Theology in a Latin Rhytm

When one attends worship in a church or other type of faith community, one of the the things that he/she may experience is that the worship service is accompanied by music, including singing and the playing of various musical instruments.  In one church, you will hear the hymns accompanied by a piano or pipe organ.  In other churches, the songs will be accompanied by instruments such as guitar, tambourines, and wind instruments such as saxophones and trumpets.  In some worship services that I have attended in Taiwan, the prelude is usually the sound of the gong.  I have even witnessed one service where the ram´s horn was used.

In the culture, one will also find a variety of musical expressions.  There is slow romantic music, sleepy elevator music, fast and upbeat music, etc.  It is said that ¨everyone marches to the beat of a different drummer.¨  The music that people enjoy, dance, or play to varies from person to person and from culture to culture.

Today I would like to talk about how the theological task is carried out with different intonations.  I speak about doing theology in a Latin rhythm  We have slow music such as the bolero and the valz (Waltz).  And then there is faster music such as cumbia, merengue, and salsa.  The music is reflective of the three different components of Latin American culture, i.e. indigenous, African, and Euro-American.

Theology in the Hispanic and Latin American culture reflects the aspirations, the cultural perspectives, and the values of Hispanic people.  Theology in the Hispanic community, both in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in the Hispanic Diaspora in the U.S.A. is a theology which is much different from ¨classical¨ and traditional theology.

The theological outlook is generated, in part, by the colonial cultural imposition of Euro-America, especially through both the Catholic and Protestant missionary enterprises. This theological imposition included the liturgy and the moral standards of Euro-America under the mantra of ¨biblical theology.¨ Hispanic and Latin American theology is also generated by those sectors in the Hispanic and Latin American community that experience suffering as a daily routine and normal part of life.  The suffering in turn generates the hope, quest, and struggle for a better existence.

Hispanic and Latin American theology may be viewed as either ¨inferior to,¨ or ¨an appendix¨ to the theology of the dominant culture.  The reason why it is viewed as such is because it is the theology generated by those who live ¨on the margins¨ of national and international economic development.  Those in power will view the perspectives of those on the margins as of lesser importance and quality. 

The theology that emerges from our Hispanic and Latin American communities is the driving force that motivates them to continue the struggle against injustice of all kinds.  Hispanic and Latin American theology will continue to provide the rhythm that we dance to as we seek to construct God´s Beloved Community.  Let´s keep the music going.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Dr. Juan A. Carmona

Visiting Professor of Theology, Tainan Theological College/Seminary