The Spring issue of our Journal of Latin American Theology is hot off the press! Since 2006 we have published two issues per year, but this issue is one of the very best. It has some excellent articles, book and film reviews and theopoetry.
One of my heroes in Latin American history has been Bartolome de las Casas. He denounced the immoral conquest of the Americas that used Christianity as a pretext. As a bishop, he became the Defender of the Indigenous. He urged Christians to preach the gospel with their lives and not with hypocritical words. Yet even heroes have their flaws. In his article on De las Casas, Luis Tapia Rubio alerts us to some of those flaws and sketches out a better way for Christianity to interact with society.
Most of us who live in the United States are frustrated by the low level of political discourse in our country. We can learn a lot from how Christians in Latin America interface with their political realities. Peruvian theologian Dario Lopez points out the failures and successes of “evangélicos” and their politics in his article “Anointed to Rule: Fundamentalist Evangelicals in the Public Square”. Milton Mejia analyzes the role of Christians in the reconciliation process in Colombia.
Regarding the complex phenomenon of global immigration, the Brazilian Mariani Xavier shares her insights from the Biblical texts. Fabio Salguero Fagoaga addresses the same issue in light of aporophobia, a disdain for the poor. He urges readers to do something quite radical: actually following the teaching and example of Jesus.
Theologian Valdir Steuernagel urges followers of Jesus to share the whole gospel to all peoples. He suggests many Latin American examples. The two examples of theopoetry explore the suggestive themes of a God who does not “sunset” and submerging ourselves in God’s mystery.
Of course, the journal is available on Amazon and the articles can be downloaded from the ATLA data base.