Ecclesiology a lo mestizo/a y mulato/a:

What Happens to Church When We Move latinamente

Beyond Inherited Ecclesiologies?

From Pájaro to Paraclete: Retrieving the Spirit of God in the Company of Mary

Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández

Catholic Theological Union

Grace and Justification:

How Can We Shape Soteriology and Theological Anthropology a la latina

A curious coincidence of two events set in motion the thinking that now finds expression for your consideration in this essay, with its deliberately ambiguous title, "Good Fences and Good Neighbors? Biblical Scholars and Theologians." First came the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Board of Directors’ self-proclaimed "historic decision" "to hold stand-alone AAR Annual Meetings beginning in 2008." That is, as of 2008 the AAR will to discontinue the practice, begun in 1970, of holding its annual meeting jointly with the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). The AAR Board explained, "While the AAR has enjoyed a long and beneficial relationship with the SBL, which has included joint and/or concurrent annual meetings, the Board’s decision comes primarily out of the recognition that the identities and missions of the two associations are distinct and different and that the current structure of the annual meetings has become unwieldy. We have decided that independent annual meetings will best serve AAR’s mission." The Board expressed its view that this decision "seems to us the best way to serve the Academy and its members, to clarify the Academy’s identity vis-à-vis the other societies and in relation to the wider American [sic] academic environment, and to foster the ongoing diversity, intellectual richness, and vitality of the AAR."

On behalf of the Editorial Board, welcome to the electronic Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology. In 1993, the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States launched the Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology as a peer-reviewed quarterly that provided a venue for the growing body of theological analysis of the religious reality of the Latinos and Latinas in the United States, a population that is steadily increasing in number and in significance for the life of the church. Recognizing the opportunities for a wider readership across the United States, in Latin America, and around the world, the electronic format of the Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology takes advantage of advances in information technology to make this research available to an ever broader and more diverse readership of scholars, pastoral agents, students, and others. We are pleased to bring you "Migrations and Unexpected Interreligious Dialogue" by Dr. Orlando O. Espín of the University of San Diego, as well as "Good Fences and Good Neighbors? Biblical Scholars and Theologians," by this editor. These articles join contributions by Dr. Miguel H. Díaz of St. John’s University / St. Benedict’s College, Collegeville, MN, and by Dr. Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández of the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, IL. We are pleased to announce that very shortly, your subscription to the electronic Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology will also give you access to the full text of the articles that appeared in volumes 1 through 10 of the print version of the Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology. In addition, we will feature an expanded book review feature.

Most Christian theologies of religions have directed their attention (considerable in the last forty years) to either laying the necessary theological groundwork for dialogue with the world's great non-Christian religions (Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, with an occasional bow to numerically smaller religions), or to a Christian theological evaluation of the world's religions. However, these important contributions from Christian theologians of religions have seldom methodically analyzed the universe of the so-called "popular" religions-- the actual religions of the vast majority of humankind. Much less have theologians wondered about the mutual impact that these "popular" religions might have on each other at the "popular" level.

Powers, Tom. The Call of God: Women Doing Theology in Peru. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003. Pp. 184. Paper. $18.95. ISBN: 0791457907.

Reviewed by: Cecilia González-Andrieu
Graduate Theological Union

Tom Powers is a brave scholar. The Call of God crosses many boundaries and steps into at least three potentially explosive areas. First, he relates the “talk of God” and the very personal “call” voiced and lived by women. Yet, Powers is unable to share in many of the formative and normative experiences in these women’s lives—being mother, being wife, being daughter, and being excluded and oppressed in both church and society. Second, the women who are the theologizing subjects in the book speak and live out of a culture which is not his. These Peruvian women share a series of cultural markers and cues, traditions and values which Powers can also only record externally. In this too, he is in danger of placing himself as interpreter and thus reducing the women’s reflection to what his interpretation will yield.

The contemporary retrieval and revival of the Christian doctrine of God has been characterized by various theological attempts to underscore the relation between the life of God and the life of God for us, and between trinitarian theory and trinitarian praxis. Leading these attempts in Roman Catholic circles is the work of Karl Rahner. In his groundbreaking and thought provoking trinitarian reflections, Rahner laments the marginalization of the Christian doctrine of God. He underscores that contemporary Christianity finds itself in a state of trinitarian timidity leading to the tragic conclusion that “should the doctrine of the trinity have to be dropped as false, the major part of religious literature could well remain virtually unchanged.” Rahner proposes the axiom “the economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity” (and vice versa), as a way to overcome the marginalization of trinitarian theology and re-establish its utterly soteriological foundation.

In proposing this axiom, Rahner opens the door to reflections on God’s mystery “from below.” In particular, Rahner’s emphasis on the humanity of Christ as a symbol of God’s life, signals an important anthropological turn in contemporary reflections on the mystery of God. Following this anthropological turn, and drawing upon various human experiences, theologians have proposed various ways to re-conceive the Christian doctrine of God. Their reflections suggest that if we are to construct more historically meaningful and practical approaches to the mystery of God, consideration must be given to the manifold human experiences that mediate God’s self-disclosure.

Gebara, Ivone. Out of the Depths: Women’s Experience of Evil and Salvation. Translated by Ann Patrick Ware. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2002. Pp. viii + 211. Paper. $20.00. ISBN: 0800634756

Reviewed by: María Teresa Dávila
Boston College

Ivone Gebara constructs a theology of suffering and salvation from the perspective of poor women. Using a feminist phenomenology Gebara describes the experiences of evil that women suffer, the evil that women do, and poor women’s experiences of salvation in their everyday lives. She uses the category of gender to explain how the cultural, religious, and social understandings of male and female are part of women’s understanding of suffering, evil, and salvation. Her central goal is to construct a theology of suffering and salvation that sustains a unified vision of human life where evil and salvation are present in interrelated ways. Sustaining this goal leads her to make statements about suffering and salvation that confront traditional notions of the suffering of Jesus Christ and the salvation present in the cross and resurrection.

Romero, Oscar A. The Violence of Love: Oscar Romero. Compiled and translated by James R. Brockman, S.J. With a foreword by Henri Nouwen. Maryknoll: Orbis, 2004. Pp. xvi + 214. Paper. $15.00. ISBN: 1570755353.

Reviewed by: Robert S. Pelton, C.S.C.
University of Notre Dame

This collection of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s homilies and other works is meant to facilitate knowing this man of faith and experiencing the power of his words. Published a few years before the twenty-fifth anniversary of his martyrdom, the book is a valuable and comprehensive contribution to a fuller appreciation of Archbishop Romero’s deep spirituality, revealing in Romero’s own words his commitment to Christ in the living body of his people.