HTI Open Plaza: Recent Episodes
HTI Open Plaza
HTI Open Plaza is an online platform within the Hispanic Theological Initiative that amplifies the voices of diverse thinkers and scholars in the public square.
In this episode of OPTalks, the HTI community and friends offer prayer and song as expressions of gratitude and strength, to offer company, in praise of peace and love.
Inspired by her Lukumí, Taino, and Quaker traditions, Quiara Alegría Hudes takes us through the ceremony celebrating the published script and adaptation of her memoir, My Broken Language, A Theatre Jawn
In this episode of OPTalks, spiritual care counselor Rev. David Ramos shares his experiences providing pastoral and chaplaincy support at VNS Health (formerly Visiting Nurse Services) during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.
Hosted by Marta Lucía Vargas, managing editor of HTI Open Plaza, this conversation explores the challenges pastors and chaplains faced as they navigated trauma, fear, and grief in a time of widespread illness, political unrest, and social upheaval. Rev. Ramos discusses the emotional and theological dilemmas that emerged as communities grappled with mortality and the role of spiritual care counselors in offering holistic support, particularly in end-of-life settings.
The episode also examines the impact of triumphalist theology on pastoral work and how faith leaders were forced to reconcile their beliefs with the realities of suffering and death.
“The pandemic’s a host of a lot of different things. You know, we’re talking about the heels of the George Floyd protests, there’s a lot of political chaos that is happening during that season of people who have been traumatized by social upheaval as well as death. Interestingly enough, what happens to many pastors—some of the pastors were bred within a triumphalist theology… and now they’re dealing with death, death and dying, at untold levels that we are still trying to wrap ourselves around.” – Rev. David Ramos
Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Homero Aridjis, President Emeritus of PEN International, presents seven poems. Poet-translator and Griffin Poetry Prize winner George McWhirter brings Homero Aridjis to English
Sr. Alexandra Bonilla Leonel, Rev. Dr. Eric Barreto, Sr. Fatima Santiago, Sr. Iselande Surlin, Juan Carlos Ruiz, Marimene Antoine, and Dr. Xochitl Alvizo offer prayers to initiate 2025 Untitled, Styria, #11, August 2016
In this episode of OPTalks, HTI community members and friends offer prayers to bring us closer to the divine, the holy, toward hope, communal inspiration, and love.
Sister Alexandra Bonilla Leonel,
Sisters of St. John the Evangelist - Las Juanistas in Bogotá, Colombia
Rev. Dr. Eric Barreto,
Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey
Sister Fatima Santiago,
Proyecto Desarollo Humano, Peñitas, Texas
Sister Iselande Surlin,
Sisters of St. John the Evangelist - Las Juanistas in Ouanaminthe, Haiti
Rev. Juan Carlos Ruiz,
Lutheran Pastor, Good Shepherd Church, NYC
Marimene Antoine,
Iglesia de Cuerpo Cristo Misionera Internacional, La Rosa, Dajabón, Dominican Republic
Dr. Xochitl Alvizo,
Associate Professor of Women and Religion and the Philosophy of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality at California State University, Northridge
Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodríguez talks with Dr. Leopoldo A. Sánchez M. about Spirit Christology and what scripture says about the Holy Spirit in the life of Christ Carl Newman, Spirit of Christmas, ca. 1915-1920, oil and tempera on fiberboard, four panel screen, 67 x 23 in. (170.2 x 58.4 cm.) each, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Anna McCleery Newton, 1971.88
In this episode of OPTalks, Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodríguez interviews Dr. Leopoldo A. Sánchez M., full professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary St. Louis,on Spirit Christology, which integrates the study of the Holy Spirit and the life and mission of Jesus Christ, by combining Christology and pneumatology. Spirit Christology asks what Scripture says about the spirit in the life of Christ while examining the Holy Spirit's role in Christ’s ministry and its implications for Christian life today. According to Dr. Sánchez, renewed interest in the relationship between the Spirit and Christ has been sparked by the revival of Trinitarian studies, Vatican II, and the rise of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.
Within the lived experience of Latine communities, the conversation examines how the Holy Spirit’s presence in Christ informs a theology of justice, marginalization, and inclusion. Drawing from biblical narratives of Christ's interactions with marginalized groups, Dr. Sánchez describes how Spirit Christology empowers believers to engage in mission work centered on justice and inclusion. He highlights the significance of Christ's border-crossing ministry as a model for addressing the socio-political realities of Latine immigrants.
By contextualizing Spirit Christology within this framework, Dr. Sánchez advocates for a spiritually transformative theology, encouraging solidarity and practical engagement with the struggles of marginalized communities. He claims that Spirit Christology “...shows how the spirit's place and activity draws Christ from a marginal place, because Christ himself, you know, is from Galilee…and ends up being also a marginalized figure.”
Dr. Ish Ruiz and Dr. Colleen Mary Mallon, a Dominican Sister, discuss her latest book, which examines the intersection of theology, education, and social justice, with a specific focus on race and LGBTQ+ inclusion Suppenbrunnzer, Dove of the Holy Spirit, wood and paper in a glass ball, 2014 and 2018. Wellcome Images and WikiMedia Commons
In this episode of OPTalks, Dr. Ish Ruiz and Dr. Colleen Mary Mallon, a Dominican Sister, discuss her latest book, Inclusivity and Institutional Change in Education: A Theologian's Journey(Eerdmans, 2024). The book examines the intersection of theology, education, and social justice, with a specific focus on race and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Sister Mallon shares insights from her book which offers a critical examination of how Catholic institutions can better engage with diversity, equity, and inclusion. She discusses her process of unlearning whiteness and the need for greater awareness of positionality. As a Puerto Rican scholar, Dr. Ruiz reflects on the complexities of addressing race and privilege from his perspective as a person of color.
The talk emphasizes the importance of personal transformation, intentional dialogue, and structural accountability in reconciliation and healing within the Catholic tradition. In this regard, Drs. Ruiz and Mallon explore Pope Francis’ model of synodality, where the Church discerns the guidance of the Holy Spirit; Sister Mallon’s adaptation of Ken Wilber’s framework for mapping right relationships; and examples of advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, such as the work of Sister Janine Gramick.
Sister Mallon stresses the Church’s need to embrace difficult conversations with love and humility, to disagree in love.
This conversation and the book are part of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that “gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone.”
PURCHASE “Reading *Inclusivity and Institutional Change in Education* is like making a formation retreat with Sr. Colleen, who shares courageously from her experience as a theological educator in health-care and secondary-school contexts. This book offers wise processes for midwifing institutional transformation and will help community leaders to enact justice, embody truth, and grow into right relationship for the sake of the Gospel mission.”
Ann Killian, OP,assistant professor of English, Ohio Dominican University
Father Brian Strassburger and Father Flavio Bravo discuss the Jesuits' efforts on behalf of migrants in the Rio Grande Valley with artist and anthropologist Cinthya Santos Briones Altar Frontal with Doves (1450-1461), Casa Museo de Milano, medium: silk, silver, silver gilt, velvet weave, height: 90m, Source: m (3.54in) width: (240mm (9.44in), Fondazione artistica Poldi Pezzoli “Onlus,” 2013, Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Image and caption source: Wikimedia Commons
In this Spanish/English language episode of OPTalks Father Brian Strassburger and Father Flavio Bravo talk with artist and anthropologist Cinthya Santos Briones about the Jesuits’ efforts on behalf of migrants in the Rio Grande Valley, what it means to acompañar migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, and why they see themselves as an itinerant group as they work with migrants on both sides of the frontera.
In 2021, a small mobile team of Jesuit priests arrived in Brownsville, Texas, where they started Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries to work with migrants on both sides of the Rio Grande, including migrant shelters in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
In describing their purpose, Fr. Strassburger explains, “We feel this call to go to the margins of society where people are most excluded or ignored or underappreciated or underserved and we certainly see that that is a truth and reality here on the U.S. Mexico border, especially when you see the conditions of migrants camps and shelters on the Mexican side of the border.”
This episode is part of Faith and Flight: Latinx Migration in the Art of Belief, a project under the Historias initiative at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, made possible through a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodriguez talks with Dr. Xochitl Alviso about the life-changing power of reimagining ecclesiology and her experiences founding the The Pub Church in Boston The Red Bank Wine Tavern, Duke Street, Dublin, 2018. Photo: David Mackey
In this episode of OPTalks, Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodriguez interviews Dr. Xochitl Alviso, an associate professor at California State University, Northridge, who emphasizes the importance of grounding theological reflection in the lived experiences of Christian practice.
The conversation delves into the dynamics of faith, community, and belonging, and reimagines how the church can more authentically embody the transformative message of “good news” Christianity in inclusive ways. Dr. Alviso advocates for an active ecclesiology—one that studies the church and practices its mission in ways that reflect the diverse and evolving needs of today’s world.
She shares her experience founding a The Pub Church in Boston, an inclusive space designed for individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those with painful histories with traditional church. The Pub Church experience offers a welcoming, less judgmental environment as a place for honest reflection, diverse expressions of identity, and communal support.
Dr. Alviso also illustrates the power of communal faith and collective healing through the concept of parenting by committee—a process of trauma recovery. She explains, “Sometimes, that’s how we heal our trauma… we need to be reparented by a committee of people who help us experience a different way of being affirmed.”
Isabel Gonzalez and Christian Silva talk to Dr. Matthew Vega about becoming a scholar, his dissertation, liberation, and Blaxican theology as an internationalist theology Gaspar Yanga, el Libertador de Yanga, el Primer Pueblo Libre de América, Veracruz, México, 1971. Born around 1545, Gaspar Yanga, a descendant of royalty, was captured and sold into slavery in New Spain. Along with enslaved Africans and Indigenous people,Yanga orchestrated a significant resistance against Spanish colonial rule in the mountains of Veracruz from 1570 to 1609. The establishment of the city of Yanga stands as a testament to their struggle for freedom, marking it as the first free town in the Americas and cementing Yanga’s legacy as a symbol of resistance and autonomy. Photo: 2008, Erasmo Vásquez Lendechy. Template: Ivanna Azamar Vásquez.
In this episode of OPTalks, Isabel Gonzalez and Christian Silva—recent MDiv graduate and current master’s candidate at Princeton Theological Seminary—converse with Dr. Matthew Vega, an HTI Scholar and now assistant professor at the University of San Diego. The discussion centers on Dr. Vega’s dissertation on Blaxican theology, which uncovers intersections of Black and Latinx identities. It highlights the complexities of categorizing identities within American public discourse, particularly the tendency to oversimplify racial identities into binaries like ‘Black’ and ‘Mexican,’ along with their historical contexts.
Dr. Vega situates Blaxican theology as a shared struggle for liberation and an internationalist theology, emphasizing that “Black people can't be free unless other people in other parts of the world are free, and Mexican and Mexican American people can't be free unless other people in other parts of the world are free.”
His dissertation defense received the highest praise from his committee, and he shares valuable advice for future scholars preparing for their defenses. Drawing from his journey as a first-generation college student, Dr. Vega discusses the systemic challenges he faced and how they have shaped his theological perspective. The conversation also addresses disrespecting borders, liberation theology, and the dynamics of counterpublics in theological discourse.
Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodríguez talks with Dr. Teresa Delgado about the communal value of acompañamiento while straddling the demands of academia into the challenges of the wider world Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, Sonata No. 6, Stjernernes sonate. Allegro (Sonata No. 6, Sonata of the Stars. Allegro), 1908, 72.2 x 61.4 cm, National MK Čiurlioni Art Museum. Source/photographer: Villy Fink Isaksen, 2016. Image and caption Source: Wikimedia Commons
This OPTalks episode features a conversation between Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodríguez and Dr. Teresa Delgado, who reflects on her experiences as a doctoral student, discussing the unique challenges she faced, particularly as a Latina balancing family responsibilities and academic demands. Dr. Delgado emphasizes the importance of community support, particularly the acompañamiento that HTI offers, which she credits for her perseverance and success. She illustrates the impact of mentorship and the broader implications for women and mothers navigating the academic landscape, and its systemic challenges.
Dr. Delgado also describes the dissonance between her embodied understanding of theology and the cerebral expectations of the academy. The conversation highlights the importance of listening to students' experiences and rethinking traditional pedagogical silos within theological institutions.
Reflecting on Dr. Daisy Machado’s work, Dr. Delgado heightens the potential of community by stating, “I'm thinking about the ways that…contemporary problems like the environmental crisis is requiring us to delve into church history and ethics and biblical studies and systematic theology across all of those, and social scientists and climate scientists draw from all of that kind of expertise to offer some kind of prophetic word into this moment.”
Artist and Dr. Yohana Junker and Rev. Dr. Aizaiah Yong discuss the transformative practice of integrating art, spirituality, and convivencia with students Carlos Almaraz, I Dreamed I Could Fly, 1986, pastel on paper, 44 × 30 in. (111.8 × 76.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Margery and Maurice H. Katz, 2014.44, © 1986, Carlos Almaraz Estate
This OPTalks episode features a conversation between Dr. Yohana Junker and Rev. Dr. Aizaiah Yong exploring the intersections of art, spirituality, and decolonial studies within theological education. Reflecting on their co-teaching experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, Drs. Yong and Junker highlight the necessity of cultivating inclusive and compassionate classroom environments. The dialogue highlights how spiritual practices and artistic expression are vital tools for healing and social justice, which enable students to bring their full selves into the learning process while deepening connections.
They discuss the transformative power of relationships within the context of higher education while critiquing Eurocentric individualist frameworks from their chapter, "Contemplative Practices and Acts of Resistance in Higher Education: Narratives Towards Wholeness." They also argue for a holistic approach that honors the interconnectedness of students' emotional, psychological, and vocational lives.
Their collaboration as co-educators emphasizes how mutual support, compassionate listening, and convivencia foster resilience and hope in academic spaces often marked by structural violence and disconnection. Additionally, the ongoing challenges of navigating personal and collective grief while striving for justice and liberation can be met in these spaces. Dr. Junker says she, "…didn't want to just write out of like, oh, here's a spiritual practice, this is going to…help you in these ways, without sitting with the actual grief of working in institutions of higher education, working within power structures that are very asymmetrical, that have perpetrated, you know, historically so much violence against people like you and me,” to which Rev. Dr. Yong responds, “We're also confronting intergenerational trauma, historical trauma, against people, groups done in the name of religion and white supremacy.”
Dr. Edwin Hernández talks with Stephen Di Trolio Coakley about his intersecting paths in ministry, the sociology of religion, fundraising, and academia Photo by kosta karampelas
This podcast episode features a dialogue between Stephen Di Trolio Coakley, a PhD student at Princeton Theological Seminary, and Dr. Edwin Hernández, President of Antillean Adventist University. The conversation chronicles Dr. Hernández' journey from his roots as a preacher’s child in Puerto Rico to his role in sociology, theology, and fundraising, particularly during his tenure at Louisville Institute. Dr. Hernández reflects on his early experiences in ministry, his academic pursuits, and the transformative mentorship of figures like Dr. Caleb Rosado, Dr. Julian Zamora, and Olga Villaparra. Notably, Hernández recounts his involvement in establishing the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI) by taking the lead on writing a significant proposal that he co-authored, which addressed funding gaps in Latinx theological education.
The discussion underscores Dr. Hernández' commitment to fostering inclusive theological spaces as opportunities for scholars and communities while adapting to the changing educational environment. He asserts, “It’s important for us to reinvent who we are, to connect to, to challenge institutions, to be more faithful and responsive to the needs of our community.”
Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodríguez talks with PhD candidate Daniel Montañez about his role as founder and director of the Mygration Christian Conference Henry Ossawa Tanner, Flight into Egypt, ca. 1916-1922, oil on wood, 16 7/8 x 16 7/8 in. (43.0 x 43.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins, 1983.95.202
In this episode of OP Talks, Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodríguez, HTI Executive Director, talks with Boston University doctoral candidate Daniel Montañez about directing the national Mygration Christian Conference that he founded in 2019. Montañez credits his mentorship and relationship with Dr. M. Daniel Carroll Rodas as integral to this work.
Regarding migration, Montañez relates that “...as people who are along the way, and as we find ourselves from the moment that we're born to the moment that we die, we experience this type of temporal movement, movement through time. What does it mean to treat those who we come into contact with who may actually be going through some type of refugee experience or asylum-seeking experience or just in a new country? What does it mean for us to care for them, and to love them as sojourners along the way?”
The Mygration Christian Conference is a space where pastors, scholars, practitioners, and community leaders who serve their communities can gather to have conversations about their experiences, their beliefs, and how their faith can serve all immigrant communities better.
The conference takes place October 4-5, 2024, at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA. This year’s keynote speakers will be historian and theologian Dr. Justo L. González and Daniel Yang, National Director of Churches of Welcome at World Relief.
Dr. Johanna Fernández and fellow historian Dr. Felipe Hinojosa discuss the controversy surrounding their proposed exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Pinback button for the People's Church / Iglesia De La Gente, 1969; ink on paper with metal and plastic. In 1969, The Young Lords Party occupied The First Spanish Methodist Church in New York City after a minister refused the organization a space to work. The Young Lords called it the People's Church / Iglesias De la Gente to serve 3,000 community members. After 11 days, police forcibly removed the activists from the church and arrested a hundred people. Source: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of T. Rasul Murray
Dr. Felipe Hinojosa talks with fellow historian, colleague, and good friend Dr. Johanna Fernández, Associate Professor at Baruch College, about Latino history and the exhibit on youth movements that was put on hold by the Smithsonian National Museum in the fall of 2022. Dr. Fernández teaches 20th-century U.S. history and the history of social movements. Dr. Hinojosa is the John and Nancy Jackson Endowed Chair in Latin America and Professor of History at Baylor University. The scholars’ curated show was widely billed as the “largest federally funded Smithsonian exhibit on Latino Civil Rights History.”
“But after pushback from conservative Latinos in the private sector and the halls of Congress,” writes Olivia B. Waxman in TIME, “that exhibit is on hold.” And Dr. Fernández and Dr. Hinojosa found themselves embroiled in the political turmoil.
In this episode of OP Talks, the two scholars take us behind the scenes–from the selection of Latino youth movements as an exhibit theme, to the work entailed in creating the exhibits and what ultimately brought the project to a halt.
“This question that we were going to answer through the Smithsonian exhibition on Latino youth movements…‘Who am I?’ That's the quintessential existential question that everyone asks themselves,” says Dr. Fernandez, author of The Young Lords: A Radical History (UNC Press, 2020), a history of the Puerto Rican counterpart to the Black Panther Party. ”Who am I, and what's my relationship to the nation? And what's my relationship to my community?” she continues. “That was one of the key questions we were going to ask and answer through that exhibition.”
OP Writes READ “Making History Together”
An HTI Open Plaza virtual tour of the National Museum of the American Latino
Scholars Amanda Bolaños and Amirah Orozco discuss mujerista theology, pneumatological ecclesiology and lo cotodiano Réplica de la Señora de Cao, Cultura Moche [Replica of the Lady of Cao, Moche Culture], Departamento de La Libertad, Peru, 2007. Photo: Manuel González Olaechea y Franco
In this episode of OP Talks, Amanda Bolaños talks with fellow graduate student Amirah Orozco about mujerista theology, pneumatological ecclesiology and lo cotidiano (the everyday). Bolaños asks Orozco to imagine a conversation with late activist and theologian Ada María Isasi-Diaz for whom lo cotidiano was central to her work. Bolaños and Orozco are close friends and theology doctoral students at Duke Divinity School and the University of Notre Dame, respectively. Orozco credits the work of Isasi-Diaz as part of the foundation that led her to ”understand what mujerista theology was more directly and become sort of aware of the different style and the different flavor that mujerista theology gives us.”
If she could talk with the late Isasi-Diaz, Bolaños asks Orozco, what would she ask? “I think that my big conversation with her would be [about] Pope Francis,” said Orozco. “I think it is a real tragedy that we don't have her around to be thinking with us in this moment where the [Roman Catholic] church is opening up in a new way.”
Dr. Neomi De Anda talks to 2023 HTI Book Prize winner Dr. Marlene M. Ferreras, whose work looks toward a North American indigenized pastoral theology Rigo 23, Autonomous InterGalactic Space Program, 2009-present (ongoing), exhibited as part of Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas, (April 7 - August 18, 2019). Photo courtesy Queens Museum, credit Hai Zhang.
In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. Neomi De Anda talks to 2023 HTI Book Prize winner Dr. Marlene M. Ferreras about her book Insurrectionist Wisdoms: Toward a North American Indigenized Pastoral Theology(Rowman & Littlefield, 2022).
Through practical theological and anthro/gynopological methods, Insurrectionist Wisdoms offers an analysis of the situation of working-class Maya mexicanas living in Yucatán, México who work on the assembly line of a multinational corporation. Relying on in-depth, firsthand interviews, Dr. Ferreras brings to light the exploitation of women of color by large, multimillion-dollar corporations and delves into the ways these women can, and do, fight back. Drawing on a decolonial approach to pastoral theology and feminism, Dr. Ferreras proposes Lxs Hijxs de Maíz as an image for pastoral care and counseling.
OP Writes READ Insurrectionist Wisdoms
Dr. Marlene Mayra Ferreras presents an adaptation of her 2023 HTI Book Prize lecture
PURCHASE "Ensconced in our Western traditions, many of us, Ferreras contends, have much to learn about the resiliency, courage, vulnerability, and practical wisdom of Indigenous women living under the hegemony of neoliberal capitalism. In this important book, Ferreras’s empathic sensitivity and wide scholarship brings to life the lives of Indigenous women, as well as fresh insights for pastoral, practical, and political theologians."
Ryan LaMothe,Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology
Jacob Leal talks with Dr. Filipe Maia about activating the imagination with hope in the face of a colonized future and about his latest book, Trading Futures: A Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism Rubber Plant, Ficus elastica, a species of Fig Trees. Parque Ecológico, Campinas, Brazil, 2012. Photo: rafaelsoares
In this episode of OP Talks, Jacob Leal talks with his mentor Dr. Filipe Maia, Assistant Professor of Theology at the Boston University School of Theology, about his book, Trading Futures: A Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism (Duke University Press, 2022), and pivots to the power of the imagination, ancestors and the interruption of linearity. Dr. Maia argues that a language of active hope, or “future-talk,” is critical as a mode of critique, particularly with the financial market’s need to control future outcomes and its sacrificial nature, especially for the oppressed. The scholars’ conversation recognizes the importance of liberation theologist Ruben Alves and the Brazilian/Portuguese concept of saudade, which captures the essence of absence and deep longing for return. Leal, a third-year PhD student at Boston University, illustrates these points by describing his research about the dreams of the ancestors and about the Mesoamerican ballgame Ullamaliztli, which is having a resurgence in present-day Mexico.
As a testament to his willfulness and longing to summon a different future, Dr. Maia states: “My motion in the direction of hope is fragile, mournful, and tentative, but is also quite stubborn. The hope I embrace persists. It keeps coming back, haunting me forward...I remain within the language of hope, not to simply profess that I have hope.”
PURCHASE "In short scope and lucid prose, Felipe Maia’s *Trading Futures* makes a provocative argument about such fundamental topics as justice, capitalism, theology, and time…*Trading Futures* effectively shows that agents of financial capitalism and theologians of liberation can differ profoundly in their orientations toward the future."
Matthew Scherer,
Perspectives On Politics
OP Talks LISTEN Trading Futures
Dr. Jung Mo Sung talks to Dr. Filipe Maia about his recent book, a theological critique of financialized capitalism
Scholars Rebecca Mendoza and Anthony Trujillo discuss the work of the Terralogian and what it means to decolonize religious practices Kay WalkingStick, With Love to Marsden, 1995, oil and acrylic paint, wax, glitter on canvas, left panel: 32 1/4 × 32 1/4 in. (81.9 × 81.9 cm) right panel: 32 1/8 × 32 1/8 in. (81.6 × 81.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2021.30.2, © Kay Walkingstick, 2017
In this episode of OPTalks, PhD candidate Rebecca Mendoza interviews PhD candidate Anthony Trujillo about his mixed heritages as a member of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and Mexican Catholic traditions on his father’s side, and the white settler Baptist ministers on his mother’s. This conversation was held at the 2023 American Academy of Religion in San Antonio where they talked about identity markers that appear as contradictions or convergences between Indigeneity and Christianity. Mendoza also comes from mixed ancestry, of a Mexican American Catholic father and white settler mother. Trujillo shares how his grandmother insisted that his identities are “so closely tied that you can't be one without the other and in fact that it would almost be a violence to my grandma and her siblings to extricate those things from each other.” The experience of doctoral work has allowed him to delve into “how we think of ourselves.”
Mendoza and Trujillo discuss the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, the interdisciplinary nature of Indigenous studies, the Native American paradox of simultaneously holding the importance of place with the ability to move and change, and the religious relational work of the “Terralogian” to understand “spiritual beings and the spiritual body politic” to land or place.
Dr. Alejandro Nava and Dr. Raúl Zegarra discuss their respective books, Street Scriptures and Revolutionary Faith Photo by Paco Alonso
Dr. Alejandro Nava and Dr. Raúl Zegarra converse about their respective books, Street Scriptures: Between God and Hip-Hop(University of Chicago Press, 2022) and A Revolutionary Faith: Liberation Theology Between Public Religion and Public Reason (Stanford University Press, 2023). Both writers were students of David Tracy and they share the concern of public theology’s impact on broader society. Dr. Zegarra embraces what he considers the sophisticated philosophy of John Rawls, in particular, “the way he thinks about justice…for the poor.” Conversations at the interface of diverse traditions and the public is of utmost importance to his interests. In his practice, Dr. Nava’s work at the “hyphen that connects the mystical and prophetic” comes to life through hip-hop as “a voice of disenfranchised communities,” which “...emerged out of the cracks and corners of the modern world.”
PURCHASE "In this compelling work, Nava reads the radically subversive 'street scriptures' of hip-hop as a distinctive form of urban liberation theology. This elegantly argued book by a scholar and activist is an important contribution to the study of urban religion and of 'religion' itself in one of its most powerful and challenging contemporary instantiations."
Robert Orsi,
Author of History and Presence
PURCHASE "How do religious people articulate their theological commitments to social justice? *A Revolutionary Faith* offers a lucid and insightful account. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the convergence of faith and politics."
Mayra Rivera,
Harvard University
Rev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren Lin talks with Grace Loh Prasad about her recent memoir about living between languages, navigating loss, and the search for belonging Sunrise in Taiwan (1934) by Fujishima Takeji. Oil on canvas. Source/Photographer: 「日本現代美術全集 7 青木繁・藤島武二」集英社、1972年. Image and caption Source: Wikimedia Commons
In this episode of OP Talks, Rev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren, talks with writer Grace Loh Prasad about her debut memoir The Translator’s Daughter(Mad Creek Books/The Ohio State University Press, 2024) and her life as the daughter of professor parents in Taiwan during the era of White Terror. Prasad’s father, a polyglot who was the first Taiwanese PhD graduate from Princeton Theological Seminary, translated for United Bible Societies. Her mother descends from the first Christian Convert in Taiwan. Prasad talks about living in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States and being a “third culture kid,” her asterisked Americanness, and metaphysical homelessness.
According to Joshua Wallace of Library Journal, Prasad’s memoir is “A compelling and poignant story that sheds light on Taiwanese culture and recent history…” and Priyanka Champaneri from the Washington Independent Review of Books claims that “...The Translator’s Daughter is a delicately wrought reckoning with her Taiwanese identity and its dependence on her parents. … Prasad writes with quiet confidence as she probes her past.”
ADDITIONAL READING
Go to The Christian Century for Tony Tian-Ren Lin’s review of The Translated Daughter, entitled “A Permanent Foreigner.”
Amirah Orozco talks with Dr. Raúl Zegarra about his recent book on religious beliefs, politics, and advancing progressive social change via Latin American Liberation Theology Chimbote's Festival de San Pedrito, in devotion to the patron saint of fishermen, Chimbote, Perú, 2018. A month before the 1968 Second Episcopal Conference of Latin America (CELAM II) in Medellín, Colombia, Gustavo Gutiérrez delivered his germane talk to priests and laity entitled "Toward a Theology of Liberation" in the city of Chimbote. Photo: Presidencia Perú
In this episode of OP Talks, Amirah Orozco, a doctoral studentof Systematic Theology at Notre Dame, talks with Dr. Raúl Zegarra, Assistant Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, about his book A Revolutionary Faith: Liberation Theology Between Public Religion and Public Reason (Stanford University Press, 2023). The book, which is in conversation with the work of theologians Gustavo Gutiérrez and David Tracy, delves into how religious organizing and mobilizing can help enrich and strengthen democracy.
Dr. Zegarra’s work “shows how liberation theology advocates have been able to produce a new balance between faith and politics that advances an agenda of progressive social change without reducing politics to faith or faith to politics,” writes Stanford University Press.
Dr. Javier Viera talks to Dr. Maria Liu Wong about her recent book on urban ministry and theological education In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. Javier Viera, President and Professor of Education and Leadership at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and Dr. Maria Liu Wong, City Seminary of New York Provost, discuss her recent book On Becoming Wise Together: Learning and Leading in the City (Eerdmans, 2023). This work proposes “that intercultural and communal understandings of theological teaching and learning suit the context of a complex and quickly changing urban world better than individualistic, rational Western habits of knowing.”
According to Dr. Wong, “This book reframes traditional Euro-North American conceptions of theological education by reflecting critically on my lived experience as a British-born Chinese-North American woman, a family member, an immigrant, an urban theological educator, a maker, a gallery curator, a community gardener, a Girl Scout troop leader, and a scholar.”
This conversation and the book are part of of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that “gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone.”
Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodriguez talks with Dr. Luis G. Pedraja about transitioning between roles and the lessons learned. Photo by Bruno Scramgnon
In this episode of OP Talks, Rev. Dr. Joanne Rodriguez, HTI Executive Director, talks with Dr. Luis G. Pedraja, President of Quinsigamond Community College, about his leadership trajectory from professor to senior administrator. The Cuban-born theologian started his career as a faculty member before becoming a chair, then later a dean and a provost. He describes transitioning between roles and the lessons learned. “You have to get buy-in from the people you are leading,” Dr. Pedraja says, looking back at his earlier days as an administrator. “If that doesn’t happen, whether you are right or wrong, it doesn’t matter. You have to be a leader that brings people along with you.”
