Latino/a and Mujerista Theology / Libros

While the growth in numbers and influence of the Hispanic community in the United States has been commented on widely, there has been no systematic attempt to define what a Hispanic/Latino theology is. Roberto S. Goizueta, a Cuban-American, recognizes that "Hispanic" and "Latino" are labels that can be imposed artificially on a diversity of peoples; he finds a common link in the Spanish language and a shared culture. Central to this culture is the experience of exile, of peoples at the margins of a society, who must find and make their way together. Central also is faith in Jesus. Caminemos con Jesús provides lessons in discipleship for Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike, for students of contemporary theology, and all those engaged in pastoral and church-based work. Book jacket.

Creada a su imagen, en palabras de la autora, responde a la necesidad de proveer herramientas bíblicas y teológicas a más de la mitad de las personas que asisten a nuestras iglesias. No hay iglesia que no testifique de la presencia, trabajo y tesón de las mujeres en todos los ámbitos de trabajo y servicio eclesial. Sin embargo, pocas veces nos preguntamos si nuestro ministerio es integral y pertinente a las necesidades y esperanzas de estas mujeres que son parte del cuerpo de Cristo. Esta obra pretende dar respuesta a esta necesidad y proveer una pastoral diseñada para la mujer.

"Over the last quarter of a century the field of biblical studies has seen radical changes in the conception, practice and teaching of biblical criticism. In Decolonizing Biblical Studies, Fernando Segovia analyzes the models and practices at work in biblical criticism and pedagogy, in particular the emerging voices of the non-Western world. By exploring the principles that underlie all contextual readings of scripture - Hispanic/Latino(a), Black, feminist, and Third World - he offers a powerful challenge to the dominant paradigms of biblical interpretation."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This book uses political, religious, and cultural history to examine catechesis. Sister de Luna establishes that religiosidad popular, the core theme for Hispanic theology, is Christian and Catholic and traces its elements in Church catechisms of the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. She goes on to examine the relationship between theology of beauty, catechesis, and spirituality establishing that the three disciplines were integral to faith formation in the early church, but were separated through the centuries. An in-depth analysis of six selected catechisms reveals that popular religion as a combination of faith and culture was evident at the beginning of Hispanic Catholicism in the sixteenth century. The investigation notes the gradual elimination and eventual replacement of the cultural aspects in the catechetical texts in the nineteenth century. The author concludes that the reunification of the cultural spiritual symbols with the presentation of doctrine could revitalize catechesis and bring Christian evangelization to a renewed effectiveness.

"Popular Catholicism is one of the most distinctive elements of Latino culture, an essential dimension of any project of Latino theology. In The Faith of the People Orlando Espin presents the most concentrated and systematic reflection on this theme. Examining such traditions as devotion to the crucified Christ and to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Espin shows how Popular Catholicism offers a source for vital insight into such theological issues as the nature of God, the Trinity, Christology, and salvation. As Espin explains, it is a matter of taking seriously the expressions of faith of ordinary people - not simply as a sociological phenomenon or a "pastoral problem," but as a font of intuition, wisdom, and living revelation." "As Robert Goizueta observes in his Foreword, The Faith of the People has great significance for the church as a whole, as it struggles with the issues raised in an increasingly polycentric and multicultural time. The stubborn faith of Latino Catholics in the ultimate goodness of life, even in the midst of affliction, remains at the heart of Latino Popular Catholicism. This faith in God's gift not only to the U.S. Latino community but to the entire church and to all peoples."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The groundbreaking work in Hispanic theology, relates the story of the Galilean Jesus to the story of a new mestizo people. In this work, which marked the arrival of a new era of Hispanic/Latino theology in the United States, Virgilio Elizondo described the "Galilee principle": "What human beings reject, God chooses as his very own". This principle is well understood by Mexican-Americans, for whom mestizaje -- the mingling of ethnicity, race, and culture -- is a distinctive feature of their identity. In the person of Jesus, whose marginalized Galilean identity also marked him as a mestizo, the Mexican-American struggle for identity and new life becomes luminous.

In a world divided by race, ethnicity, gender, violence, and hate, Harold Recinos's Good News from the Barrioexplores the ways in which the good news of the gospel is at work in Latino barrios. He challenges Christians to listen to the gospel in these contexts and offer a prophetic witness to the nation and the church.

A new generation of feminist theologians from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America is responding to their changing world with critical theological insights and social analyses. This new reader, including indigenous voices, comprises eighteen reflections by women theologians who face daily poverty, violence, civil strife, war, and cultural alienation, yet who find abundant hope through their faith. Book jacket.

Ignacio Ellacuria, a Spanish Jesuit theologian, philosopher, and rector of the University of Central America, was one of the key intellectual authors of liberation theology. This volume offers twelve important essays by Ellacuria, at last providing English-speaking readers with a comprehensive introduction to his theological thought.

Latina Evangelicas: A Theological Survey from the Margins is a constructive and postcolonial examination of the theology of Protestant Latinas who reside in the United States. Written by three Latinas who have pastored and who teach in Latina/o communities, the book seeks to expand beyond Latina feminist and mujerista voices to include those whose perspectives have not yet been heard. It thus introduces an important theological perspective to a wider audience, and provides an important resource that has been lacking for evangelicas/os and other marginalized groups who study in various theological programs. Key terminology, such as evangelica, is defined throughout, and a glossary is included for non-Spanish-speaking readers. Each chapter considers theological themes important to the Latina Protestant worshiping community, beginning with a constructive discussion of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and followed by the doctrines of salvation and Jesus Christ, the Trinity, the church, Scripture, and "the last things" (eschatology). Given that one of the characteristics of Latina/o theologies is their dialogical and collaborative nature, the book concludes with a conversation among the three authors about the theological thinking that took place in its composition. Study questions are included at the end of each chapter.

