The Oxford Handbook of Latinx Christianities in the United States
This chapter examines the historical usage of the category of mestizaje by scholars, arguing that... more This chapter examines the historical usage of the category of mestizaje by scholars, arguing that it continues to be a useful theological category, because it elucidates the divine dismantling of structures of racialized, cultural, and religious power. Mestizaje constitutes an ethical praxis and ethos unwilling to succumb to easy recipes of “inclusion,” “unity,” and “hospitality.” The concept of mestizaje remains useful as it is used to celebrate and wrestle with complex and fluid multicultural, multilingual, and multinational history and ancestral lines for which it is a cipher. The crucial insight gleaned from mestizaje is its open-endedness; it thrives on diversity and heterogeneity while subverting false notions of purity, homogeneity, unity, and whiteness. Mestizaje is an attempt to actively reject social, cultural, and economic structures of discrimination, racism, and marginalization. This chapter argues that it also rejects intellectual frames which undermine the rich cultur...
A sociohistorical and theological retracing of some of the most important moments and aspects of ... more A sociohistorical and theological retracing of some of the most important moments and aspects of the Christian left in Canada, recounting some of its major contributions and actors, and exploring some of the challenges this movement will face in the future. Adopting a decolonial approach, this article is divided into two sections. The first section examines some of the issues related to social reform that have characterized the Christian left, with particular attention to some of its key actors, socio-ethical and theological justice themes, and shifts over time. The second section pays closer attention to some of the social and theological challenges this diverse movement confronts as it attempts to account for Canada’s history of colonization and Christianity’s complicity with the colonial project. This article invites Christian leftists to engage in a process of social and theological decolonization where racialized and minoritized peoples are not seen as objects of good will, but...
This article honours the rich contexts from which liberation theologies and decolonial insights e... more This article honours the rich contexts from which liberation theologies and decolonial insights emerge. It includes an invitation to practical theologians to be mindful of the long-standing intellectual traditions behind these strands. The authors summarize and distinguish the crucial insights and points of differences as they argue for rigorous practical theological methods. They draw from their concrete experiences in the Americas to show the intricate possibilities of using liberation and decolonial thinking in practical theology.
Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, 2012
This book is yet another contribution about Guatema-la's socio-political and economic situation, ... more This book is yet another contribution about Guatema-la's socio-political and economic situation, and religious configurations since the end of the civil war. O'Neil examines the impact of religious affiliation on citizenship construction and formation. He focuses on the ways Neo-Pentecostals in Guatemala (specifically the El-Shaddai communities) respond to the challenge of citizenship. In doing so, he counters the notion that neo-Pentecostalism functions as a neutralizing opium, preventing its adherents from "more militant" social and political engagement. The paradox, he explains, is that neo-Pentecostal activities display systematic, intentional , and calculated actions that foster the formation of citizens, while at the same time limiting the avenue through which they can act. In six carefully delineated chapters, O'Neil looks at five particular neo-Pentecostal beliefs and practices (cell groups, spiritual warfare, fatherhood, charity, evangelism), and how these conspire to produce citizens and function as cultural technologies for the production of particular kinds of citizens. In the first chapter O'Neil locates his work within the larger field of citizenship studies. In Guatemala, he claims, neo-Pentecostals confront enormous obstacles due to the destructive effects of the prolonged civil war (1954-1996), and the present state of social unrest , gang-related crime and violence, femicide, extreme poverty, and unfettered racism.
Taking the work of decolonial scholar Arturo Escobar, this article explores the notion of sentipe... more Taking the work of decolonial scholar Arturo Escobar, this article explores the notion of sentipensar (lit. thinking-feeling) and its possible intersections and implications for Latina/o/x theoethics. The concept sentipensar signals a different type of rationality by which people are able to account for their immediate environment, history, and identity. LatinaXo theoethics embodies its own kind of decolonial sentipensar beyond inherited Eurocentric intellectual frames. LatinaXo scholars ground theoethics in their daily experience of Lo cotidiano, by anchoring their construction of knowledge on Lo cultural, and by uncovering the violence of empire and colonization in their own ethno-bio-cultural mestizaje.