Selections from the award-winning guide to the world's most wondrous places Popina Memorial Park monument, Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, 2015. Designed by architect Bogdan Bogdanovic, the monument “was created to honor the Republic of Uzice, the first sizeable liberated territory within the entire German Reich in 1941…[The monument’s] archetypal forms speak to us about the Revolution and the ideal society, while their orientation relative to the Sun addresses eternal themes of life, death, and sacrifice” (Architectuul). Photo: Vladimir2510986
Atlas Obscura (AO) is a U.S.-based online magazine and travel company that catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations. Founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras, this “global community of explorers” has “created a comprehensive database of the world’s most wondrous places and foods,” aiming “to inspire wonder and curiosity about the incredible world we all share.” Experiences offered include “the world’s most unusual trips to the world’s most remarkable places;” Atlas Obscura Societies create “intimate, wondrous experiences for its community” in nine U.S. cities. AO’s first book Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders(Workman Publishing, 2016) was a No. 1 bestseller on Amazon and in The New York Times. In 2023, The Atlas Obscura Podcastwon an iHeartRadio Podcast Award and a Signal Award. Atlas Obscura also offers tours of “the world’s most unusual trips to the world’s most remarkable places.”
Ahead of the summer months, HTI Open Plaza has curated unique Atlas Obscura stories that are of interest to our community.
PODCASTS Robot SaintsWe meet the robot saints – sculptures made of wood and wire, of cams and pulleys during medieval times – that might just help us understand this new AI age we all find ourselves living in. 10/17/2024
READ MORE Texas Painted ChurchesA series of churches in Texas that look unassuming from the outside in fact have some of the most intricately painted interiors. And for one of our listeners, these churches mean home – religiously and culturally. 8/15/2024
READ MORE Minister’s TreehouseThe world’s biggest treehouse was inspired by a message from God. 4/9/2024
The Immovable LadderIn a place where multiple world religions intersect, this unassuming little ladder is a symbol of the very delicate balance that keeps a church in Jerusalem running. 11/3/2024
READ MORE READ MORE It’s Getting Hot in HereLet’s all go to hell. Seriously. Hell, Michigan, that is :) 8/29/23
The Complaint Tablet of Ea-NasirTurns out, complaining about bad service really is as old as time. Hear the story of an ancient Babylonian clay tablet that has launched a slew of modern memes. 7/12/2023
READ MORE READ MORE COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS Open Chapel Murals of Actopan (Mexico)These nearly 500-year-old scenes are largely faded by the ravages of time, yet still maintain their power to horrify. 2/22/19
North mural of the Open Chapel of the temple and former convent of San Nicolás de Tolentino in Actopan, Hidalgo, Mexico, 2017. Photo: RubeHM
**Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden** (U.S.)This Old Testament garden features 100 plants from biblical times. *2/15/17*
Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2010. Photo: Daderot
**Pachacamac** (Peru)The remains of what was the most important religious complex in coastal Peru for over a millennium. *1/19/16*
A view of the 'Nunnery' building at the sacred Andean site of Pachacamac, south of Lima, Peru, 2005. The 'Nunnery' provided accommodation for female priests and was built by the Incas when they took over the site in the late 15th century CE.
Photo: Bruno Girin
**The Holy Land Experience** (U.S.)A mega theme park-wax museum mélange in Orlando, Florida containing all things biblical. *7/20/15*
Church of All Nations at The Holy Land Experience, Orlando, Florida, 2017. Owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the Christian amusement park closed in 2020. Photo: Zfigueroa
**NYC’s Hidden Meditation Spots** (U.S.)Places of pause in a city that never sleeps. *8/20/14*
Meditating at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn, New York, 2011. Photo: Santos "Grim Santo" Gonzalez
**Tierra Santa** (Argentina)Bible stories are brought to life with gloriously cartoonish kitsch in this South American theme park. *1/13/13*
Muro de Los Lamentos (Wailing Wall) at Parque Tierra Santa, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2009. Photo: Roberto Ettore
ARTICLES Decoding the Gun-Wielding Angels of BoliviaThe ‘angeles arcabuceros’ morphed from Catholic messengers to symbols of Indigenous independence. 11/30/23
Military angel (ángel arcabucero), artwork by unknown artist, dated
1600-1699, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Casabindo, Argentina. Source: ARCA
**What’s So Special About Monk-Made Food?**The enduring appeal of beer, cheesecake, and ferments made at convents and temples. *12/14/21*
Cookies in the form of nuns in Avila, Spain, 2015. Photo: Zorro2212
**How a Librarian and a Food Historian Rediscovered the Recipes of Moorish Spain**When Spain was under Muslim rule (ca. 700-1200), Christians and Jews were free to worship and observe their dietary customs in what was known as *Convivencia*. A new cookbook is a translation of a rare, 13th-century volume. *10/15/21*
Pages from Fiḍālat al-Khiwān describe recipes for meatballs, hare, and rabbit. Source: Qatar Digital Library
**The Chocolate-Brewing Witches of Colonial Latin America**The Inquisition persecuted women who used cacao to entice lovers and spurn enemies. *1/27/20*
Image of Aztec woman preparing chocolate, from the Codex Tudela. Source: Museo de América
**The Sacred Afterlives of Buffalo’s Vacant Churches**The best way to preserve a church in a shrinking city is often to convert it to a mosque or temple. *11/4/19*
A Buddhist temple in a former Catholic church, Buffalo, NY, 2015. Photo: Ashima Krishna
**Alternating Currents**The rise and fall of Venezuela, as seen from a Colombia border city, its grand mosque, and the migrants and converts who worship there. *9/29/19*
Mosque of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, Maicao, Colombia, 2008. Photo: Yuri Romero Picon
**An Ancient Ceiba Tree Blooms Once Again After Puerto Rico’s Devastating Storms**The island of Vieques is still struggling after the hurricanes of 2017, but its most famous tree offers hope. *3/6/19*
300-year-old ceiba, Vieques, Puerto Rico, 2011. Photo: Jay Sturner
**Inside a Brazilian Chapel Made Out of Wine**During a drought, church-builders mixed their mortar with the local vintage. *1/22/19*
Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora das Neves (Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows), Ilha de Maré, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 2018. Photo: Paul R. Burley
**How a Jesus-Shaped Cake Incurred the Wrath of Argentina**The dessert, which was part of an art exhibit, caused an uproar when a politician had a slice. *5/31/18*
Scene from BJ: The Life and Times of Bosco and Jojo (2022) of government intervention in a exhibit by Pool & Marianela exhibition, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2016. Photo: Sblapalma
**A Visit to the Biggest Little Mosque in Honduras**The sky-blue building draws a diverse range of Muslims from hours away. *4/10/18*
Members of the Centro Islámico de Honduras, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, 2024. Photo: Abu Ferreira
**The Ghost Story Behind a Bucolic Catholic Retreat Center**A brief, true history of West Virginia’s Priest Field and “The Legend of the Wizard Clip.” *11/7/2017*
Plaque of half-moon crescent and clippers repeated on several structures around the historic Civil War community of Middleway, West Virginia, 2010. Photo: Kilo22
**The Practicalities of Transporting a 400-Year-Old Heart**How the traveling body parts of saints get through customs. *3/7/17*
Reliquary of the alleged skull of St. Valentine at the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church, Rome, Italy, 2012. Photo: AlfvanBeem
**The Powerful 1940 Map That Depicts America as a Nation of Immigrants**Produced by the Council Against Intolerance in the lead up to World War II, the map illustrates America’s unique ethnic and religious diversity by erasing state borderlines and showing the nation as one unit. *2/6/17*
America—A Nation of One People From Many Countries (1940) by Emma Bourne. Source: Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education
**The Sleepy Peruvian Town that Comes Alive Each Year to ‘Please the Virgin’**Demons, jokers, and colonial characters get together to celebrate tradition and faith with a raucous party. *12/13/16*
Virgen del Carmen paraded through the town of Paucartambo, Cuzco, Peru, 2009. Photo: Tipene78
**Celebrating Life While There’s Still Time**Halloween meets Mexico’s Days of Death. *10/20/14*
Close-up view of a Santa Muerte south of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, 2007. Photo: El Comandante
EXPLORE MORE ATLAS OBSCURA TRIPS EXPERIENCES COURSES PLACES FOODS STORIES
Educational consultant Dr. Jose L. Saldivar, Jr. aims to help students navigate the sometimes twisty journey toward their dreams Photo: Dariusz Grosa
When you tell people that you have a podcast or plan to start one, the first thing they ask is, "What's it about?" When I set out to start my podcast, I wanted it to be about people’s journeys. For over 20 years, I have worked in higher education. My students are mostly first-generation, low-income, and Latinx. Over the years, I have found that my students often have a very narrow view of what it is they’d like to do professionally. Some have chosen their path alone, some with help from parents or teachers, and some with help from who or what they see around them. Many have a title and a job description in mind, but few students know how to get from where they are to where they would like to be. And for others, the thought of not knowing what they want to do can be an anxiety-inducing, sometimes paralyzing experience. These students fear they’re not going to be successful because they don’t know what they want to do. I spend a lot of time reassuring them, letting them know that, when I was their age, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, either—in fact, I still didn’t have a clear idea of the kind of work I wanted to do even when I graduated from college.
So, my podcast was born out of my students’ fears and worries and of my desire to demonstrate that uncertainty around career choice is normal. In fact, most people, regardless of age, do not have it figured out, and many are still struggling with that age-old question: What do you want to be when you grow up?
The Way to College Podcast, then, is about people's journeys. How they got from point A to—well, to wherever it is that they are. Their journeys are seldom a straight line, with some deviating from initial plans and others choosing the path less traveled. The stories are also reminders for my students that it’s okay to not know where you’re going. The reality is, most college graduates change their majors and their professions, and really, to borrow from the cliché, it is about the journey and not the destination. This may not sit well with parents, who would like their children to know what they want to do; this has been the theme throughout all of my interviews. Most of my guests are working professionally in an area that they did not set out to pursue. When they were in college, most wanted to do something else but found their way to the work they are currently doing.
Additionally, the journeys shared on the podcast have also served as de facto roadmaps for my listeners and my students. When I was growing up in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, I knew what doctors and lawyers do, but I didn’t know any I could talk to and ask, “How do I actually become a doctor or lawyer?” And, despite the access the internet has given us, so many of my students have a limited view of the kinds of careers they could pursue, much less how to get there. The stories shared on the podcast offer my listeners directions and advice for both the what and the how.
As I reflect on the last three years of hosting the podcast, I am proud of the space I have created and honored to be able to share the stories that have been shared with me. I also know that so much more work needs to be done to support young people as they attempt to navigate their post-high school lives. So I’ll continue to collect and share the stories while also reminding my listeners that not knowing where you’re going is normal, but what’s important is to keep moving forward.
The Way to College Podcast Trailer Selected Episodes “Dr. Felipe Hinojosa is a Professor of History at Texas A&M University [now at Baylor University], but like so many of my guests, he never planned on becoming a professor. He originally wanted to be a high school history teacher and football coach. As always, life had other plans for Dr. Hinojosa.” December 2022
Sabrina Walker-Hernandez “is an entrepreneur. She provides support to non-profit organizations via her company Supporting World Hope. She shares her educational and professional journey and offers some great advice for those of us who are struggling to find our way, professionally.” August 2022
Latest Episodes
HTI Open Plaza highlights from 2023 From the Bible of Borso d'Este/Bibla latina* [f. 33r, Ms. Lat. 422] (1455-1461), created at the same time Johann Gutenberg was producing the first printed Bible from moveable type. Source: Biblioteca Estense di Modena. Photo: Per Se***
As the 2023 year comes to an end, the Hispanic Theological Initiative highlights some of your contributions to HTI Open Plaza, where we work en conjunto with diverse thinkers, activists, and clergy. We are grateful for your insight and scholarship on issues of religion, history, and social justice affecting our communities. Throughout 2023, HTI Open Plaza has offered features from a diverse group of Contributors and seen the growth of our SpiritNations and Poetry series. In 2024, HTI Open Plaza will continue amplifying the important work of people like you in the public square.
We want to hear from you. To share ideas and pitches, please contact us.
BLOGS Virgin of Altagracia MedallionsDr. Jennifer A. BaezABSTRACT: In the third quarter of the eighteenth century, Santo Domingo archbishop Isidoro Rodríguez Lorenzo (s. 1767–1788) issued a decree officializing the day of the cult for the Virgin of Altagracia as January 21 and made it a feast of three crosses for the villa of Salvaleón de Higüey and its jurisdiction, meaning all races (free and enslaved) were allowed to join the celebrations in church. Unrelated to the issuance of this decree and approximately during this time (c. 1760–1778), a series of painted panels depicting miracles performed by the Virgin of Altagracia was produced for her sanctuary of San Dionisio in Higüey, in all likelihood commissioned by a close succession of parish priests to the maestro painter Diego José Hilaris Holt. Painted in the coarse style of popular votive panels, they gave the cult a unifying core foundation of miracles. This essay discusses the significance of the black bodies pictured in four of the panels within the project’s implicit effort to institutionalize the regional cult and vis-à-vis the archbishop’s encouragement of non-segregated celebrations for her feast day. As January 21 was associated with a renowned Spanish creole battle against the French, this essay locates these black bodies within the cult’s newfound patriotic charisma. I examine the process by which people of color were incorporated into this community of faith as part of a two-step ritual that involved seeing images while performing difference. Through contrapuntal analysis of the archbishop’s decree, I argue the images helped model black piety and community membership within a hierarchical socioracial order.
Sacred Fields, Sacred NostalgiaDr. Lloyd D. Barba “Apostólicos’ rituals and quotidian acts of work provided them with a routine to reinterpret and thereby interrupt the sacred and profane symbols at play contextually. We saw…how they took polluted grower-controlled waterways as sacred sources of cleansing. Here in this chapter, we see how they upended the conventional uses of carpas (and, as shown in the next section, accessed architectural styles historically denied to them). In so striving, they carved out an exceptional socio-religious existence that was not separate from but in keeping with the most profane aspects of industrial agriculture.”
Hold It Together and Keep GoingErasmo Guerra“I was raised Catholic on the U.S. Mexico border, attending mass most Sundays at the local Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, not to mention the occasional trips my family made to the nearby Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle, a national shrine where pilgrims came from everywhere to make personal petitions or to pay back their promesas, sometimes walking on their knees from the parking lot to the altar inside as part of the deal they made for divine intervention.”
Will New Mexico Sing Their Spanish in Heaven? Christian Silva“Though from Colorado, I grew up traveling to Alamogordo in southern New Mexico to visit family, especially to see our abuelos, where their sage-like status shaped us through storytelling and chisme. We also made efforts to make pilgrimages into northern New Mexico, to El Santuario de Chimayó, for healing. What I received was an identity marked by intergenerational culture and faith particular to the hybridity of nuevomexicana communities.
“Amidst the many stories, there were also rumors of a strange Spanish spoken in the north — some of which our southern New Mexican vernacular shares. It was even said that their Spanish is like that of the original Spanish colonizers and that the northerners’ peculiar isolation preserved this dialect. The truth is not as romantic as one would think, however. The nuevomexicano dialect is dying with the elders to the north and, with them, the rumors.”
The Sweetcake Ensō Dr. Annecy Baez“In Zen philosophy, an ensō is a circle that is hand-drawn with one or two free-flowing brushstrokes, symbolizing a moment when the mind is liberated to allow the body to create. The ensō embodies the concept of impermanence, signifying that everything in life is ever-changing.
