Addicted to Christ

How are spiritual power and self-transformation cultivated in street ministries? In <I>Addicted to Christ,</I> Helena Hansen provides an in-depth analysis of Pentecostal ministries in Puerto Rico that were founded&#160;and run by self-identified &ldquo;ex-addicts,&rdquo; ministries that are also widespread in poor Black and Latino neighborhoods in the U.S. mainland. Richly ethnographic, the book harmoniously melds Hansen&rsquo;s dual expertise in cultural anthropology and psychiatry. Through the stories of ministry converts, she examines key elements of&#160;Pentecostalism: mysticism, ascetic practice, and the idea of other-worldliness. She then reconstructs the ministries&#39; strategies of&#160;spiritual victory over addiction: transformation techniques to build spiritual strength and authority through pain and discipline; cultivation of alternative masculinities based on male converts&rsquo; reclamation of domestic space; and radical rupture from a post-industrial &ldquo;culture of disposability.&rdquo; By contrasting the ministries&rsquo; logic of addiction with that of biomedicine, Hansen rethinks roads to recovery, discovering unexpected convergences with biomedicine while revealing the allure of street corner ministries.