"The converted": emergence and institutionalization of the First Evangelical Baptist Church of Rafaela

Abstract

The waves of immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries contextualized and made possible the diversification of the religious field in Argentina. Immigrants brought with them diverse religious beliefs that impacted the shaping of Argentine religiosity. The internal migrations of these groups, in turn, made possible the spread of these religious beliefs. The emergence and institutionalization of the First Evangelical Baptist Church of Rafaela in the late tenth, gives an account of this phenomenon in the colonies of the center west of Santa Fe. In this sense, we propose that social and contextual relations (local, provincial and national) experienced by old and new believers were the starting point for the emergence of the Baptist Church at the local level and that its consolidation was forged based on the collaborative relationships established between the members of the group, with other groups of nearby or more consolidated localities, and those with the Raphaelite society.