“In 2010, just a year before my husband's passing, the Empty Hand Zen Center in New Rochelle, New York presents a request for submissions from artists in the zendo to an inaugural exhibition titled Sweetcake Enso. The exhibit, according to the Center, aims to draw ‘attention to the abstract circle as a symbol of presentness in daily life’ and to serve as ‘a tribute to the teachers who have come before us and those who are with us now, to an exchanging of the bones from one generation to the next.’”
PODCASTS História e política do protestantismo brasileiroDr. João Chaves e Dr. Wanderley Pereira da Rosa[Dr. João Chaves and Dr. Wanderley Pereira da Rosa discuss the initial Protestant movement and its most recent nationalist iteration in Brazil.]
No atual turbilhão de incerteza política, os protestantes assumiram um papel central no desdobramento da fusão da política e da religião no Brasil. O livro recente do Dr. Wanderley Pereira Da Rosa,Por uma fé encarnada: uma introdução à história do protestantismo no Brasil (Editora Recriar, 2022), reinterpreta a missão protestante – suas raízes históricas, teológicas e ideológicas – e oferece uma análise através do prisma da teologia social e política sem desconsiderar a pluralidade do mundo protestante.
Neste episódio do OP Talks, o Dr. Pereira Da Rosa e o Dr. João Chaves ajudam a situar o cenário político atual. Eles discutem a natureza de ser protestante no Brasil hoje e o desenvolvimento contínuo da fé ao longo da história, desde o movimento inicial do protestantismo no país até sua iteração nacionalista mais recente.
The InheritorsLucila Crena and Eve FairbanksTheologian Lucila Crena talks to photojournalist Eve Fairbanks, who has lived in Johannesburg, South Africa for thirteen years. Her debut bookThe Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning (Simon and Schuster, 2022) “weaves together the stories of three ordinary South Africans over five tumultuous decades in a sweeping and exquisite look at what really happens when a country resolves to end white supremacy.” As Fairbanks points out, there was a time when the Apartheid system of segregation in South Africa seemed like an "eternal Gordian Knot, like a hopeless bind"—that is, "until 1994, when, suddenly, you had, in one day, [a] parliament change from being 100 percent white to being 80 percent people of color...literally overnight."
Writing in the Spirit of ServiceRev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren Lin and Sandra CisnerosHTI Open Plaza celebrates National Poetry Month with a conversation between Rev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren Lin and celebrated author Sandra Cisneros about her new poetry collection Woman Without Shame (Knopf, 2022) and how writing is like pulling thorns from your heart.
"Art," she says, "is the medicine that heals our heart from the darkness that overwhelms and transforms us. You need to create art not to distract you but to bring you in touch with this darkness that is inside us. Art's mission isn't to entertain or distract. Art's mission is for making you sit with your wounds and transform those demons before those demons transform you."
Exegeting Bad BunnyStephen Adubato and Rev. Alex EvangelistaIn this episode of OP Talks, philosophy professor and freelance writer Stephen Adubato and Princeton Theological Seminary alum Rev. Alex Evangelista hold a conversation and listening party around the music of Bad Bunny.
Adubato and Rev. Evangelista—who are Catholic and Baptist, respectively—have both worked with youth and also written on issues of race and the intersection of faith and culture; in particular about Bad Bunny’s work. Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the Puerto Rican artist, reggaeton star, and producer has won three Grammy Awards, nine Latin Grammy Awards, and 13 Premios Lo Nuestro, among other awards; in 2022, he was Spotify’s top artist for the third year in a row.
MEDS for Biblical ScholarsRev. Joanne Rodríguez and Dr. Ahida (Calderón) PilarskiIn this episode of OP Talks, Rev. Joanne Rodriguez, Executive Director of the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI), speaks to Dr. Ahida (Calderón) Pilarski, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew Bible at Saint Anselm College, discuss MEDS–Meditation, Exercise, Diet, & Sleep. The acronym was coined by personal-development coach and New York Times-bestselling author Brendon Burchard.
Dr. Pilarski’s research focuses on the intersection of culture and gender in biblical interpretation, especially in Latina and Mujerista Biblical Hermeneutics. MEDS became a helpful tool for Dr. Pilarski as she began prioritizing her health amidst all her commitments and scholarly service to empower Latine communities. Creating a work-life balance has been essential to upholding her mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. Implementing habits that fall under each of the categories for MEDS has improved Dr. Pilarski’s quality of life tremendously, allowing her to have the energy and joy she needs in order to continue her vital work.
MEMORIAL Forget-Me-Not: Mati in memoriamDr. Matilde “Mati” Kathleen Moros was a beloved member of the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI) community. From serving as a Student Aide at the HTI office to becoming an HTI graduate, she touched many lives through her HTI networks and beyond. We will miss her generous smile as much as her wisdom. To celebrate the life of Dr. Moros, HTI features a biography and information on her body of work, including podcasts she contributed to HTI Open Plaza, and a list of her publications and academic presentations.
HTI Open Plaza celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day with inspired selections from our archive Permalink
Rev. Dr. Tony Lin talks to Dr. Nely Galán abouther book and podcast series on becoming empowered, self-reliant, and rich in every way Ornamental money tree (Pachira aquatica), 2017. Also known as Malabar chestnut, French peanut, Guiana chestnut, Provision tree, Saba nut, Monguba (Brazil), Pumpo (Guatemala), the tropical wetland tree is considered a symbol of luck and prosperity.
Photo: Karl Thomas Moore
In this episode of OP Talks, Rev. Dr. Tony Lin talks to Dr. Nely Galán, entrepreneur, Emmy Award–winning TV producer, real-estate mogul, author, and podcaster. Her New York Times bestseller Self Made: Becoming Empowered, Self-Reliant, and Rich in Every Way (Spiegel & Grau, 2016), which features a foreword by financial advisor Suze Orman, inspires women to find their financial footing in the world and become entrepreneurs.
"God is going to help you, but you have to help yourself,” Dr. Galán tells Rev. Dr. Lin. Part of being self-made and helping yourself is being flexible and evolving, she says. “To make it to the end of your life, what I’ve learned is, you have to make yourself over, over and over again…You are on a trajectory, and that trajectory is an obstacle course…Along the way, if you are not flexible, if you don’t pivot, if you don’t evolve, if you don’t grow all the time, and are willing to change, and are willing to understand that the road is not a clear road, and go with that, you are not going to make it to the end of your life. You are going to be a very fear-based person [who] is suffering a lot.”
Dr. Galán knows firsthand about flexibility and pivoting. Born in Santa Clara, Cuba, she emigrated to the United States with her parents and her brother after the revolution. They were warmly welcomed by an American family in New Jersey, thanks to the missionary work of the Presbyterian church. Years later, when her son was in third grade and struggling in school, Dr. Galán decided to go back to college “to fill in her educational gaps.” She wanted to be a role model for her son and encourage him in his own educational journey. At the height of her television-producing career (she is owner of Galán Entertainment and former president of Telemundo’s entertainment division), Dr. Galán decided to return to college, where she earned a PhD as a clinical psychologist. She went on to work as a therapist at a middle school for a year. “Sometimes, in life, you have to do what the world perceives as taking a step backward to move forward,” she says. “You cannot be afraid to pivot, to change, to hear your inner voice. I always say I have deep conversations with God myself. I don’t need to go somewhere to do it. I do it myself. I ask God questions, and God answers me.”
In 2016, TJ Jakes, Senior Pastor of The Potter's House, invited Galán to his show to speak about personal economic empowerment, “because God can't do everything.” While her call for empowerment around abundance might easily be misconstrued in a society of overconsumption, Dr. Galán clarifies the spirit of her message. "I am not a grandiose person,” she tells Rev. Dr. Lin. “I don't live lavishly. I don't want money for those reasons. I want to live okay, but I really am more about having money for freedom to do the things I want to do. What I want is to democratize finance... I really feel like the missing link for us is lack of knowledge." In fact, Dr. Galán believes that money can be a spiritual practice: “How you deal with it. Why you make the money, what you do with the money, and then how you spend the money, is a spiritual practice."
SELF-MADE RESOURCESSTORIES Nely Galán’s SELF-MADE Stories and The Adelante Movement: Our Stories web series showcase the success stories of self-made women from all walks of life.
Right: Cristina Jiménez, Co-founder of United We Dream and MacArthur Genius Fellow, transformed her pain into power when she founded United We Dream, a nationwide movement that unites young undocumented immigrants in a quest to impact national and local policy.
PODCAST Money Maker/Mi mundo rico is the podcast for everyone with untapped greatness who just needs the tools to take flight. Nely Galán brings her hard-won business advice and interviews with other self-made gurus ready to pass the baton to the next success story. With the goal of reaching listeners who have traditionally been denied a seat at the table, Galán tapes weekly episodes in English and in Spanish.
BOOKSGalán, Nely.Self Made: Becoming Empowered, Self-Reliant, and Rich in Every Way [¡Adelante!: Cómo ser emprendedora y autosuficiente para alcanzar una vida rica y realizada]. Spiegel & Grau, 2016.
What does it mean to be self-made? It's not just about having money, but financial empowerment is where it begins. It means getting out of survival mode, where you are one problem away from catastrophe. It means changing your mindset from instant gratification to goal orientation. It means being able to sleep at night without worry. It means being rich in every way: rich in money, rich in family, rich in love, rich in time - abundant!
*“A much-needed and wise book that teaches women not to fear money but to see it as a means of reaching our dreams. Nely shows us how to become money courageous instead of finance fearful. I want to give this book to so many women (and men) I know. Thank you, Nely.”*
—Sandra Cisneros
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Discount code for purchase of either paperback (ships out from mid-July to early August) or hardcopy: AAFLYG6
Rev. Dr. Tony Lin talks to New York Times National Correspondent Edgar Sandoval about his start in journalism, writing about Texas, and the nuances of the U.S. Latino experience Robb Elementary School, where 18-year-old alum Salvador Ramos fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers on May 24, 2022. Uvalde, Texas, 10 August 2022. Photo: Michael Hogan
In this episode of OP Talks, sociologist Rev. Dr. Tony Lin talks to New York Times National Correspondent Edgar Sandoval about his start in journalism, writing about Texas, and the nuances of the U.S. Latino experience. In particular, Sandoval discusses his experience of reporting on the mass shooting that occurred on May 24, 2022 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Sandovalwas born in California and spent part of his childhood in his parents' Mexican home state of Zacatecas, before settling in South Texas. While still in college, Sandoval got his start in journalism at The McAllen Monitor, his hometown newspaper, where his first job was writing obituaries. After graduation, he worked newsroom jobs that took him to California, Pennsylvania, Florida, and New York. He spent almost three years writing about the assimilation of Latino immigrants in Pennsylvania; the articles are anthologized in The New Face of Small-Town America: Snapshots of Latino Life in Allentown, Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010), which captures "vivid portraits of the people and families behind the demographic statistics."
In New York, Sandoval worked for the New York Daily News for a decade before joining The New York Times in 2019, where he is now a National Correspondent based in Texas. Coming full circle, he currently writes about South Texas people and places for the NYT’s National Desk.
NOTABLE CLIPSEdgar Sandoval for the New York Times
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Edgar Sandoval (@edjsandoval)
ROPA USADA
On the Border, Buying Clothes by the Pound at Ropa Usada. Shops Like thrift shops on steroids, giant used-clothing stores are part of the culture and economic life along the border with Mexico. NYT, 10 April 2022.
ABORTION CLINIC AT THE BORDER
‘I Can’t Have This Baby’: A Lone Abortion Clinic on the Border. In the Rio Grande Valley, women seeking abortions navigate the complex challenges of religion, culture and a new Texas law. NYT, 4 May 2022.
JOSECITO
A Son Was Lost, a Daughter Saved. In Uvalde, Texas, where many children were killed, one family grieves the death of a small boy and holds his sister close. NYT, 30 May 2022.
LITTLE LEAGUE
In a Town Crippled by Grief, the Healing Power of a Perfect Pitch. Uvalde, Texas, was set to cancel its Little League All-Star Championship after a school shooting left 21 people dead. Then, the decision was made: The games would go on. NYT, 20 June 2022.
SURVIVOR TEACHER
Inside a Uvalde Classroom: A Taunting Gunman and 78 Minutes of Terror. A teacher who survived the mass shooting recounts the harrowing attack and desperate wait for a rescue. NYT, 10 July 2022.
BACK TO SCHOOL
After a Summer of Grief, It’s Back to School in Uvalde. Classes resumed on Tuesday in the South Texas community where a mass shooting in May took the lives of 19 students and two teachers. NYT, 6 September 2022.
DAY OF THE DEAD
On Uvalde’s Day of the Dead, a Night to Remember. In memory of the 21 victims of a deadly school shooting, a night of candles, music and poignant mementos was a chance to set grieving aside and celebrate the short lives lost. NYT, 3 November 2022.
*The New Face of Small-Town America:
Snapshots of Latino Life in Allentown, Pennsylvania* by Edgar Sandoval
Penn State University Press, 2010
“The New Face of Small-Town America offers vivid portraits of the people and families behind the demographic statistics, revealing a little-known aspect of contemporary immigration: far from the big cities and the border towns, in small inland settlements often written off as victims of deindustrialization, Latinos are restoring public life, renewing entire communities, and working hard to build a new urban future for our pluralist democracy.”
Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz
University of New Mexico
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Emanuel Padilla talks to T.I. Frazier about growing up with pastor parents, writing for children, and his most recent book, a personal story about his Christian journey In this episode of OP Talks, Emanuel Padilla talks to T.I. Frazier about growing up with parents who were pastors, writing for children, and about his most recent book, Faith Arising(Timothy Frazier, 2022), which charts his journey of discovery and explores Christian teachings. The book invites readers “to critically examine key moments in your life where you felt lost, heartbroken, inspired, challenged, courageous, overwhelmed, and at peace.” His devotional Faith Growth Stages is forthcoming in 2023.
Born on the East Coast and partly raised in Southern California, Frazier served ten years with the United States Army National Guard in various roles, including Chaplain Assistant. “As a Boricua, but also African-American, we’re storytellers. And being able to share our story is a way of sharing our legacy. Why we do what we do,” says Frazier, who is the proud father of a three-year-old and also the author of the children’s book Lauren the Cow(Timothy Frazier, 2022). “The stories, lessons learned,” he tells Padilla, “they're really stories about our faith, and the more we can share our journey— and being honest about it, even in the places that are difficult—it becomes an adventure that others can learn from.”
*Faith Arising*(Timothy Frazier, 2022) by T.I. Frazier
*Lauren the Cow*(Timothy Frazier, 2022) by T.I. Frazier
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Rev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren Lin talks to celebrated author Sandra Cisneros about her new collection of poetry Woman Without Shame “Nepantla Heart-Cactus,” 2023. Image created by Submergia with Midjourney Beta on Discord
HTI Open Plaza celebrates National Poetry Month with a conversation between Rev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren Lin and celebrated author Sandra Cisneros about her new poetry collection Woman Without Shame (Knopf, 2022) and how writing is like pulling thorns from your heart.
"Art," she says, "is the medicine that heals our heart from the darkness that overwhelms and transforms us. You need to create art not to distract you but to bring you in touch with this darkness that is inside us. Art's mission isn't to entertain or distract. Art's mission is for making you sit with your wounds and transform those demons before those demons transform you."
In this post-pandemic world, where politicians have failed to lead, and the world seems heartbroken, Cisneros continues to turn to her spiritual teachers: the late Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh and Pema Chödrön, an American Buddhist teacher, author, nun.
