This was originally written for my Missional Formation class at Asbury Theological Seminary.
In The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford University Press, New York: 2007), Philip Jenkins persuasively and dramatically argues that in the next 50-100 years the center of global Christianity will shift from the traditional strongholds of Europe and North America to the booming regions of Africa, South America, and Asia. Using history, theology, anthropology, and sociology, especially population predictions, Jenkins shatters the typical secular Euro-American predictions of Christianity’s inevitable decline. Instead, all indications point to a growing and thriving Christianity for generations to come, albeit one that is increasing global, poor, brown or black, and Pentecostal (a problematic term that includes many denominations and “Spirit focused” movements).
This was originally written for my New Testament class at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Santa Biblia: The Bible Through Hispanic Eyes by Justo L.
Gonzalez (Abingdon Press, Nashville: 1996) is a short and concise theology book expressing various interpretations of the Bible from a Hispanic perspective. Gonzalez plays the role of editor, compiler, and commentator on the views of pastors and professors, teasing out what it looks like to interpret “the Bible through Hispanic eyes (21).” He explains that this book is needed because “perspective is important for two complementary reasons: first, because it cannot be avoided; second, because it should not be avoided (15).” Perspective cannot be avoided because, despite the claims and efforts of modernism, we are still imperfect, biased, and sinful creatures who inevitably bring our experiences into the reading of Scripture. Furthermore, perspective should not be avoided because our differences are not merely hindrances to objectivity but actually gifts to one another. Like different views of the same landscape, the Holy Spirit gifts different cultures and people with different perspectives in order to build one another up within the one, catholic church. In light of this gift to the church, over the course of the book, Gonzalez defines five key elements of the Hispanic experience that informs their perspective and interpretation of Scripture: Marginality, Poverty, Mastizaje and Mulatez, Exiles and Aliens, and Solidarity.