For Latinas/os in Canada to do theology in a liberationist vein means to develop a multidisciplin... more For Latinas/os in Canada to do theology in a liberationist vein means to develop a multidisciplinary, cross-sectional analysis of the interconnected issues that affect “people of colour” in Canada.1 It is the intentional weaving of theological reflection with the social sciences, liberal arts, and humanities as necessary requirements for the reflective theological process.2
Espín/The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latino/a Theology, 2015
God is not God in isolation. God's divinity is grounded in the full dynamic of relationsh... more God is not God in isolation. God's divinity is grounded in the full dynamic of relationships and interrelationships that form the Trinity, making divinity a reality found in a dynamic cooperative relationship. (Pedraja 1994: 54) L atina/o theologians have engaged on a first‐level reconfiguration of traditional approaches to the theological task. Not often following the inherited theological grammar of traditional theological frames, they have nevertheless and intentionally engaged those traditional themes and contributed great insights both to the how of theology (method) and to the what of theology (content). That said, one would be hard pressed to find any substantial work dealing explicitly with the work and nature of the Spirit in Latina/o theology. Certainly, there are volumes that explicitly allude to the Spirit, but most of those get at the Spirit through an emphasis on another theological topic. I will discuss these works as part of the first portion of this chapter. The apparent dearth of writings on pneumatology does not mean that one cannot find allusions to the Spirit and the Spirit's activity in the writings of Latinas/os. It does point, however, to a significant gap in Latina/o theology. Some Latinas/os have connected the nature and activity of the Spirit to debates on Mariology, and offer us creative insights for building a Latina/o pneumatology. In the second section of this chapter, I briefly mention their contributions, noting the serious challenge they pose to established pneumatologies by including women's embodied experiences as a way to talk about the Spirit. I write this chapter on pneumatology with the caveat that these are only preliminary musings that deserve further elaboration and intentional engagement by Latina/o theologians. In the third section, I constructively propose some aspects that I believe will contribute to
This article proposes that a new pentecostal social ethic is emerging in the region. Examining re... more This article proposes that a new pentecostal social ethic is emerging in the region. Examining recent developments of Pentecostalism in Latin America along with Latin American scholars, I will discuss, in thematic form, some of the recent developments affecting pentecostal movements in the region from revising its historical origins, celebrating its internal diversity, reconsidering political involvement, reclaiming the crucial role of women’s contributions, to developing a social ethics seeking to respond in relevant ways to the social issues confronted by the Latin American population. Though the influence of liberation theology is noticeable, these groups are drawing on the pentecostal experience to reinterpret their relationship with the larger social context and internally. Particular attention is given to the great internal diversity within pentecostal movements in Latin America
The Oxford Handbook of Latinx Christianities in the United States
This chapter examines the historical usage of the category of mestizaje by scholars, arguing that... more This chapter examines the historical usage of the category of mestizaje by scholars, arguing that it continues to be a useful theological category, because it elucidates the divine dismantling of structures of racialized, cultural, and religious power. Mestizaje constitutes an ethical praxis and ethos unwilling to succumb to easy recipes of “inclusion,” “unity,” and “hospitality.” The concept of mestizaje remains useful as it is used to celebrate and wrestle with complex and fluid multicultural, multilingual, and multinational history and ancestral lines for which it is a cipher. The crucial insight gleaned from mestizaje is its open-endedness; it thrives on diversity and heterogeneity while subverting false notions of purity, homogeneity, unity, and whiteness. Mestizaje is an attempt to actively reject social, cultural, and economic structures of discrimination, racism, and marginalization. This chapter argues that it also rejects intellectual frames which undermine the rich cultur...
A sociohistorical and theological retracing of some of the most important moments and aspects of ... more A sociohistorical and theological retracing of some of the most important moments and aspects of the Christian left in Canada, recounting some of its major contributions and actors, and exploring some of the challenges this movement will face in the future. Adopting a decolonial approach, this article is divided into two sections. The first section examines some of the issues related to social reform that have characterized the Christian left, with particular attention to some of its key actors, socio-ethical and theological justice themes, and shifts over time. The second section pays closer attention to some of the social and theological challenges this diverse movement confronts as it attempts to account for Canada’s history of colonization and Christianity’s complicity with the colonial project. This article invites Christian leftists to engage in a process of social and theological decolonization where racialized and minoritized peoples are not seen as objects of good will, but...
This article honours the rich contexts from which liberation theologies and decolonial insights e... more This article honours the rich contexts from which liberation theologies and decolonial insights emerge. It includes an invitation to practical theologians to be mindful of the long-standing intellectual traditions behind these strands. The authors summarize and distinguish the crucial insights and points of differences as they argue for rigorous practical theological methods. They draw from their concrete experiences in the Americas to show the intricate possibilities of using liberation and decolonial thinking in practical theology.
Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, 2012
This book is yet another contribution about Guatema-la's socio-political and economic situation, ... more This book is yet another contribution about Guatema-la's socio-political and economic situation, and religious configurations since the end of the civil war. O'Neil examines the impact of religious affiliation on citizenship construction and formation. He focuses on the ways Neo-Pentecostals in Guatemala (specifically the El-Shaddai communities) respond to the challenge of citizenship. In doing so, he counters the notion that neo-Pentecostalism functions as a neutralizing opium, preventing its adherents from "more militant" social and political engagement. The paradox, he explains, is that neo-Pentecostal activities display systematic, intentional , and calculated actions that foster the formation of citizens, while at the same time limiting the avenue through which they can act. In six carefully delineated chapters, O'Neil looks at five particular neo-Pentecostal beliefs and practices (cell groups, spiritual warfare, fatherhood, charity, evangelism), and how these conspire to produce citizens and function as cultural technologies for the production of particular kinds of citizens. In the first chapter O'Neil locates his work within the larger field of citizenship studies. In Guatemala, he claims, neo-Pentecostals confront enormous obstacles due to the destructive effects of the prolonged civil war (1954-1996), and the present state of social unrest , gang-related crime and violence, femicide, extreme poverty, and unfettered racism.
Taking the work of decolonial scholar Arturo Escobar, this article explores the notion of sentipe... more Taking the work of decolonial scholar Arturo Escobar, this article explores the notion of sentipensar (lit. thinking-feeling) and its possible intersections and implications for Latina/o/x theoethics. The concept sentipensar signals a different type of rationality by which people are able to account for their immediate environment, history, and identity. LatinaXo theoethics embodies its own kind of decolonial sentipensar beyond inherited Eurocentric intellectual frames. LatinaXo scholars ground theoethics in their daily experience of Lo cotidiano, by anchoring their construction of knowledge on Lo cultural, and by uncovering the violence of empire and colonization in their own ethno-bio-cultural mestizaje.
For Latinas/os in Canada to do theology in a liberationist vein means to develop a multidisciplin... more For Latinas/os in Canada to do theology in a liberationist vein means to develop a multidisciplinary, cross-sectional analysis of the interconnected issues that affect “people of colour” in Canada.1 It is the intentional weaving of theological reflection with the social sciences, liberal arts, and humanities as necessary requirements for the reflective theological process.2
Espín/The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latino/a Theology, 2015
God is not God in isolation. God's divinity is grounded in the full dynamic of relationsh... more God is not God in isolation. God's divinity is grounded in the full dynamic of relationships and interrelationships that form the Trinity, making divinity a reality found in a dynamic cooperative relationship. (Pedraja 1994: 54) L atina/o theologians have engaged on a first‐level reconfiguration of traditional approaches to the theological task. Not often following the inherited theological grammar of traditional theological frames, they have nevertheless and intentionally engaged those traditional themes and contributed great insights both to the how of theology (method) and to the what of theology (content). That said, one would be hard pressed to find any substantial work dealing explicitly with the work and nature of the Spirit in Latina/o theology. Certainly, there are volumes that explicitly allude to the Spirit, but most of those get at the Spirit through an emphasis on another theological topic. I will discuss these works as part of the first portion of this chapter. The apparent dearth of writings on pneumatology does not mean that one cannot find allusions to the Spirit and the Spirit's activity in the writings of Latinas/os. It does point, however, to a significant gap in Latina/o theology. Some Latinas/os have connected the nature and activity of the Spirit to debates on Mariology, and offer us creative insights for building a Latina/o pneumatology. In the second section of this chapter, I briefly mention their contributions, noting the serious challenge they pose to established pneumatologies by including women's embodied experiences as a way to talk about the Spirit. I write this chapter on pneumatology with the caveat that these are only preliminary musings that deserve further elaboration and intentional engagement by Latina/o theologians. In the third section, I constructively propose some aspects that I believe will contribute to
This article proposes that a new pentecostal social ethic is emerging in the region. Examining re... more This article proposes that a new pentecostal social ethic is emerging in the region. Examining recent developments of Pentecostalism in Latin America along with Latin American scholars, I will discuss, in thematic form, some of the recent developments affecting pentecostal movements in the region from revising its historical origins, celebrating its internal diversity, reconsidering political involvement, reclaiming the crucial role of women’s contributions, to developing a social ethics seeking to respond in relevant ways to the social issues confronted by the Latin American population. Though the influence of liberation theology is noticeable, these groups are drawing on the pentecostal experience to reinterpret their relationship with the larger social context and internally. Particular attention is given to the great internal diversity within pentecostal movements in Latin America
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