If she had to give anyone writing advice, Cisneros says she would tell them to write in the spirit of service. "What the writing has taught me is [that], whatever I create with love--on behalf of those I love, with no ego involved, no personal agenda—siempre sale bonito; it always turns out well," she advises. "When you write, you have to be in some place of service, generosity and absolute humility."
MORE LISTENINGRinging the Bell: An interview with poet and author Sandra Cisneros on writing, sexuality, and ‘Buddhalupe” by Daisy Hernández, Tricycle (Winter 2022).
Learning to Live without Shame: Sandra Cisneros discusses her first book of poetry in 28 years, Woman Without Shame. Tricycle, 21 December 2022.
Tricycle Talks · Learning to Live without Shame with Sandra Cisneros
*Woman Without Shame*
by Sandra Cisneros
Knopf, 2022
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: TIME and GOODREADS
A brave new collection of poems from Sandra Cisneros, best-selling author of The House on Mango Street.
It has been twenty-eight years since Sandra Cisneros published a book of poetry. With dozens of never-before-seen poems, Woman Without Shame is a moving collection of songs, elegies, and declarations that chronicle her pilgrimage toward rebirth and the recognition of her prerogative as a woman artist. These bluntly honest and often humorous meditations on memory, desire, and the essential nature of love blaze a path toward self-awareness. For Cisneros, Woman Without Shame is the culmination of her search for home—in the Mexico of her ancestors and in her own heart.
BUY BOOK LISTEN TO SAMPLE
Dr. Felipe Hinojosa talks to Ray Santiesteban, director of the documentary about the groundbreaking 1960s Chicago alliance between the Black Panthers, Young Lords, and Young Patriots The Black Panthers, Young Patriots, and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) join the Young Lords in a march from “People’s Park” to Humboldt Park in honor of Puerto Rican independence leader Pedro Albizu Campos, Chicago, Illinois, 11 October 1969. The photo appears in Y.L.O., the publication of the Young Lords’ Ministry of Information. Source: Y.L.O. Vol. 1 No. 5 (January 1970), p. 3, Young Lords Newspaper Collection, Special Collections and Archives, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois
In this episode of OP Talks, historian Dr. Felipe Hinojosa talks to filmmaker Ray Santiesteban about his documentary The First Rainbow Coalition (Independent Lens, 2020) and the need for more Latinx historians and filmmakers. Through rare archival footage and interviews with members of The Rainbow Coalition, Santiesteban tells the story of the groundbreaking alliance between the Black Panther Party, Hispanic activist group The Young Lords, and The Young Patriots, comprising working-class southern whites. In the 1960s, the alliance banded together as The Rainbow Coalition in Chicago—one of the most segregated cities at the time—to fight police brutality and substandard housing.
Though the documentary covers events from 50 years ago, says Santiesteban, the documentary “is still relevant because we're still grappling with [what] people were fighting against in the ‘60s.” Because the United States is more diverse than it was then, he adds, coalitions across ethnic lines have even more potential today.
ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARYIn 1969, the Chicago Black Panther Party, notably led by the charismatic Fred Hampton, began to form alliances across lines of race and ethnicity with other community-based movements in the city, including the Latinx group the Young Lords Organization and the working-class young southern whites of the Young Patriots. Finding common ground, these disparate groups banded together in one of the most segregated cities in postwar America to collectively confront issues such as police brutality and substandard housing, calling themselves the Rainbow Coalition. The First Rainbow Coalition tells the movement’s little-known story through rare archival footage and interviews with former coalition members in the present-day.
While the coalition eventually collapsed under duress from constant harassment by local and federal law enforcement, including the murder of Fred Hampton, it had a long term impact, breaking down barriers between communities, and creating a model for future activists and diverse politicians across America.
READ MOREIndependent Lens Discussion Guide for The Rainbow Coalition
Cultural sociologist Rev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren Lin talks to José Pérez on his finding poetry in prison, and why he now advocates for the rehabilitative arts and foster children La persistance de la mémoire[The Persistence of Memory] (1931) by Salvador Dalí; oil on canvas, 9 1/2 x 13". © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí , Figueres, 2007 © 2006. Digital image, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York/Scala, Florence
“The arts is where we find our humanity,” says José Pérez, who spent 20 years in prison and now advocates for the rehabilitative arts and foster children. He credits poetry, and the arts in general, with transforming his life. “Our art comes from us. It comes from the deepest parts of ourselves,” he tells cultural sociologist Rev. Dr. Tony T. R. Lin. “And when [our art] goes into the world, you know, it's like you're sharing yourself with someone.”
In this episode of OP Talks, Pérez also reads three of his poems, part of a larger collection previously featured on HTI Open Plaza. The episode opens with “Sense of Mind,” a poem Pérez calls a prayer. First incarcerated at age thirteen, then a second time at sixteen, he describes his mindset then: "I thought in my head—in my immature and my young mind—I thought that I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison. Little did I know that that poem was like a prayer. That was like God’s gift."
Pérez left prison with a calling to help advocate for rehabilitative arts programs in prisons. He also advocates for children and teenagers who, like him, grew up in the foster system. “I'm speaking to that right now, being proactive and being able to affect change in that community,” Pérez tells Rev. Dr. Lin. “The poetry, for me, [is] not just about the words; it's also about the action.”
RELATED
Theologian Dr. Lucila Crena and photojournalist Eve Fairbanks discuss her debut book, an intimate portrait of South Africa's racial reckoning Soccer fans celebrate in Soweto during the World Cup, South Africa. Photo: Eve Fairbanks
Theologian Dr. Lucila Crena talks to photojournalist Eve Fairbanks, who has lived in Johannesburg, South Africa for thirteen years. Her debut book The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning (Simon and Schuster, 2022) “weaves together the stories of three ordinary South Africans over five tumultuous decades in a sweeping and exquisite look at what really happens when a country resolves to end white supremacy.” As Fairbanks points out, there was a time when the Apartheid system of segregation in South Africa seemed like an "eternal Gordian Knot, like a hopeless bind." That is, "until 1994, when, suddenly, you had, in one day, [a] parliament change from being 100 percent white to being 80 percent people of color...literally overnight."
Photos by Eva Fairbanks—click to read captions. View fullsize
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PURCHASE “A moving group portrait of disillusion and resilience.”
—The Christian Science Monitor
“Easily the most compelling new nonfiction book I’ve read in years. The Inheritors is not just a spellbinding, beautifully written story about apartheid South Africa, but also an augury for America today.”
—Suketu Mehta,
Author, Maximum City, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
Rev. Milly Silencio talks to Dr. Noemi Córdova, founder of FLORA Ministries, which supports immigrant families and mobilizes the Church to build with their communities Faith, Love, Outreach, Restoration, Advancing the Gospel—these are the stated values of FLORA Ministries, founded by Dr. Noemi Córdova. Based out of Expansion Church in Queens, New York, the organization “supports immigrant families and mobilizes the Church to build with their communities.” In this episode of OP Talk, Rev. Milly Silencio talks to Dr. Córdova, who is “passionate about working alongside others and seeing people come together to foster hope in their communities.”
Selections from GoFundMe’s Heroes Podcast Hand-heart-eye graffiti in the River North Art District (RiNo), Denver, Colorado, 2016. Photo: Chris Goldberg
GoFundMe is a crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. True Stories of Good People,aGoFundMe Heroes Podcast,features “people who are making a difference in other people’s lives, or who have had their lives changed by someone kind – and sometimes both.” In each episode, host Kelsea Little sits down with an everyday hero who is making an impact in the world. The conversations are deeply powerful — the kinds of stories that restore your faith in humanity.”
Ahead of Valentine’s Day, HTI Open Plaza has curated eight stories from the archive of True Stories of Good People whose works have shown our communities love.
Grupo Folklorico Izcalli: Annel Alvarez and Stacey ValdezAfter Annel Alvarez had her son Adrian, she was going through a pretty dark time in her life, feeling a sense of losing her identity. She knew she needed to do something to pull her out of it, but also knew she couldn’t do it alone—so she called up an old friend with an idea: “let’s start a dance troupe!” A pretty simple idea on its face, but what turned out to have so much power to build community, celebrate Hispanic culture, and provide space for healing.
16 September 2022, 47 mins
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View this post on Instagram A post shared by Grupo Folklorico Izcalli (@izcalli.kc)
The Power of Stories: Joseph GutierrezWhen Filipino-AmericanJoseph Gutierrez moved to Nashville in 2017, he started to ask himself some honest questions about his new city. He wasn’t sure what the city meant to him, and vice versa. To explore these questions further, he started to have conversations with other local folks from the Asian and Pacific Islander community, and realized there was an existing lack of awareness and understanding about their cultures and identities. In response to the rising anti-AAPI hate crimes following the pandemic, Joseph and his community felt compelled to do something to help—and they believed the power of stories had the opportunity to make a big difference.
19 May 2022, 19 mins
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A Bookstore on Wheels: Latanya DeVaughnBronx native Latanya DeVaughn knows that every neighborhood deserves a bookstore. Even if that store is in a converted bus....
29 October 2020, 40 mins
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Empowering Cuts: Josh SantiagoJosh Santiago knew he wanted to be a barber from a young age. What he couldn’t have imagined is that he’d end up taking his skills to the streets and offering haircuts to those most in need—completely free of charge. In the last five years, Josh has used his talents as a barber to brighten thousands of people’s lives in his Philadelphia community and beyond, and he has no plans of stopping anytime soon.
29 October 2020, 40 mins
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Every Body Farms: Jenny Hernandez and Jessica NelsonCommon Roots Farm in Santa Cruz, California is a very special place. Not only do they produce delicious fruits and vegetables, they are also a non-profit, volunteer-based farm whose mission is rooted in creating a space that fosters full inclusion of people of all abilities, to farm together in partnership.
25 September 2020 , 40 mins
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Daniel Alvarado: Cancer Fighters to the RescueWhen Daniel was 6 years old, his brother, Diego, was diagnosed with Leukemia. When he would go to the hospital to visit his brother, Daniel remembers feeling very sad for all of the other kids suffering in the hospital, especially when they had to stay for so long and couldn’t go home. 6-year-old Daniel decided to organize a toy drive to bring cheer to the other kids and the results were more amazing than he ever could have imagined. Now 16, Daniel is currently in the midst of his 10th toy drive, and despite some incredible hardships, he hasn’t missed a single year.
17 December 2019, 33 mins
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Sergio Cordova: Support for Asylum SeekersSergio lives in Brownsville, Texas, which is right on the Mexico border. Asylum seekers arrive daily but are simply dropped off at a bus station with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Many of them also need critical services, such as legal support, help finding family members, etc. The amount of need weighed heavy on Sergio and his friends’ hearts, and so they decided to help.
10 December 2019, 30 mins
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Luis Garcia: USA Opioid Crisis Mortality Reduction 501c3In his 28 years as a firefighter and paramedic, Luis Garcia responded to thousands of 911 calls for people who had overdosed. After he retired, he learned that the FDA approved a nasal spray called Narcan that literally brings people back from the dead minutes after they stop breathing, with no side effects. Luis knew that this was the way to save his community. So he took the $40k that he’d been saving for a new car and went out and bought 800 doses of the nasal spray to distribute.
11 October 2019
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Dr. João Chaves e Dr. Wanderley Pereira da Rosa discutem o movimento Protestante inicial e sua iteração nacionalista mais recente no paísDr. João Chaves and Dr.Wanderley Pereira da Rosa discussthe initial Protestant movement and its most recent nationalist iteration in Brazil Detalhe do mapa do Oceano Atlântico (1613) do Pierre de Vaulx, mostrando partes da Europa, África e América do Norte e do Sul. Os marcos do Brasil incluem La France Antártica, uma colônia francesa no Rio de Janeiro que existiu entre 1555 e 1567, com controle sobre a costa do Rio de Janeiro a Cabo Frio. A colônia rapidamente se tornou um refúgio para os huguenotes (protestantes franceses) e acabou sendo destruída pelos portugueses em 1567. Fontes: The History Archive; mapa original na Library of Congress
Detail from map of the Atlantic Ocean (1613 ) by Pierre de Vaulx, showing parts of Europe, Africa, and North and South America. Brazil landmarks include La France Antarctique, a French colony in Rio de Janeiro that existed between 1555 and 1567, with control over the coast from Rio de Janeiro to Cabo Frio. The colony quickly became a haven for the Huguenots (French Protestants) and was ultimately destroyed by the Portuguese in 1567. Sources: The History Archive; original map at the Library of Congress
No atual turbilhão de incerteza política, os protestantes assumiram um papel central no desdobramento da fusão da política e da religião no Brasil. O livro recente do Dr. Wanderley Pereira Da Rosa, Por uma fé encarnada: uma introdução à história do protestantismo no Brasil (Editora Recriar, 2022), reinterpreta a missão protestante – suas raízes históricas, teológicas e ideológicas – e oferece uma análise através do prisma da teologia social e política sem desconsiderar a pluralidade do mundo protestante.
Neste episódio do OP Talks, o Dr. Pereira Da Rosa e o Dr. João Chaves ajudam a situar o cenário político atual. Eles discutem a natureza de ser protestante no Brasil hoje e o desenvolvimento contínuo da fé ao longo da história, desde o movimento inicial do protestantismo no país até sua iteração nacionalista mais recente.
In the present turmoil of political uncertainty, Protestants have taken a central role in the unfolding nature of Brazil’s merging of politics and religion. Dr. Wanderley Pereira Da Rosa’s recent book, Por uma fé encarnada: uma introdução à história do protestantismo no Brasil [Towards an Incarnated Faith: An Introduction to a History of Protestantism in Brazil] (Editora Recriar, 2022), reinterprets the Protestant mission—its historical, theological, and ideological roots—and offers an analysis through the prism of social and political theology without disregarding the plurality of the Protestant world.
In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. Pereira Da Rosa andDr. João Chaves help situate the current political landscape. They discuss the nature of being a Protestant in Brazil today and the faith’s ongoing development through history, from the initial movement of Protestantism in the country to its most recent nationalist iteration.
Com um enfoque inovador, provocativo e profundamente criativo, o autor [oferece] uma gama enorme de informações históricas que vão surpreender muitos leitores(as)!
With an innovative, provocative and deeply creative approach, the author [offers] an enormous range of historical information that will surprise many readers!
—Zwinglio Mota Dias
Teólogo e ecumenista, autor de A reinvenção do protestantismo reformado no Brasil (2017)
Theologian and ecumenist, author of [The Reinvention of Reformed Protestantism in Brazil] (2017)
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Dr. Jorge Juan Rodríguez V and Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz exploredigital platforms for popular theological education Set of devices for testing electronic bibles, 2014. Photo: Kahunapule Michael Johnson
In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. Jorge Juan Rodríguez V and Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz discuss digital platforms for popular theological education. Drawing from his academic training in history and biblical studies, Dr. Rodríguez V offers tips, such as identifying "the one thing you want people to walk away with," and describes how different digital platforms have shaped his writing. He finds life in translating what he has learned to others: "How can I take this knowledge and make it accessible?" Rev. Dr. Valle-Ruiz shares her experience of "being a social media presence" as a scholar who studies worship and preaching. She not only understands the challenges ‘digital immigrants’ may encounter when engaging digital platforms but also recognizes how important having a multimedia presence is to ‘digital natives.’ Learn more from these Puerto Rican scholars and their call to public scholarship.
