Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-301) and index.

Print version record.

The internationally growing Cursillo movement, or "short course in Christianity," founded in 1944 by Spanish Catholic lay practitioners, has become popular among American Catholics and Protestants alike. This lay-led weekend experience helps participants recommit to and live their faith. Emphasizing how American Christians have privileged the individual religious experience and downplayed denominational and theological differences in favor of a common identity as renewed people of faith, the author focuses on cursillistas - those who have completed a Cursillo weekend - to show how their experiences are a touchstone for understanding these trends in post-1960s American Christianity. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork as well as historical research, the author shows the importance of Latino Catholics in the spread of the Cursillo movement. Cursillistas' stories, she argues, guide us toward a new understanding of contemporary Christian identities, inside and outside U.S. borders, and of the importance of globalizing American religious boundaries. -- Provided by publisher.

Preface : New Beginnings -- Introduction : Finding Christ and Community in America -- Los Orígenes Mallorquines -- Coming to America -- A Focus on Christian Experience -- Blooming Where We're Planted -- Teens Encounter Christ -- Feeding Bodies and Souls -- Maverick yet Mainstream -- Epilogue : Cursillo Weekends, Fourth-Day Spirituality, and the Future -- Appendix One : Cursillo Chronology -- Appendix Two : Glossary.