The Church in Latin America
Photograph: The Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, in Keene, California. Photo credit: Chris English, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons 3.0. Cesar Estrada Chavez was a Roman Catholic Mexican-American farm worker who became a labor union organizer. With Dolores Huertas and Filipino-American laborers in the Delano Grape Strike, he helped form the United Farm Workers and won major victories for the American labor movement, which had strong Catholic support. In the U.S. in the 1960's, the labor movement was one of three major social movements - along with the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-Vietnam War protests - which involved Christians expressing social justice concerns. For more resources on Christianity and Labor, see our list here.
Introduction
The selection of perspectives on church history in this section — Church and Empire — has been guided by three factors: (1) to demonstrate that Christianity has not been a “white man’s religion”; (2) the study of empire as a recurring motif in Scripture by recent biblical studies scholars; and (3) explorations of biblical Christian ethics on issues of power and polity, to understand how Christians were faithful to Christ or not. Christian relational ethics continues a Christian theological anthropology that began with reflection on the human nature of Jesus, and the human experience of biblical Israel.
This section explores the experience and activities of Christians under colonial and modern regimes in Latin America as overlapping politically with the U.S.
Other Resources on the Church in Latin America: U.S.
Justo Gonzalez, A History of Christian Thought, Vol.1: From the Beginnings to the Council of Chalcedon. Abingdon Press | Amazon page, 1987. Gonzalez provides an excellent introduction, though not accounting for more recent understandings of how "Hellenism" was engaged by Judaism prior to Christianity. See also A History of Christian Thought, Vol. 2: From Augustine to the Eve of the Reformation. Abingdon Press | Amazon page, 1987. and A History of Christian Thought, Vol. 3: From the Protestant Reformation to the Twentieth Century. Abingdon Press | Amazon page, 1987.
Justo Gonzalez, Manana: Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective. Abingdon Press | Amazon page, 1990.
Justo Gonzalez, Santa Biblia: The Bible Through Hispanic Eyes. Abingdon Press | Amazon page, 1996.
Miguel A. De La Torre and Edwin David Aponte, Introducing Latino/a Theologies. Orbis Books | Amazon page, 2001.
Rene Padilla, The Local Church, Agent of Transformation: An Ecclesiology for Integral Mission. Ediciones Kairos | Amazon page, 2004. helpful introduction to "integral mission" with dual priorities of evangelism and social change
Marco G. Prouty, Cesar Chavez, the Catholic Bishops, and the Farmworkers' Struggle for Social Justice. University of Arizona Press | Amazon page, 2005. a very helpful collection of essays exploring the roles of leaders and communities in issues of labor rights, women's rights, immigration, poverty, and organizing
Gaston Espinosa, Virgilio Elizondo, and Jesse Miranda, Latino Religions and Civic Activism in the United States. Oxford University Press | Amazon page, Sep 15, 2006.
Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. Harper One | Amazon page, 2006.. See also The Story of Christianity, Vol. 2: The Reformation to the Present Day. Harper One | Amazon page, 2010.
Davina C. Lopez, The Apostle to the Conquered: Reimagining Paul's Mission. Fortress Press | Amazon page, Oct 1, 2010.
Ruth Padilla DeBorst, Hispanic Theology. Wheaton College, Apr 7, 2011.
Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Listen to the Children: Conversations With Immigrant Families. Judson Press | Amazon page, 2011.
Jeffrey P. Greenman and Gene L. Green, Global Theology in Evangelical Perspective: Exploring the Contextual Nature of Theology and Mission. InterVarsity Press | Amazon page, 2012.
Oscar Garcia-Johnson, The Significance of the Cross in Latino/a Perspective. Fuller Seminary, Fall 2012. an intriguing short reflection on the way presentations of Christ . Spanish Catholic, then Protestant, etc.. were connected to power relations.
Loida I. Martell-Otero, Zaida Maldonado Perez, and Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Latina Evangelicas: A Theological Survey from the Margins. Cascade Books | Amazon page, 2013.
Robert Chao Romero, Jesus for Revolutionaries: An Introduction to Race, Social Justice, and Christianity. Lulu.com | Amazon page, 2013.
Justo L. Gonzalez, A History of Christian Thought: In One Volume. Abingdon Press | Amazon page, 2014. An abridged version of his three earlier volumes
David Cranston and Ruth Padilla deBorst, Mission as Transformation: Learning from Catalysts. Wipf and Stock | Amazon page, 2014.
Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Steve Kang, and Gary A. Parrett, A Many Colored Kingdom: Multicultural Dynamics for Spiritual Formation. Baker Publishing | Amazon page, 2014.
Miguel A. De La Torre, Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins. Orbis Press | Amazon page, 2014. provides very helpful case studies of global relationships, poverty, war, and environment
Felipe Hinojosa, Latino Mennonites: Civil Rights, Faith, and Evangelical Culture. Johns Hopkins University Press | Amazon page, Apr 15, 2014.
Leopoldo A. Sanchez M., Receiver, Bearer, and Giver of God's Spirit: Jesus' Life in the Spirit as a Lens for Theology and Life. Pickwick Publications | Amazon page, Mar 27, 2015.
Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story Luke Tells: Luke's Unique Witness to the Gospel. Eerdmans | Amazon page, 2015. concerning mission, community, gender, food and drink, and the Spirit
Miguel A. De La Torre, Introducing Liberative Theologies. Orbis Books | Amazon page, 2015. a collection of essays from authors of various geographical and ethnic backgrounds
Craig Ott, The Mission of the Church: Five Views in Conversation. Baker Academic | Amazon page, 2016.
Miguel A. De La Torre, The U.S. Immigration Crisis: Toward an Ethics of Place. Cascade Books | Amazon page, 2016.
Jason Steidl, Catolicos por la Raza and the Cardinal's Midnight Mass: Interrupting the Eucharist to Establish Just Worship. The Other Journal, May 2, 2016. Steidl writes about the 1969 Los Angeles Catholic Chicanos who called upon the Catholic Church to defend the poor.
Miguel A. De La Torre, Embracing Hopelessness. Fortress Press | Amazon page, 2017. A collection of essays by authors of different ethnic backgrounds, exploring conditions of heretofore unchecked injustice
Juan Francisco Martinez, The Story of Latino Protestants in the United States. Eerdmans | Amazon page, 2018.
Robert Chao Romero, Critical Race Theory in Christianity Part I: The Christian-Ethnic Studies Borderlands. blog, Sep 7, 2018. gives a very illuminating personal account of being a pastor, immigration lawyer, and professor teaching at UCLA in Ethnic Studies, as well as a good response to recent conservative evangelical denials that social justice is an organic and fundamental part of the Christian gospel message.
Obery M. Hendricks Jr., The Biblical Values of Ocasio-Cortez’s Democratic Socialism. Sojourners, Jan 30, 2019. Health care for all; a fair wage; a minimum income for everyone; fair treatment of workers.
Jeff Liou and Robert Chao Romero, Race, the Academy, and the Brown Church . Asian American Christian Collaborative, Apr 23, 2020.
Felipe Hinojosa, Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations, and the Fight to Save the Barrio. University of Texas Press, Jan 2021.
Robert Chao Romero, Critical Race Theory and Christianity. Faithful Leadership, Christian Council of Colleges and Universities, Mar 4, 2021.
The Church and Empire in the Americas: Topics:
Church and Empire: Topics:
This page is part of our section on Church and Empire. These resources begin with a biblical exposition of Empire in Church and Empire and the meaning of Pentecost in Pentecost as Paradigm for Christianity and Cultures, then grouped by region: Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, Americas, then Nation-State, with special attention given to The Shoah of Nazi Germany.