Matt Vega talks to Dr. Vincent Lloyd about his new book on the struggle against domination Demonstrators at a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, 1965. Their placard reads: "We march together, Catholics, Jews, Protestant, for dignity and brotherhood of all men under God, Now!" Photo: Peter Pettus. Source: Library of Congress
Everything Black includes rage, love, family, futures, magic, revolution, dignity—as suggested in the table of contents for Black Dignity: The Struggle against Domination (Yale University Press, 2022) by Dr. Vincent Lloyd,Director of Africana Studies at Villanova University.
In this episode of OP Talks, Matt Vega talks to Dr, Lloyd about the book, which delineates a new concept of Black dignity, yet one with a long history in Black writing and action, including the philosophy underlying the Black Lives Matter movement. He explores the way Black writers like Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Audre Lorde have dealt with themes outlined by the items in the table of contents. Dr. Lloyd argues that Black dignity is the paradigm of all dignity.
READ MORE“Black Dignity: A Conversation with Vincent W. Lloyd.” Yale University Press, 15 November 2022.
Sirvent, Roberto. “BAR Book Forum: Vincent Lloyd’s Book, “Black Dignity.” Black Agenda Report, 19 October 2022.
Tinner-Williams, Nate. “Interview: Dr. Vincent W. Lloyd, on his new book 'Black Dignity'.” Black Catholic Messenger, 22 November 2022.
Vega, Matthew. “Vincent Lloyd’s Dictionary of Black Dignity.” Sojourners, 22 December 2022.
*Black Dignity: The Struggle against Domination* by Vincent Lloyd (Yale University Press, 2022)
“Lloyd powerfully joins a growing and urgent literature on the relationship among civic ideals, political and social morality, racial identity, and the emotions. I suspect Black Dignity will quickly become a fixture in conversations concerning visions of America against the backdrop of racial violence and inequity.”
—Christopher J. Lebron
Author of The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of An Idea
PURCHASE
Dr. Jung Mo Sung talks to Dr. Filipe Maia about his recent book, a theological critique of financialized capitalism Financialized capitalism is “a pattern of accumulation in which profits accrue primarily through financial channels rather than through trade and commodity production,” according to Greta R. Krippner.
In this episode of OP Talks, liberation theologiansDr. Jung Mo Sung and Dr. Filipe Maia discuss his recent book Trading Futures: A Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism (Duke University Press, 2022). Dr. Maia offers a theological reflection on hope and the future, calling for escape routes from the debt economy.
*Trading Futures: A Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism*by Filipe Maia (Duke University Press*,* 2022)
“Here is a liberation theology for the present—or, better, for the future, the not yet. Filipe Maia brings a longstanding and indispensable tradition of liberationist critique to bear on the contemporary realities of finance capitalism, opening crucial spaces of alterative hope against foreclosed horizons.”
— Devin Singh
Author of Divine Currency: The Theological Power of Money in the West
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HTI Executive Director Rev. Joanne Rodríguez talks to Rev. Dr. Doris García-Rivera,Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico’s first woman president, about her inspirations Altar in the James A. McAllister chapel at Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico, 2017. Source: The Presbyterian Outlook
Rev. Dr. Doris García-Rivera is former president of the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico (ESPR). The private mainline Protestant seminary in Río Piedras was founded in 1919 by a group of theological schools and biblical institutes of the Protestant denominations that arrived on the island after the Spanish-American War. Nearly a century later, in 2014, Dr. García-Rivera became the first woman president in the history of ESPR.
Today, she is Professor of Old Testament and Mission and Evangelism in the Certificate in Hispanic Ministries at Lexington Theological Seminary, where she also serves as Academic Coordinator for Pathways for Tomorrow Grant. In this episode of OP Talks, HTI Executive Director Rev. Joanne Rodríguez talks to Dr. García-Rivera about the women who inspire her and the experiences that shaped her.
They discuss Dr. García-Rivera’s commitment to service, including her experience of being a missionary in rural areas of Latin American, and how she braved long roads, floods, and landslides to reach those areas. Her experiences as a missionary helped prepare Dr. García-Rivera for the natural disasters to come in her native island of Puerto Rico. When Hurricane Maria hit in 2017, she did not think twice about getting into her Toyota Rav 4 and heading to the seminary, where Dr. García-Rivera had already been serving as president for three years. “Even in the midst of this situation,” she says “we really still have the grace of God and the mercy of God.” Dr. García-Rivera would bring the seminary back to life after the hurricane, collaborating with multiple institutions and volunteers, as well as promoting continuing education and improving the seminary’s information technology infrastructure. “I understood being well meant that I must move forward to be the leader needed at that time.”
Her spirited grandmother Monserrate influenced Dr. García-Rivera in big and small ways. “She was the main model for me because of her resilience,” says Dr. García-Rivera. After becoming a widow at a young age and losing a child at birth, Monserrate did everything in her power to give her remaining four children an education and to expand their possibilities. She washed and ironed shirts for a wealthy family and later worked in the kitchen of a public school until retirement. Dr. García-Rivera remembers her grandmother as always servicing others—with a plan in mind. “She was very small, but you could not dare defy her. She was a strong woman.”
Rev. Dr. Tony Lin talks to Miguel Escobar about his new book on wealth, poverty, and the Church today Part of “The Famine” (1997), a commemorative sculpture by Rowan Gillespie dedicated to those forced to emigrate during the 19th-century Irish Famine. Custom House Quay, Dublin, Ireland, 2007. Photo: Nic McPhee
Rev. Dr. Tony Lin talks to Miguel Escobar about his new bookThe Unjust Steward: Wealth, Poverty, and the Church Today (Forward Movement, 2022). "Here is a book that inspires, yes, but also challenges and unsettles all who would take seriously Jesus’s Way of Love,” writes The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, XXVII Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
and author of Love is the Way (Penguin, 2020). “Weaving together words of wisdom from spiritual giants of early Christianity with profound reflections from his own life, Miguel Escobar pulls back the curtain of wealth and poverty to reveal our longstanding complicity with systems of injustice and calls us to make better, more humane choices, reflective of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, that can change the world."
Escobar wanted the book to be, as he says, “accessibly-written.” The Unjust Steward offers information meant to help us think differently about money and how it has been filtered through Christianity at the congregational level. “You have to have conversations to expand the moral imagination of what’s possible,” says Escobar.
*The Unjust Steward: Wealth, Poverty, and the Church Today* by Miguel Escobar (Forward Movement*,* 2022)
BUY BOOK Dreams of Reversal: In this exclusive excerpt for HTI Open Plaza, Miguel Escobar offers a biblical understanding of money and prosperity from the perspective of his migrant farmworker family experience .
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Dr. Adriana Nieto talks to Rev. Dr. Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi about her co-edited volume on vocational discovery in ministry InterVarsity New England. Photo: ©Kyle VanEtten - No Shortcuts Photography
Chicana/o studies scholar Dr. Adriana Nieto talks to Rev. Dr. Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, Director of the Office of Professional Formation at Iliff School of Theology, about the volume Explore: Vocational Discovery in Ministry(Rowman & Littlefield, 2022), which Rev. Dr. Lizardy-Hajbi co-edited with Matthew Floding. The book is ideal for ministerial leadership students in search of paths to follow.
“It’s really a book offering options for individuals thinking through, ‘what is my vocation in relation to my identities, my experiences and what I feel are my strengths and my gifts and my passions,’” says Rev. Dr. Lizardy-Hajbi, who is also term assistant professor of leadership and formation at Iliff. The volume includes personal stories from 45 contributors of all backgrounds and professions, serving as a discernment tool that she hopes “expands the imaginations of students rather than create limits'' when it comes to ministerial work by faith leaders, such as pastors, varieties of chaplaincy, clinical pastoral educators, academics, and nonprofit leaders.
“[Ministry] is a sacred task no matter what one’s beliefs or meaning-making frameworks are,” says Rev. Dr. Lizardy-Hajbi. “It is something that should be considered with care, that is holy, and that is done, I think, in mystery, often because we don’t know…where someone is going to end up in a call."
PURCHASE "The book is accessible, gritty, and honest. It raises good conversation on the multiplicity of vocation and represents the complexity of life, vocation, and constructed meaning that we, in religious and ministerial circles, have known and navigated for some time. Vocation, in this context, is a complicated conversation and we have the beneficial wisdom of this diverse group of authors to articulate this complexity for us in this truth-telling and thought-provoking project.”
—Mark Chung Hearn, PhD
Associate Professor and Director of Contextual Education at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, CA
In this episode of OP Talks, Stephen Di Trolio interviews Chicano educator, administrator, and institutional strategist Dr. Patrick Reyes. He is the host of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) podcast “The Scholar’s Guide to Writing,” a series of guided practices to assist scholars in the art of writing a dissertation.
Dr. Reyes is also Senior Director of Learning Design at FTE, a leadership incubator founded in 1954 that inspires young people to make a difference in the world through Christian communities. In addition to providing oversight for organizational learning and resource development around vocational exploration, leadership and innovation, he manages FTE’s doctoral initiatives. His “Scholar’s Guide” podcast was born out of questions like, "What is the challenge doctoral students face? What is the internal resistance beyond the committee?" Step-by-step, the podcast aims to help doctoral students through the dissertation-writing process—from writing the acknowledgements and the conclusion to editing the manuscript, and more.
ADDITIONAL LISTENING Chapter 1: Writing the Acknowledgements First, The Scholar’s Guide to Writing, FTE, 26 January 2022.
In this episode of OP Talks, doctoral candidate César "CJ" Baldelomar talks to his teacher and mentor Dr. Mark Jordan, whose work focuses on Christian theology, European philosophy, and gender studies. The wide-ranging conversation touches on Dr. Jordan's teaching practice, on what led him to theology, and on his devotion to the act of private writing, which he believes helps him understand God.
Whether or not the work ever gets published, Dr. Jordan feels compelled to write “for protest and assertion, for pleasure and politics, but especially for self discernment,” because “I don’t know what I think or what I feel or what I hope until I can write some way into it.” His most sustained writing comprises hundreds of thousands of words in a journal he has kept since he was 16, one that “has taken all kinds of forms that I never expect to see published.”
The criterion of originality--in the humanities, at least-- is “highly overrated," Dr. Jordan tells Baldelomar. "At a most basic level, most of what we say is repetition. Language is all about repetition. Very occasionally, one of us can come up with a phrasing that is absolutely new or invent a word or something like that for good or for ill [but] a lot of theological words have done a lot of damage...The question is how artfully we do the collage."
When it comes to theology education, Baldelomar asks his mentor, what does he see as the power of fragmentation?
"Teaching in fragments is the condition of theology," explains Dr. Jordan. "Because of our ignorance and the limits of our language, we're incapable of giving a complete coherent exhaustive account of divinity, even of what divinity is doing in our individual lives. So one way to keep reminding ourselves of that is to write in fragments, because to write in clean connected systematic text, numbered propositions....encourages the illusion that you have a system. And the one thing you can be sure of in theology is [that] you don't have a system or, if you have a system, it's not theology."
In this episode of OP Talks, Stephen Di Trolio Coakley talks to theologians Dr. Raimundo Barreto and Dr. João Chaves about the rising strength of Evangelicals in Brazilian politics that led to the 2018 election of far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently locked in a runoff race with former left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The runoff election will take place at the end of October 2022.
Nearly a year ago, Dr. Barreto and Dr. Chaves published "Christian Nationalism is Thriving in Bolsonaro’s Brazil" in The Christian Century (18 November 2021). The article explores how Christian nationalism is not only a U.S. phenomenon but “particularly evident and virulent in Brazil,” and how the two countries’ phenomena are interconnected.
Although Dr. Barreto and Dr. Chaves are interested in exploring the rise of "Messianic Bolsonarismo," they trace its cause as a transnational phenomenon.
In this episode of OP Talks, Rev. Dr. Tony Lin talks to friend and colleague Rev. Mickey Correa about his work as a pastor in Washington Heights, preparing the next generation of clergy, and never forgetting about the "humanity of ministry." Rev. Correa is the Chief Program Officer at Blanton-Peale Institute & Counseling Center in New York City and serves as the pastor of Christ Church NYC Washington Heights ("Christ in the Heights"), one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods at the beginning of the pandemic. He leads bilingual worship, spiritual formation, and pastoral care at the small, multiethnic parish, where most of his parishioners are older. One of them, he says, joked, "A tí te mandaron a un asilo de ancianos [They sent you to a nursing home].” At the start of the pandemic, Rev. Correa felt pessimistic and worried about how his older congregation would navigate the crisis. But in big and small ways, he was reminded of the Latino spirit: "Even if you don't have all of the resources, everyone has a little something to contribute and, together, you can make a fiesta, together, you can make a feast." As time wore on, however, fatigue nevertheless set in.
"That enthusiasm to make community happen, that's part of our performative role as pastors,” says Rev. Correa. “You have to make sure that things run smoothly, but the performative aspect has moved into ‘this is now part of our professionalism.’" He adds that under-resourced congregations are now expected to do more; online services are now the norm, for example. "People are exhausted is what I've heard, and I have some clergy friends who have resigned or are in the process of leaving their church appointments because they are physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted.”
As a trained social worker, Rev. Correa was taught not to think "in a linear fashion, but to think about the multiple things that form the ecology of someone." So what advice and resources might he offer practical theologians and seminary professors preparing the next generation of clergy? asks Rev. Dr. Lin.
"Jesus was a practical theologian,” says Rev. Correa. “He was about thinking, 'How do we use the loaves and the fishes to make sure everyone is fed?'…One of the most important things that often may get lost in seminary training is thinking from a macro-social system perspective that is not just going to be the local parish—again, I'm talking as a Methodist and from a Wesleyan theological perspective; Wesley would say, ‘the world is my parish.’ We are not called to just serve our little church or our big church in the corner of so and so. We are called to the world. That means we are not going to have the world's resources to be able to be pastors of the whole world, but we need to think from a very macro-social systems perspective. For me, I would [it means] being aware of the places [in which] you are going to be situated. If you are sent to work in a specific community, that you start thinking about what are some of the practical things that the entire human being needs: food, shelter, psychological resources, and mental health resources, healthcare - how are we thinking about those resources?”
Rev. Correa emphasizes the need to think about, “from an ecosystemic perspective, how pastors are not just going to serve the building—which unfortunately is what pastors often end up utilizing their resources and energy in and that ends up sometimes moving them out from ministry.” Instead, he encourages us, “to really think about the humanity of ministry. The humanity of ministry goes back to the face of Christ. The face of Christ is Mathew 25…the poor, the broken, the sick, the imprisoned."
'The Tip of the Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital' (University of New Orleans Press, 2022) by writer and activist Tony Diaz, known as El Librotraficante, was published ten years after Arizona officials enforced a ban on Mexican American Studies. Diaz drove throughout the Southwest on his way to Arizona—with a caravan of Houston activists that included poet Lupe Mendez, Liana Lopez, Bryan Parras, and Laura Razo—after the state banned high school Mexican American studies programs, thus outlawing curriculums that consisted of books like The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros; The Months and Other Stories by Helena Maria Viramontes; Luis Urrea’s The Hummingbird’s Daughter and The Devil’s Highway, among others.
Diaz’s The Tip of the Pyramid addresses the power and importance of cultural and community capital as a source of “self empowerment of our gente.” In this episode of OP Talks, he discusses the new book with Dr. Angela Valenzuela, director of the University of Texas Center for Education Policy, and doctoral student and longtime educator Patricia Núñez. They also discuss his activism work with the nonprofit he founded, Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, and the mobilization of librotraficantes to fight bans on Latino authors and ethnic studies.
