- Nationalism And State Building, Mexico History, US-Latin American Relations, Cristero War, Church History, World Christianities, and 24 moreMedieval Spain, Latin American and Caribbean History, World Religions, History of Religion In the United States, Religion in Latin America, Colonial Latin American History, Colonial Religion in Latin America, Puerto Rican History, Historia De Puerto Rico, Historia de México, Liberation Theology, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Bartolome de las Casas, Virgin Mary, Historical Theology of the Catholic and Protestant Reformations, Protestantism in Latin America, Historical Jesus, GLBT Studies (Religion), Central America and Mexico, Latino/A Studies, US Hispanic/Latino Theology, Latino Queer Theory, Latin American Art, and Ecumenical Theologyedit
- My research and publications focus on Latin American Christianity, primarily within the cultural and ideological exch... moreMy research and publications focus on Latin American Christianity, primarily within the cultural and ideological exchanges that have taken place among the various indigenous, African,and European peoples who have inhabited the continent throughout its history. Of particular interest is how this religio-cultural give and take has been reflected in the theology, liturgy, art, and literary expressions of the Latin American and Latino/a people.
Upcoming publications include reference works on Latin American Christianity (see below) and I am currently beginning research on Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.edit
The unique political, ecclesial, social, and historical realities of Latin American nations create a variety of Christian expression in each. Now for the first time a resource exists to help students and scholars understand the histories... more
The unique political, ecclesial, social, and historical realities of Latin American nations create a variety of Christian expression in each. Now for the first time a resource exists to help students and scholars understand the histories of Latin American Christianity. An ideal resource, this handbook is designed as an accompaniment to reading and research in the field. After a generous overview to the history and theology of the region, the text moves nation-by-nation, providing timelines, outlines, and substantial introductions to the politics, people, movements, and relevant facts of Latin American Christianity.
This book is written to introduce students, teachers, and scholars to the amazing varieties, events, and people that make up Christianity in Latin America and in this small way, give voice to a resilient faith marked by conquest, slavery, oppression, beauty, and hope.
- Forthcoming Fall 2014, Augsburg Fortress Press
This book is written to introduce students, teachers, and scholars to the amazing varieties, events, and people that make up Christianity in Latin America and in this small way, give voice to a resilient faith marked by conquest, slavery, oppression, beauty, and hope.
- Forthcoming Fall 2014, Augsburg Fortress Press
Research Interests:
The story of Latin American Christianity is too often appended to the end of larger narratives and is rarely given the full consideration it deserves. And yet the rich stories of Christianity in Latin America deserve our full attention.... more
The story of Latin American Christianity is too often appended to the end of larger narratives and is rarely given the full consideration it deserves. And yet the rich stories of Christianity in Latin America deserve our full attention. With this brief, engaging, and helpful overview, Joel Cruz offers a resource that tells that story in a new way; enabling students of all kinds to better understand the histories of Latin American Christianity.
Cruz’s text is divided into two parts. The first explores the history of the region in all of its diversity and variation. The second explores the theology of Latin America by way of three essential issues faced by the encounter of European Christianity with native and African peoples : Anthropology, Ecclesiology, and Soteriology. The result is an informative and eye-opening introduction to a kaleidoscope of efforts to articulate the meanings and implications of Christianity in the context of Latin America.
This shorter version of the larger Fortress Handbook is to expand on the brief sections given Latin America in most histories of Christianity and to condense the incredible amount of information and research available on the subject that might be inaccessible to most people interested in the region.
-- Forthcoming, Fall 2014, Augsburg Fortress Press
Cruz’s text is divided into two parts. The first explores the history of the region in all of its diversity and variation. The second explores the theology of Latin America by way of three essential issues faced by the encounter of European Christianity with native and African peoples : Anthropology, Ecclesiology, and Soteriology. The result is an informative and eye-opening introduction to a kaleidoscope of efforts to articulate the meanings and implications of Christianity in the context of Latin America.
This shorter version of the larger Fortress Handbook is to expand on the brief sections given Latin America in most histories of Christianity and to condense the incredible amount of information and research available on the subject that might be inaccessible to most people interested in the region.
