Homies and Hermanos

Why would a gun-wielding tattoo-bearing homie trade in la vida loca for a Bible and the buttoned-down lifestyle of an evangelical hermano (brother in Christ)? To answer this question Robert Brenneman interviewed sixty-three former gang members from the Northern Triangle of Central America--Guatemala El Salvador and Honduras--most of whom left their gang for evangelicalism. Unlike in the United States membership in a Central American gang is hasta la morgue. But the most common exception to the morgue rule is that of conversion or regular participation in an evangelical church. Do gang members who weary of their dangerous lifestyle simply make a rational choice to opt for evangelical religion? Brenneman finds this is only partly the case for many others report emotional conversions that came unexpectedly when they found themselves overwhelmed by a sermon a conversation or a prayer service. An extensively researched and gritty account Homies and Hermanos sheds light on the nature of youth violence of religious conversion and of evangelical churches in Central America.