Atando Cabos: Latinx Contributions to Theological Education (Theological Education between the Times)
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Decolonizing theological education and restoring agency to the people
Latinx Protestantism is a rapidly growing element of American Christianity—in both Pentecostal and non-charismatic forms. How should institutions of theological education in the United States welcome and incorporate the gifts of these populations into their work? This is an especially difficult question considering the painful history of colonization in Latin America and the Caribbean, an agenda in which theological education was long complicit.
In this book, Elizabeth Conde-Frazier takes stock of the cabos sueltos—loose ends—left over from the history of Latinx Christianity, including the ways the rise of Pentecostalism disrupted existing power structures and opened up new ways for Latinx people to assert agency. Then, atando cabos—tying these loose ends together—she reflects on how a new paradigm, centered on the work of the Holy Spirit, can serve to decolonize theological education going forward, bringing about an in-breaking of the kingdom of God. Conde-Frazier illustrates how this in-breaking would bring changes in epistemology, curriculum, pedagogy, and models for financial sustainability. Atando Cabos explores each of these topics and proposes a collaborative ecology that stresses the connections between theological education and wider communities of faith and practice. Far from taking a position of insularity, Atando Cabos works from the particularities of the Latinx Protestant context outward to other communities that are wrestling with similar issues so that, by the end, it is a call for transformation—a new reformation—for the entire Christian church.
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- Explores the history of Latin America and the Caribbean
- Provides a call for transformation—a new reformation—for the entire Christian church
- Proposes a collaborative ecology that stresses the connections between theological education and wider communities of faith and practice
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. ¿De Dónde Vienes y a Dónde Vas? Roots of Latin@ Theological
Education
2. El Sacerdocio Universal: Preparing the Priesthood of All
Believers for a Holistic Mission
3. Notas Pedagógicas: Many Ways to Contextualize Curriculum
4. Las Estructuras Crean Hábitos: A Collaborative Educational
Ecology
5. Cosas Nuevas: Considerations for Conversations and
Innovations
Conclusion
For Further Thought
With her usual ability to ground education on reality and her enduring commitment to the theological formation of the people of God, Dr. Conde-Frazier weaves critique with guidance and challenge with hope in a fashion that well merits the attention of anyone seeking paths into the future of theological education.
—Justo L. González, author of The Story of Christianity
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier is one of the most acclaimed voices within Hispanic theological education. In Atando Cabos, she invites us, de forma genial, to step into a time capsule and revisit history for the purpose of shaping what is to come. Every chapter is filled with personal lived experiences that transport the reader into rich and diverse contexts. I laughed and cried and was deeply moved as I relived my own ecclesial upbringing as a Latina. I was immersed into la misión integral and called into the here and now of the basileia. Every critical question was kind but firm—reminders to do the work of contextualizing curriculums AND reshaping the structures. A clear invitation to innovate and to step into the ‘new thing’ God is doing, yes for the Latinx community but also beyond.
—Joanne Solis-Walker, pastor, consultant, and partner and strategist of CaminoRoad