Diaz notes that, with the national politicalization of school boards and book bans still taking place today, the need to work on behalf of the Latino community remains urgent. He shares a story about visiting the Mayan archaeological complex Teotihuacán in Mexico: While to some it is a tourist trap, for Diaz it proved to be a spiritual experience that made him feel both thrilled and angry. He remembers sitting on the steps of this ancient city, “having all these revelations in my mind” and thinking, “Wow, we have [been] brainwashed. I am standing on the proof of our gente’s power, beauty, intelligence, and this has been kept from me, and the fact that this structure here exists is testament to all that.” The media, Diaz laments, constantly fails to accurately represent the Latino experience: “The forms that exist, especially from corporate media and corporate publishing, do not fully convey our experiences and, in some cases, they just erase us.”
Dr. Vincent Lloyd, Director of Africana Studies at Villanova University, talks to theologian and social theorist Matt Vega about his doctoral research around racial capital, which Vega examines through personal, theological, and academic lenses. Vega’s understanding of the relationship between race and capitalism, he says, was greatly influenced by political scientist Dr. Michael C. Dawson, who administered Vega’s “Race and Capitalism” Qualifying Examination at the University of Chicago. (Vega highly recommends watching this breakdown of race and capitalism by Dr. Dawson.)
Vega’s recent essay on racial capitalism is part of the Critical Theory for Political Theology 2.0 series on the Political Theology Network. In this episode of OP Talks, he encourages theologians to think through the relationship between race, capitalism, and theology for three reasons:
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"First, there’s the origin reason. So, modern conceptions of race and the origins of capitalism as a distinct mode of production emerged within the context of mission."
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"The second reason is the conversation reason. I think studying racial capitalism is important for theologians to foster cross-cultural conversations about how dynamics of race and capitalism might both be at work, rather than thinking about one at the exclusion of the other."
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"The last reason it’s important for theologians is because I think it should push us to think about the sources we have within our traditions [with which] to think about or respond to racial capitalism."
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Dawson, Michael C. “Why Race and Capitalism Not Racial Capitalism? (Critical Race Studies): Racial Capitalism(s) I.” Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto, 25 March 2021.
Dawson, Michael C. and Emily A. Katzenstein. “Articulated Darkness: White Supremacy, Patriarchy, and Capitalism in Shelby’s Dark Ghettos.” The Journal of Political Philosophy 27.2, June 2019: 252-268.
Jennings, Willie James. The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race. Yale University Press, 2011.
Lloyd, Vincent. Black Dignity: The Struggle Against Domination. Yale University Press, 2022.
Jones-Rogers, Stephanie E. They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South. Yale University Press, 2020.
Robinson, Cedric James Robinson. Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition. Zed Press, 1983. [PDF]
Vega, Matthew. CRITICAL THEORY FOR POLITICAL THEOLOGY 2.0: Racial Capitalism. Political Theology Network, 3 May 2022.
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Cultivating Talent: A Summary of Findings from the National Study ‘Examining Pathways to Increase the Presence of Hispanic Teachers and Leaders in Catholic Schools’(2022)
Catholic Schools in an Increasingly Hispanic Church: A Summary Report of Findings from the National Survey of Catholic Schools Serving Hispanic Families (2016)
Ospino, Hoffsman and Patricia Weitzel-O’Neill. "Catholic Schools in an Increasingly Hispanic Church: Musings Inspired in a Recent National Study." Momentum (Winter 2017).
Dr. Jorge Juan Rodríguez V talks to Dr. Maggie Elmore, Dr. Sergio M. González, and Dr. Felipe Hinojosa about their edited volume on how religion has shaped Latino politics and community building since 1945
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Vizcaíno, R. "Liberation Philosophy, Anti-Fetishism, and Decolonization." Journal of World Philosophies 6.2 (December 2021).
LÁPIZ N˚7: Learning Across Liberation Theologies, 2022. Latin American Philosophy of Education Society (LAPES).
En este episodio de OP Talks, presentado por Stephen Di Trolio Coakley, el Dr. Rafael Vizcaíno comparte cómo su historia como migrante y su deseo de dedicarse a la filosofía lo llevaron a los campos de Estudios Decoloniales y de la Filosofía de Liberación. El tropo de la fetichización es central en la filosofía de liberación latinoamericana y su propuesta de un método “antifetichista,” como lo analiza el Dr. Vizcaíno en un ensayo reciente; "Liberation Philosophy, Anti-Fetishism, and Decolonization [Filosofía de la liberación, el antifetichismo y la descolonización]" ofrece una genealogía del tropo de la fetichización elaborado en la obra del filósofo de liberación, el argentino-mexicano Enrique Dussel.
El Dr. Vizcaíno escribe: “…the anti-fetishist method consists of deciphering the man-made character of oppressive power relations that behave as if they were necessary and unchangeable transhistorical absolutes […el método antifetichista consiste en descifrar el carácter hecho por el hombre de las relaciones de poder opresivas que se comportan como si fueran absolutos transhistóricos necesarios e inmutables].”
A partir de un trabajo reciente de antropología cultural que demuestra cómo la noción de “fetichismo” se desarrolla a partir de una antropología eurocéntrica de la religión unilateral que tergiversa elementos de las religiones afroatlánticas, él argumenta que, sin una revisión seria de las premisas metafísicas del “anti -fetichismo,” la filosofía de liberación corre el riesgo de perpetuar un eurocentrismo que va en contra de los intereses de descolonización epistémica a los que está comprometida. El Dr. Vizcaíno esboza las perspectivas de un método decolonial “antifetichista” que podría superar la mala interpretación eurocéntrica de las religiones afroatlánticas.
The late Msgr. Neil A. Connolly served as a parish priest for close to 60 years. After his ordination at age 24, he spent eight weeks in Ponce, Puerto Rico, taking part in a pioneering New York Archdiocesan language-immersion program in Spanish. The young Irish-American priest quickly adapted to an environment that was predominantly Latino. His priesthood would be defined by the South Bronx and Puerto Rican migration as he learned to both serve and be part of a community that struggled for a decent life. Passionate about issues of social justice, Fr. Connolly was a champion for lay leadership and community organization. While vicar for the South Bronx in the 1970s, he co-founded and was chairman of South Bronx People for Change, a Church-based, direct-action membership organization. Community organizer Angel García has served as its Executive Director.
In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. Michael E. Lee, Director of Fordham University's Francis & Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, talks to García about his recent book 'The Kingdom Began In Puerto Rico: Neil Connolly’s Priesthood in the South Bronx' (Fordham University Press, 2021). In this history of faith and community building, García chronicles the work of Rev. Connolly from 1958 to the 1980s.
Reflecting on Fr. Connolly’s ministry in the Bronx, García says, “When one thinks about it…you’ve been an altar boy, you’ve gone to these traditional churches [and] seminary preparation. And then you come here, and you’re looking for the church, and they say, ‘It’s right here. It’s a bodega. This is where the church is.’ And Fr. Connolly essentially surrendered himself to that.”
SHOWTIMES
Teatro Nuevos Horizontes (TNH) Productions, CASA 0101 Theater, El Centro Del Pueblo, and Councilmember Gil Cedillo present summer performances of Arena: A House MUSIC-al in Los Angeles, California. The show is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
DATES: June 17th - July 17th, 2022
TIMES: Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM, Sundays at 4PM
LOCATION: CASA 0101 Theater | 2102 East 1st Street | Los Angeles, CA 90033
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"The power of divine play at Sophia’s Theme Park" by Lis Valle-Ruiz, The Presbyterian Outlook, 5 October 2021
In honor of Mother’s Day, OP Talks presents a mother-daughter conversation between sociologist and ethnographer Dr. María del Socorro Castañeda and Lupita Tonantzin Castañeda-Liles about keeping the lines of communication open so that we can heal intergenerational trauma. After Lupita faced some challenging times in middle school, they decided to start Becoming Mujeres, a training firm that provides workshops and seminars on mental health to Latina teens, young adults, and older women. Some of the silences that often come with intergenerational trauma are consistent, says Dr. Castañeda, who is Chief Education Officer. “That's why we need to be proactive in healing those silences…To talk about Catholicism is also to address the silences that come with growing up in that particular faith or devotion.”
Together, Dr. Castañeda and Lupita—now in her first year of high school—model how to communicate across generational lines. They talk about how to break communication barriers between caregivers and teenagers so that they can understand the social context that influences the way each approaches a situation. Dr. Castañeda encourages “parents to be open, to acknowledge, to embrace, and to see as a gift the importance of being fully open with our children.”
In this episode of OP Talks, President of the American Academy of Religion Dr. Mayra Rivera and American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow Dr. Mark D. Jordan discuss his recent book Transforming Fire: Imagining Christian Teaching (Eerdmans, 2021). Among the questions Dr. Jordan engages are: What was Jesus’s teaching pedagogy? Considering that he taught in a variety of ways—parable, discussion, miracle performance, ritual observance—how should modern-day Christian teaching happen, especially in a time of significant change to theological education as an institution?
Whether teaching Matthew or the Platonic dialogues or Santa Teresa, Dr. Jordan sees his own pedagogy as an attempt to “reactivate that transmission right so [that] it becomes a living thing rather than just inert information passed down, so that the student can actually begin to feel this continuity of instruction of shaping that's passing down."
Along with the book, this conversation is part of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that "gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone."
In this episode of OP Talks, Professor of Educational Leadership Dr. Mary Hess talks to Hispanic Bible theologian Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier about her book Atando Cabos: Latinx Contributions to Theological Education (Eerdmans, 2021). “We find ourselves in a time when the forms of ‘church’ are transitioning,” writes Rev. Dr. Conde-Frazier. “Theological education may become more of a journey that responds to the needs of that pilgriming community of discernment and activism than an institutional place with courses representing academic or church traditions to be transmitted. Let us follow the Spirit, who, like the wind, is universal, unpredictable, and outside our control.”
Along with the book, this conversation is part of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that "gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone."
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A Jewish Literary Map of Latin America by Ilan Stavans, Jewish Book Council
Jews in the Dominican Republic: A Selected Bibliography, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum photographic collection of the Jewish diaspora throughout Latin America
"Marjorie Agosin" by Ruth Behar
Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. 23 June 2021. Jewish Women's Archive.
JUDAISM IN THE AMERICAS
ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, 20.2 (Winter 2021)
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Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI) former director Dr. Justo L. González and Rev. Dr. Daniel O. Aleshire, longtime Association of Theological Schools (ATS) executive director, discuss what theological education should become. Dr. Aleshire’s book Beyond Profession: The Next Future of Theological Education (Eerdmans, 2021) offers a brief account of how theological education has changed in the past, and how it might change going forward. In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. Aleshire notes that, although the first response of theological schools to communities of color was inclusion, this has changed over the last few decades. "Schools are beginning to realize that these students are not just incorporated in an ongoing enterprise,” he says, “they are contributing to the change of that enterprise.”
Dr. Antonio “Tony” Alonso talks to Dr. Erica Ramirez about what informed his recently published book Commodified Communion: Eucharist, Consumer Culture, and the Practice of Everyday Life (Fordham University Press, 2021). “Reducing the work of theology to resistance and centering Christian hope in a Eucharist that might better support it,” Dr. Alonso argues, “undermines the ability to talk about the activity of God within a consumer culture…By reframing the question in terms of God’s activity in and in spite of it, the book offers a lived theological account of consumer culture that recognizes not only its deceptions but also traces of truth in its broken promises and fallen hopes.”
Sociologist Carlos Martínez García is an opinion columnist for the Mexican national daily La Jornada . He writes on various topics, beginning with his advocacy for religious and other minorities in southern Mexico. In this bilingual episode of OP Talks, Martínez García and religious historian Dr. Daniel Ramírez discuss the role of the public intellectual in religious and political life and how Evangelicals have shaped Mexican political discourse. Martínez García addresses:
The generally respectful relationship between indigenous evangélicos and leaders of the 1994 Zapatista uprising: Religious tolerance was included in their initial declaration, and evangélicos were later credited by Zapatista leaders for their safe escape from the encroaching federal army in the first month of the revolt. The unique pastoral and prophetic ministry of the controversial San Cristóbal Catholic bishop Samuel Ruiz García. Evangélico historical memory and amnesia: Although individual Protestants were present in colonial New Spain, Protestantism as an organized movement was not. The roots of Spanish-speaking Protestantism, however, stretch to the 16th century, with the translation work of migrating, exiled Spanish humanists like Juan Valdez, Francisco Enzinas, and Juan de Pineda. The project culminated in the historic Biblia del Oso, Casiodoro de Reina’s 1569 Bible translation (in Antwerp) and in Cipriano de Valera’s 1602 revision (in Amsterdam), known today as the Reina y Valera Bible. The iconic Bible’s long-delayed introduction and reception in the Spanish-speaking Americas in the 19th and 20th centuries seeded a new era of religious pluralism, leaving an important cultural and literary imprint, as seen in the works of such literary lights as Chiapas poet Jaimes Sabines; Mexican cultural critic Carlos Monsivais; Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges; Mexican poet and literary critic Octavio Paz; and Mexican essayist José Emilio Pacheco, among others. The first and last titles in the Monsisvais oeuvre—for example, Principados y potestades [Principalities and Powers] and Apocalipstick— reflect the Sunday School Bible recitation practices that formed the writer’s childhood. The January 2019 celebration of the Biblia del Oso anniversary, with a commemorative postal stamp issued by Mexico’s Correos Nacionales’ (national postal service), marks a historical and cultural watershed in Mexico and Latin America.
El sociólogo Carlos Martínez García es columnista de opinión del diario nacional mexicano La Jornada. Escribe sobre varios temas, empezando con su defensa de las minorías religiosas y otros grupos minoritarios en el sur de México. En este episodio bilingüe de OP Talks, Martínez García y el historiador religioso Dr. Daniel Ramírez discuten el papel del intelectual público en la vida religiosa y política y cómo los evangélicos han dado forma al discurso político mexicano. Martínez García nota:
La relación generalmente respetuosa entre los evangélicos indígenas y los líderes del levantamiento zapatista de 1994: La tolerancia religiosa se incluyó en su declaración inicial, y los líderes zapatistas les dieron crédito a los evangélicos por haber escapado a salvo del ejército federal invasor en el primer mes de la revuelta. El singular ministerio pastoral y profético del controvertido obispo católico de San Cristóbal Samuel Ruiz García. La memoria histórica y la amnesia evangélica: Aunque los protestantes individuales estaban presentes en la Nueva España colonial, el protestantismo como movimiento organizado no lo estaba. Sin embargo, las raíces del protestantismo de habla hispana se remontan al siglo XVI, con el trabajo de traducción de humanistas españoles emigrados y exiliados como Juan Valdez, Francisco Enzinas y Juan de Pineda. El proyecto culminó en la histórica Biblia del Oso, la traducción de la Biblia de Casiodoro de Reina de 1569 (en Amberes) y en la revisión de Cipriano de Valera de 1602 (en Amsterdam), conocida hoy como la Biblia Reina y Valera. Retrasada durante mucho tiempo, la introducción y recepción de la emblemática Biblia en las Américas de habla hispana durante los siglos XIX y XX sembró una nueva era de pluralismo religioso, dejando una importante huella cultural y literaria, como se ve en las obras de luces literarias como el poeta chiapaneco Jaimes. Sabinos; el crítico cultural mexicano Carlos Monsiváis; el poeta argentino Jorge Luis Borges; el poeta y crítico literario mexicano Octavio Paz; y el ensayista mexicano José Emilio Pacheco, entre otros. Los primeros y últimos títulos de la obra de Monsisvais —por ejemplo, Principados y potestades y Apocalipstick— reflejan las prácticas de recitación bíblica de la escuela dominical que formaron la infancia del escritor. La celebración del aniversario de la Biblia del Oso en enero de 2019, con un sello postal conmemorativo emitido por Correos Nacionales de México, marca un hito histórico y cultural en México y América Latina.