How do ethnic and cultural diversity affect spiritual formation? The authors of A Many Colored Kingdom explore Christian formation and teaching in the church, with a particular focus on intercultural and interethnic relationships. Well-qualified to speak on issues of diversity, the authors describe relevant aspects of their own personal journeys; key issues emerging from their studies and teaching germane to race, culture, and ethnicity; and teaching implications that bring right practice to bear on church ministry. A final chapter contains a conversation among the authors responding to one another's insights and concerns. This book will be required reading for those engaged in as well as those preparing for a life of teaching and ministry in our increasingly multicultural world.

An in-depth look at Christian theology through Hispanic eyes. It weaves the doctrinal formulations of the early church on creation, the Trinity, and Christology into contemporary theological reflection on the Hispanic struggle for liberation. This volume offers a major theological statement from a respected theologian and author.  Richly insightful and unique, Manana is one of the few major theological works from a Protestant representative of the Hispanic tradition.  Justo L. Gonzalez offers theological reflections based upon unique insights born of his minority status as a Hispanic American.

Few thinkers have been as influential as Augustine of Hippo. His writings, such as Confessions and City of God, have left an indelible mark on Western Christianity. He has become so synonymous with Christianity in the West that we easily forget he was a man of two cultures: African and Greco-Roman. The mixture of African Christianity and Greco-Roman rhetoric and philosophy gave his theology and ministry a unique potency in the cultural ferment of the late Roman empire.Augustine experienced what Latino/a theology calls mestizaje, which means being of a mixed background. Cuban American historian and theologian Justo Gonz#65533;lez looks at the life and legacy of Augustine from the perspective of his own Latino heritage and finds in the bishop of Hippo a remarkable resource for the church today. The mestizo Augustine can serve as a lens by which to see afresh not only the history of Christianity but also our own culturally diverse world.

Mujerista Theology is a comprehensive introduction to Hispanic feminist theology written from the heart and the convictions of experience. Continually drawing on her Cuban roots, Isasi-Diaz focuses on the life journeys and struggles of Hispanic women as she develops a theology to support and empower their daily struggles for meaning. With her own life journey always firmly connected to the grassroots experience of Hispanic women and to the struggle for liberation, Isasi-Diaz is a major spokesperson for the continuing need for liberation theology today. The first part of Mujerista Theology describes the experience of self-discovery: what it is like to live in a foreign land as the oppressed "other". The second part focuses on the methodology of doing mujerista theology and its major themes: solidarity, empowerment, anthropology, encountering God, and liturgy and rituals.

Speaking for the growing community of Latina feminist theologians, the editors of this volume write, "With the emergence and growth of the feminist theologies of liberation, we no longer wait for others to define or validate our experience of life and faith.... We want to express in our own words our plural ways of experiencing God and our plural ways of living our faith. And these ways have a liberative tone."With twelve original essays by emerging and established Latina feminist theologians, this first-of-its-kind volume adds the perspectives, realities, struggles, and spiritualities of U.S. Latinas to the larger feminist theological discourse. The editors have gathered writings from both Roman Catholics and Protestants and from various Latino/a communities. The writers address a wide array of theological concerns: popular religion, denominational presence and attraction, methodology, lived experience, analysis of nationhood, and interpretations of life lived on a border that is not only geographic but also racial, gendered, linguistic, and religious.

This introduction focuses on how issues involving race, class, and gender influence our understanding of the Bible. Describing how "standard" readings of the Bible are not always acceptable to people or groups on the "margins," this book afters valuable new insights into biblical texts today.

The interest in Mexican Hieronimite nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) is reaching extraordinary new levels. She has been the subject of plays, a feature film, scholarly conferences, books and articles. Nobel Laureate, poet Octavio Paz, has called her one of the great poets of the Spanish language and considers her Response to Sor Philotea de la Cruz to be the first intellectual autobiography in the Hispanic world. At her death in 1695, Sor Juana was an internationally-known poet, dramatist and religious writer. Today, she is still considered an exceptional lyric poet and one of the great writers of Spain's siglo de oro, its Golden Age of drama. Latin American literary scholars have been continually enthralled by this nun of humble beginnings who was educated at the vice regal court in Mexico City after being recognized as a child prodigy. Until recently, though, their attention has been focused on her secular poetry and drama, to the neglect of her religious works.Included here are: religious songs and devotional poetry; Sor Juana's sacramental drama and preface play, Divine Narcissus; two devotional works (first English translation), Devotional Exercises for the Feast of the Incarnation and Offerings for the Sorrows of Our Lady; a theological disputation, Critique of a Sermon/Athenagoric Letter and her autobiographical Response to Sor Philotea de la Cruz. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Selected WRITINGS in the Classics of Western Spirituality Series is essential reading for those interested in great literary figures, religious studies and women's history.

Using fresh, playful language that tweaks the pretentions of mainstream academic theology, the author covers a range of topics, from the implications of population shifts on the identity of the church, to the role of the 'everyday' or lo cotidiano in theology, and even the global phenomenon of béisbol.