Global and Local Televangelism

Televangelism is an evolving global phenomenon. While it may have begun in the USA in the late 1960s, the liberalization of global television in the 1990s along with the spread of satellite and cable television has enabled a variety of global and local expressions of televangelism today. The spread of Islamic television in the Arab world and Indonesia shows no sign of abating, while the Hindu televangelist Baba Ramdev has become a household name through his marketing of yoga-based health and well being products. This book explores and engages with the changing face of global and local televangelism - with the globalization of Christian televangelism in India, Nigeria, Ghana, Guatemala and Brazil, and with the branded nature of televangelism in contemporary USA. While US style televangelism has influenced its Islamic and Hindu variants, it is clear there is an evolving local tenor that is influenced as much by local cultural and religious practices as by economics and politics. The resurgence of religious identities the world over has been accompanied by the presence of religion in the media. These media have been put to use in multiple intra and inter-religious battles over souls and purses and these struggles, in particular, have been fought out on television screens.