associate Professor of American Religions, Claremont Graduate University *
Sowing the Sacred successfully places the sacred stories and laboring bodies of Apostólicos front and center, offering the reader not just a window into the past, but entirely new sets of lenses through which to examine, uncover, and admire the fruit of a completely different kind of "labor" that left a permanent mark on U.S. and Mexican history. * Gaby Viesca, George Fox University *
Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California by Lloyd Daniel Barba is a beautifully told and rigorously researched history of a subaltern religious denomination in California's agricultural farmlands. * David Flores, Department of Ethnic Studies, Sacramento State University, Sacramento, CA, USA *
Sowing the Sacred is more than a history of Mexican Pentecostal farmworkers in California. It is an excavation, unearthing a religious tradition that's been buried beneath social prejudice and scholarly neglect. * Christian Century *
An important contribution Sowing the Sacred gives us is the way it adds to the historical texture of the United States' design of labor laws and practices regarding farmworkers and capitalistic production of the fields. * Yara González-Justiniano, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture. *
Sowing the Sacred successfully places the sacred stories and laboring bodies of Apostólicos front and center, offering the reader not just a window into the past, but entirely new sets of lenses through which to examine, uncover, and admire the fruit of a completely different kind of "labor" that left a permanent mark on U.S. and Mexican history. * Gaby Viesca, The Perspectivas *
Barba's prose is lovely. The book is not beach reading, but for a volume that seamlessly blends so many distinct disciplines-religion, ethnicity, immigration, agriculture, and economic history-it is remarkably fluid. * Grant Wacker, The Christian Century *
Sowing the Sacred is written in a captivating yet easy flowing tone. The particular threads that Barba weaves into the book develop organically, as the story unfolds. The book would be of interest to scholars and students of North American religions, Latine and Latin American religions, and migration and religion. * Jonathan E. Calvillo, Material Religion *
With a beautiful mix of photographs, oral histories, and archival research, Barba gracefully uncovers the tragic and resilient worlds of Mexican Pentecostal farmworkers as they labored in the fields, created sacred spaces, and lived dignified lives in the American West. Sowing the Sacred more than fills a significant gap in the literature on Latina/o religion and labor, it changes the field entirely. Simply put, this book is groundbreaking. * Felipe Hinojosa, author of Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio *
Sowing the Sacred impressively reframes the history of proletarian religion in California's harsh agribusiness. Lloyd Barba deftly demonstrates how subaltern Pentecostal farmworkers sacralized the very soil and water of their labor and fired the imaginations of key Chicano/a Movement leaders. * Daniel Ramírez, Associate Professor of American Religions, Claremont Graduate University *
Sowing the Sacred successfully places the sacred stories and laboring bodies of Apostólicos front and center, offering the reader not just a window into the past, but entirely new sets of lenses through which to examine, uncover, and admire the fruit of a completely different kind of "labor" that left a permanent mark on U.S. and Mexican history. * Gaby Viesca, George Fox University *
Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California by Lloyd Daniel Barba is a beautifully told and rigorously researched history of a subaltern religious denomination in California's agricultural farmlands. * David Flores, Department of Ethnic Studies, Sacramento State University, Sacramento, CA, USA *
Sowing the Sacred is more than a history of Mexican Pentecostal farmworkers in California. It is an excavation, unearthing a religious tradition that's been buried beneath social prejudice and scholarly neglect. * Christian Century *
An important contribution Sowing the Sacred gives us is the way it adds to the historical texture of the United States' design of labor laws and practices regarding farmworkers and capitalistic production of the fields. * Yara González-Justiniano, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture. *
Sowing the Sacred successfully places the sacred stories and laboring bodies of Apostólicos front and center, offering the reader not just a window into the past, but entirely new sets of lenses through which to examine, uncover, and admire the fruit of a completely different kind of "labor" that left a permanent mark on U.S. and Mexican history. * Gaby Viesca, The Perspectivas *
Barba's prose is lovely. The book is not beach reading, but for a volume that seamlessly blends so many distinct disciplines-religion, ethnicity, immigration, agriculture, and economic history-it is remarkably fluid. * Grant Wacker, The Christian Century *
Sowing the Sacred is written in a captivating yet easy flowing tone. The particular threads that Barba weaves into the book develop organically, as the story unfolds. The book would be of interest to scholars and students of North American religions, Latine and Latin American religions, and migration and religion. * Jonathan E. Calvillo, Material Religion *
Lloyd Daniel Barba is Assistant Professor of Religion and Core Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies at Amherst College. He is the co-editor of Oneness Pentecostalism: Race, Gender and Culture (2023), and editor of Latin American and U.S. Latinx Religion in North America (2023). His scholarship on Pentecostalism, Catholicism, the Sanctuary Movement, and material religion has been published in journals such as Journal of the American Academy of Religion, American Religion, Perspectivas, and MAVCOR and various edited volumes. including The Oxford Handbook on Latinx Christianity, Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics since 1945, and Protestant Aesthetics and the Arts, to name a few. He serves on the council of the American Society of Church History and co-chairs the History of Christianity Unit of the American Academy of Religion.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780197748169 |
| ISBN 10 | 0197748163 |
| Title | Sowing the Sacred |
| Author | Lloyd Daniel Barba |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press Inc |
| Year published | 2023-09-20 |
| Number of pages | 376 |
| Prizes | Winner of Winner, 2024 Pneuma Book Award for Best Book in the Study of Pentecostalism Winner, 2024 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise Finalist, Pnemua Book Award by the Society for Pentecostal Studies 2023. |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |