Archive for April 21st, 2008

Thanks for the bios … it has really helped me get to know you a little better. 

As I mentioned before, I’m a little “out of the loop” and am curious about the state of affairs in the existing structures for Baptist work among Hispanics.  I know that it is impossible to paint all Hispanics (American and Non-American) into a single category. It is impossible, in fact, to relegate all Texas Baptist Hispanics (a much smaller grouping) into one cultural body.  In the Texas Baptist Hispanic church I grew up in there were 19 different countries represented from all across the Latin world. Latinos in America are such a widely diverse group that to attempt a synthesis of their cultural patterns would be impossible.

Acknowledging that … what are the things that bring us together? Who are we talking about when we talk about Hispanics in Baptist life?  For me it would include anyone who would claim their Hispanic identity as part of their hermeneutical baggage (the way they interpret Scripture and the world), and who live their Christian lives within the context of a commitment to the Latino struggle to become a follower of Christ (salvation/liberation/discipleship). 

Justo Gonzalez, in his book Santa Biblia: The Bible Through Hispanic Eyes, identifies five lenses through which Hispanics view the Bible (and the world, for that matter): Marginalization, Mestizo, Exile, Poverty, and Solidarity.  Pablo Jimenez (Teologia en Conjunto: A Collaborative Hispanic Protestant Theology ) and Gustavo Gutierrez (We Drink from our own Wells) would add the supremacy of community to the Latino perspective (something Gonzalez addresses in his idea of solidarity). They both (Jimenez and Gutierrez) lament the privatization of the salvation experience in American Christianity and how it has warped the experience for American Latinos.

So … How are we addressing the issues particular to the Hispanic condition within the existing structures in Baptist life?  Are the existing structures able to carry the weight of the work that is ahead?  There’s no need to reinvent the wheel … unless the wheel isn’t turning. Baptist life is rapidly changing.  How are Hispanic Baptists changing with it? 

These are a few questions from someone “out of the loop” who is genuinely unaware of the answers …

I leave them unanswered …

I’m calling on you … my friends … to enlighten me …

Blessings,

Ellis