Volume 10, Number 2 (2002)

Critical Reflections on the Craft of Theologizing

In this issue of the Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology, we begin to share with our readers the rich reflections generated by the 2002 colloquium, on the theme: ”U.S. Latino/a Theologies and the Questions Raised for it by Postmodernity, Postcolonialism and Globalization.” A theme-within-the theme of the two essays presented in this issue might be described as critical reflections on the craft of Latino/a theologies and theologizing. These reflections were informed by an acutely postmodern sense of positionality and contextuality, and an equally deliberate awareness of the implications of globalization. We begin with Peter Phan's "US. Latino/a Theology and Asian Theology: Partners in the Postmodern Age?" Phan highlights convergences between these two explicitly and deliberately contextual theologies as he opens the door to possibilities for fruitful work between Asian and U.S. Latino/a theologians. Besides continuing to ”learn from each other’s methods and hermeneutics,” already a valuable (and unusual) move, he proposes that Asian and Latino/a theologians should also move toward constructing together, using each other’s sources and resources, an intercultural theology on substantive issues.” In his contribution to this issue, Manuel J. Mejido presents a ”Propaedeutic to the Critique of the Study of U.S. Hispanic Religion: A Polemic against Intellectual Assimilation.” He turns his critical gaze in ”reflection on the conditions of for the possibility emergence and transformation of the study of U.S. Hispanic religion.” Focusing on what he identifies as the “liberalization of the liberationist paradigm,” Mejido issues a strongly argued anti-assimilationist call for the construction of a new ground for the study of U.S. Latino/a religion that takes the phenomenology of struggle as its point of departure. Mejido’s critique calls for a fresh and authentic approach to academic discourse about Hispanic religion in the United States.