In most parts of the world and especially where Christianity is flourishing, Pentecostal and charismatic movements predominate. What would it look like for the Western world—beset by the narrative of decline—to participate in this global Spirit-driven movement? (Eerdmans)
Dr. Néstor Medina and Rev. Dr. Amos Yong discuss his most recent book, Renewing the Church by the Spirit: Theological Education after Pentecost (Eerdmans, 2020), the second volume of the groundbreaking Theological Education between the Times book series. "I come from a Pentecostal background, and much of my scholarly work has been devoted to exploring a variety of theological themes and topics from my Pentecostal perspective or Pentecostal church, [an] ecclesial set of perspectives,” says Rev. Dr. Yong. "In that respect, this book is part and parcel of that journey as a Pentecostal Christian, as one who's participated in Pentecostal charismatic communities, attempting to think theologically from out of those communities.”
This episode of OP Talks is part of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that "gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone."
To support the work of Sister Norma and the Humanitarian Respite Center, visit the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley donation page at: https://www.catholiccharitiesrgv.org/Donations.aspx
MORE LISTENING
“Restoring Human Dignity at the US Southern Border” by Sister Norma Pimentel, TEDWomen 2019, December 2019. https://www.ted.com/talks/norma_pimentel_restoring_human_dignity_at_the_us_southern_border#t-96
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Rev. Dr. Loida Martell talks to psychologist Rev. Dr. Yvonne Martínez Thorne about complicated grief in extraordinary times. “We have been going from grief to grief in grief,” says Rev. Dr. Martínez Thorne, Founder and CEO of Cultivating Wholeness Counseling Associates, PC, where caring for the whole person matters. “This pandemic of COVID-19, plus the pandemic of racism, has ushered us into this journey of living grief. It pulsates, it doesn’t stop. It is continual.” She encourages us “to acknowledge this reality, that we are in uncharted waters of grief.” For church leaders, Rev. Dr. Martínez Thorne recommends creating clergy support groups and reminding those you serve that “you, too, have feelings and are going through things,” but that, “together, you can build a community in which you all care for each other.” Other practical ways to recharge: disconnect from devices and be sure to dedicate time to rest.
Rev. Miluska (Milly) Aquije’s mother brought her to the United States from Peru at the age of three, but it wasn’t until Milly applied to college that she learned she was undocumented. Her immigration status was a secret that would come to weigh heavily on her. For DACA recipients like her, election cycles can be stressful, as immigration is a key divisive issue often deployed by politicians to score political points at the expense of human suffering.
In this episode of OP Talks, Rev. Aquije speaks to her mentors Rev. Maritza Crespo and Rev. Dr. Orlando Crespo about faith, justice, and immigration. Reflecting on her seven-year relationship with the Crespos, Rev. Aquije recounts how being able to lean on the couple gave her the courage to be her authentic self and reassured her that God loves her, regardless of her immigration status. Their conversation touches on humane immigration reform that treats people with dignity, that doesn’t break up families, and that doesn't paint immigrants as a danger or drain to society.
Dr. João Chaves talks to sociologist Dr. Jonathan Calvillo about his research and about life in Santa Ana, a hub of Latinx activity in one of the most conservative counties of California—a city once dubbed by the media as the hardest place to live in the U.S. Dr. Calvillo’s most recent book, The Saints of Santa Ana: Faith and Ethnicity in a Mexican Majority City (Oxford University Press, 2020), explores the role of faith in shaping the experiences and identities of Catholic and Evangelical Mexican immigrants within multigenerational Latinx neighborhoods. “To tell the story of Santa Ana,” Dr. Calvillo insists, “you must not discount the religious communities that are for and by Latinos.”
Rev. Dr. Tito Madrazo sees ethnography as a way of "bearing witness, of bearing testimony." In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. João Chaves talks to Rev. Dr. Madrazo about his new book Predicadores: Hispanic Preaching and Immigrant Identity (Baylor University Press, 2021) and about his work, which was deeply influenced by his own personal story. Born in Venezuela and now an ordained Baptist pastor, Rev. Dr. Madrazo embarked on four years of ethnographic research with first-generation Hispanic Protestant preachers and their congregations, journeying together as collaborators in his research project. In the sermons and stories of his collaborators, he discovered that pastors "proclaimed God as they had come to know God through their migration experiences,” each experience unique. Rev. Dr. Madrazo discusses his approach to research, and why he includes his collaborators in the process of telling their stories—a reminder of the homiletical importance of understanding and proclaiming the gospel from within particular cultures.
Stewardship of God's creation (“creation care”) is key to the ministries of both Rev. Dr. Loida Martell, a veterinarian by training, and of board-certified chaplain Alexandra Zareth. In this episode of OP Talks, the scholars discuss the year of the pandemic, and how it has exposed a new social reality that continues to reverberate not only socioeconomically and politically but also in our religious and educational institutions. The pandemic, Rev. Dr. Martell laments, has proven to be an unmitigated disaster and the most politicalized health crisis since HIV/AIDS. If the reasons for emergent viral diseases (and not simply SARS-CoV-2, a.k.a. COVID-19) are ecological, evolutionary, social, and economic in nature, and if North Atlantic nations have contributed to such diseases as they have contributed to global warming, why has this current pandemic been so racialized? To be more precise: Why has the general public—and sociopolitical leaders, in particular—seen it fit to fan the racist, anti-Asian rhetoric that has been fashionable and acceptable in the United States since the 1800s?
Nuestras selecciones de Radio Ambulante, el podcast pionero en español de NPR que cuenta crónicas latinoamericanas Our selections from Radio Ambulante, NPR's pioneering Spanish-language podcast that tells uniquely Latin American stories
Dr. Felipe Hinojosa grew up in Brownsville, on the Texas-Mexico border. Steeped in the work of Iglesia Menonita del Cordero, where his father was pastor, he saw early on “the need to dream collectively, as a community." In this episode, Jorge Juan Rodríguez V talks to Dr. Hinojosa about his newest book, 'Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio' (University of Texas Press, 2021). During the American urban crisis of the late 1960s, religious institutions were undergoing fundamental change against the backdrop of the Black and Brown Power movements, which challenged economic inequality and white supremacy. Apostles of Change maps the Latino freedom movements in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Houston. Dr. Hinojosa argues that understanding the history of these radical politics is essential to understanding the dynamic changes in Latino religious groups from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.
Dr. João Chaves and Rev. Dr. Tony Lin discuss his book Prosperity Gospel Latinos and Their American Dream (The University of North Carolina Press, 2020). In this ethnography, Rev. Dr. Lin explores the reasons why Latin American immigrants across the United States are increasingly drawn to Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism, a strand of Protestantism gaining popularity around the world. He contends that Latinos embrace Prosperity Gospel, which teaches that believers may achieve both divine salvation and worldly success, because it helps them account for the contradictions of their lives as immigrants: belonging in this country yet remaining perpetual outsiders.
Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo speaks with Dr. Néstor Medina about the questions that shaped her first book, Revelation in Aztlán: Scriptures, Utopias, and the Chicano Movement (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), and how she came to bridge the study of scriptures, the Book of Revelation, and the Chicano Movement. Dr. Hidalgo describes how the history of Chicana/o/x textual traditions tells us a lot about how scriptures can and have functioned for communities that have been displaced or dominated. According to Jason Steidle of Reading Religion, Dr. Hidalgo’s book “opens new [opportunities] to reflect on and respond to our crisis today.”
Dr. Erica Ramírez and Dr. Jonathan Calvillo revisit the Latinx voter outcomes they projected in a recent HTI podcast episode about the 2020 presidential election. With the national media attention focused on this diverse voting bloc—the so-called “sleeping giant"—the two sociologists examine some of the narratives spun by the news cycle. Looking at the complexity of what it means to be a U.S. Latino, including demographic breakdowns by state and religion, Dr. Ramírez and Dr. Calvillo delve into the factors that may help to explain why a third of Latina/os have consistently voted Republican since the Richard Nixon administration. “Everyone seems to agree that Latinos are not a monolith—that tends to be one of the big stories,” Dr. Calvillo notes. “Don’t get me wrong I’m glad that story is out. I’m glad that story is being promoted, but a part of me is concerned if that’s the biggest takeaway.” He hopes that we continue to ask deeper questions about the Latino vote.
RELATED The Evangelical Latinx Voter and the Complexity of Collective Identity
Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo, Dr. Elías Ortega-Aponte, and Dr. Santiago Slabodksy examine facets of academia through the autofictions of Jessica Krug
On June 3, 2020—after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd—the Black presidents and deans of schools and departments of theology and religion released a statement, ”Black Presidents and Deans Say: No More Stolen Black Lives!”, with a list of concrete demands.
That month, school leaders of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) responded with statements of solidarity:
June 9, 2020: The Latin@ Presidents and Deans of Seminaries of the ATS post a video expressing solidarity “and what Martin Luther King Jr. called infinite hope.” This was followed by the June 17th ATS webinar “Black Lives Matter: Where Do We Go From Here.”
June 18, 2020: Asian and Asian-descent presidents and deans of the ATS issue a statement of solidarity [PDF] with the Black and Latin@ presidents and deans.
June 22, 2020: White Deans & Presidents of ATS Member Schools and Affiliates respond with a Letter of Solidarity and Accountability [PDF].
June 29, 2020: During their Biennial Open Forum for CEOs and CAOs, Presidents of ATS schools begin to answer one of the demands of the June 3, 2020 statement in a Black Lives Matter discussion [video].
Two prominent Latino theological school leaders involved in the June 9 statement are Dr. Frank Yamada, who currently serves as the 6th executive director of the ATS, and Dr. Luis Rivera, who has contributed to the work of ATS Chief Academic Officers Society and the ATS Committee on Race and Ethnicity. In this podcast episode, Dr. Yamada and Dr. Rivera discuss the declarations, unprecedented in the world of theological education.
Sociologists Dr. Erica Ramírez and Dr. Jonathan Calvillo discuss the Latinx vote—the so-called "sleeping giant"—that seems to resurface every election cycle. Latinos are often touted as a coveted swing vote that can collectively pivot elections. What these pronouncements often fail to recognize is that Latinos are not an easy voting group to pin down, considering the diversity of the Latinx "community." A third of Latina/os have consistently voted Republican since the Richard Nixon administration. At the same time, in this election cycle, Latinx donors overwhelmingly spent their dollars on progressive Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Though Latinx voters are not a single-issue constituency, both sociologists agree that treatment of immigrants is a matter of justice. According to Dr. Ramírez, the plight of undocumented laborers is part of a trajectory in which all of us, "as a labor force, have lost a lot of protections in the United States.”
Dr. Jeremy Cruz and Dr. Victor Carmona, who both teach theology and religious studies, talk about what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border, and about the work churches and local communities have taken on to help migrants. In the fall of 2019, Dr. Cruz and Dr. Carmona both participated in La Jornada por la Justicia in El Paso, TX and in Ciudad Juarez, MX. The pilgrimage was organized by Catholic leaders and included participants from all over the country.
Our guests also remind us why we need to be counted and urge us to fill out our 2020 U.S. Census forms, which can be done online, by phone or via mail: https://2020census.gov/en.html .
La Dra. Doris García-Rivera y la Rvda. Lydia Hernández-Marcial concuerdan en que, en medio de una crisis, la naturaleza humana es preguntar, ¿Dónde está Dios? Plantean que las tribulaciones igual nos presentan una oportunidad para acercarnos más a Dios y profundizar no solo nuestra conexión espiritual sino también con la humanidad. A pesar de que Puerto Rico sigue recuperándose de las réplicas del huracán María—incluso aumentos en las tasas de suicidio y en familias fracturadas por la muerte de seres queridos o por la migración a los Estados Unidos—las académicas borinqueñas marcan la calma en la tormenta.
In this episode of HTI Open Plaza, Dr. Angela Tarango and Dr. Manuela Ceballos discuss what it's like to teach Islam in Tennessee. What challenges does a Colombian-born professor Dr. Ceballos face when teaching Islam to military veteran students at a state university in the South? How are certain religious sounds racialized and, as in the case of call to prayer, what negative consequences can this have on Muslims in the United States?
In this pedagogical methods conversation, Dr. Xochitl Alvizo and Dr. Matilde Moros discuss their teaching of gender, sexuality and women’s studies. They each share how they navigate their individual experience of LGBTQ Latinx family lives and their religious studies backgrounds when teaching undergraduate classes.
Chisme, bochinche, tea—whatever you call it, gossip has a cultural importance in our communities. Dr. Neomi DeAnda, Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo, and Dr. Matilde Moros dish on what Dr. DeAnda describes as communication behavior that functions to “reveal what is missing in social systems or when someone steps outside the boundaries of social systems".
Dr. Matilde Moros and Dr. Melissa Pagán discuss their experience as mothers in graduate school and, later, as professors.
Looking through a Latina Lens
It is important to read the Bible through a self-consciously Latina interpretive, or hermeneutical, lens. In this three-episode podcast, Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo and Dr. Kay Higuera Smith discuss the moment when they first realized how much context matters in thinking about the Bible. In the third episode of this podcast, they turn their hermeneutical lens on another genre: the song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by Frank Loesser. Turns out that meaning can be double-edged.
Looking through a Latina Lens
It is important to read the Bible through a self-consciously Latina interpretive, or hermeneutical, lens. In this three-episode podcast, Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo and Dr. Kay Higuera Smith discuss the moment when they first realized how much context matters in thinking about the Bible. In the third episode of this podcast, they turn their hermeneutical lens on another genre: the song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by Frank Loesser. Turns out that meaning can be double-edged.
Looking through a Latina Lens
It is important to read the Bible through a self-consciously Latina interpretive, or hermeneutical, lens. In this three-episode podcast, Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo and Dr. Kay Higuera Smith discuss the moment when they first realized how much context matters in thinking about the Bible. In the third episode of this podcast, they turn their hermeneutical lens on another genre: the song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by Frank Loesser. Turns out that meaning can be double-edged.
Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo and Dr. Kay Higuera Smith on what we mean by “hermeneutics,” including Latinx hermeneutics
Leadership development is a life-long process, and churches have proved to be the perfect training ground for young people to develop leadership skills. In this Open Plaza podcast, three scholars --Dr. Daniel Ramirez, Dr. Mati Moros, and Dr. Elizabeth Tamez -- share their testimonios and explore what growing up in the church has meant to them. They discuss their early opportunities to exercise leadership (hands-on experiences/agency) and how this has impacted their leadership work now as adults and even influenced their commitment to theology/church.
In this Open Plaza Podcast, Stephen Rocco DiTrolio talks to Dr. Lauren Frances Guerra about how millennial Latinxs attempt to decolonize their spiritual lives through Curanderismo, Santería, and Brujería. Young Latinxs have rediscovered and reconnected with ancestral wisdom through a broad range of spiritual practices. While many Latinxs feel a continued sense of ambivalence towards organized religion, the desire for spiritual connection and community remains. This movement highlights the complexity and syncretic nature of Latinx faith.