New Books in Middle Eastern Studies Adriana Carranca, "Soul by Soul: The Evangelical Mission to Spread the Gospel to Muslims" (Columbia UP, 2024)
Aug 16, 2025
In this engaging discussion, journalist Adriana Carranca shares her insights from her book, which chronicles the global evangelical mission to convert Muslims. She highlights how the movement intensified after 9/11, particularly through Brazilian missionaries in conflict zones like Afghanistan. Carranca reveals the challenges these missionaries face amidst militant opposition and explores the historical backdrop of evangelical efforts stemming from Brazil's shift away from Catholicism. Their faith-driven struggles and the complexities of cross-cultural evangelism provide a thought-provoking look at modern religious dynamics.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Unexpected Missionaries In Afghanistan
- Adriana Carranca traced a Brazilian couple who moved to Afghanistan and discovered they were missionaries running a pizza business as cover.
- She followed them into the field and used that relationship to build the book's central narrative.
Why Brazil Became An Evangelical Hub
- Evangelicalism rapidly converted Latin America from Catholicism by emphasizing biblical authority and lay responsibility to evangelize.
- Political shifts and U.S. influence in the 1960s accelerated evangelical growth in Brazil.
From Anti-Communism To Focus On Islam
- After the Cold War, U.S. evangelicals redirected their focus from communism to Islam as a perceived spiritual threat.
- This ideological shift linked evangelical expansion with geopolitics and conflicts in Muslim-majority regions.