-- Forthcoming, Fall 2014, Augsburg Fortress Press
Research Interests:
Common wisdom holds that Latin America is a uniformly Roman Catholic continent and Protestant churches only entered as a result of British or U.S. expansionism following the Spanish-American independence movements. Closer inspection,... more
Common wisdom holds that Latin America is a uniformly Roman Catholic continent and Protestant churches only entered as a result of British or U.S. expansionism following the Spanish-American independence movements. Closer inspection, however, reveals a far different and more exciting reality. As The Mexican Reformation reveals, the Catholic Church in the colonial era was far from monolithic, exhibiting a diversity of expressions and perspectives that interacted with and were sometimes at odds with one another. In the mid-nineteenth century, one such group sought to reform the Catholic Church in line with some of the policies set forth by the government of Benito Juárez. This movement, eventually known as the Iglesia de Jesús, would lay the foundation for the emergence of Protestant churches in Mexico. Its roots in the worldview of the baroque and in the challenges of the Catholic Enlightenment provide an insight into the evolution of a distinctly Mexican Protestantism within its social and political contexts as well as a window into the processes underlying the development of religious expressions in Latin America.
Research Interests:
A Paper Presented for the Independent Scholar Book Lecture Hispanic Theological Initiative, Princeton Theological Seminary July 1, 2015 The history of Christianity in Latin America has been written through a number of interpretive... more
A Paper Presented for the Independent Scholar Book Lecture
Hispanic Theological Initiative, Princeton Theological Seminary
July 1, 2015
The history of Christianity in Latin America has been written through a number of interpretive lenses-- theological, sociological, colonialist, missiological. These approaches often fail to take into account the multicultural, multiracial, and religiously pluralistic nature of Christianity in the region. They have often resulted in the positing of binaries-- popular/elite, Catholic/Protestant, church/sect, etc that do not adequately reflect the realities of lived faith and identity. The author posits an interpretive lens drawn from the casta paintings of the late colonial period and post-colonial thought that emphasizes the ways in which religious identity and practice are formed and the ever changing states of flux between the borders of identity and becoming.
Hispanic Theological Initiative, Princeton Theological Seminary
July 1, 2015
The history of Christianity in Latin America has been written through a number of interpretive lenses-- theological, sociological, colonialist, missiological. These approaches often fail to take into account the multicultural, multiracial, and religiously pluralistic nature of Christianity in the region. They have often resulted in the positing of binaries-- popular/elite, Catholic/Protestant, church/sect, etc that do not adequately reflect the realities of lived faith and identity. The author posits an interpretive lens drawn from the casta paintings of the late colonial period and post-colonial thought that emphasizes the ways in which religious identity and practice are formed and the ever changing states of flux between the borders of identity and becoming.
Research Interests: Latin American Studies, Latin American and Caribbean History, Historiography, Missionary History, Post-Colonialism, and 9 moreChurch History, World Christianities, US Hispanic/Latino Theology, Colonial Latin American History, Colonial Latin American Art- Mexico and Peru, Latin American Religion, Historiografía, Arte Colonial Americano, and Christianity In Latin America
Excerpt of Chapter one summarizing the history of Christianity in Latin America
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Latin American Studies, Historical Theology, History of Christianity, Church History, World Christianities, and 11 moreColonial Religion in Latin America, Afro-Latin American History, Afro Latin American Religion, US Hispanic/Latino Theology, World Christianity, Religion in Latin America, Hispanic/Latino(a) religiosity, Latin American Religion, religion in Latin America and Caribbean, History of Christian Thought, and Latino/a Religion
Research Interests: Latino/A Studies, Latin American Studies, Theology, Historical Theology, History of Christianity, and 12 moreCentral America and Mexico, Mexico History, Church History, World Christianities, Colonial Religion in Latin America, Afro Latin American Religion, Religion in Latin America, South America, Hispanic/Latino(a) religiosity, Latino/a Religion, Cross-Cultural Studies and World Christianities, and Latin American Historiography
A short history of mainline Protestant traditions in Latin America from the colonial era to the present with a focus on the development of Protestantism as a vital, native force rooted in the region's concerns and cultures
Research Interests:
In the continuing conversation about the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and the rupture of Western Christianity, Bartolome de Las Casas (1484-1566) is frequently excluded from the lists of churchmen and women who... more
In the continuing conversation about the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and the rupture of Western Christianity, Bartolome de Las Casas (1484-1566) is frequently excluded from the lists of churchmen and women who contributed to this era. Las Casas, by virtue of his defense of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the critique of the Church's role in the Spanish colonial enterprise, and the alternative he proposes to conversion by the sword deserves a place among the eminent people of this era.