Constructing a Diasporic Theology

We  might begin this essay by asking "How can theology (God-talk) take place in the context of an exiled community living in a different country and under difficult conditions?"  The answers to that are quite complex and difficult.  Our history is a complex one.  The factors leading to our presence here are numerous.  The Hispanic community in the U.S.A. is not monolithic by any stretch of the imagination. There is diversity among our Hispanic people, i.e. different customs and traditions, as well as different mindsets.  We are one, yet many.

I make an analogy between the historical situation of the Hebrew/Jewish people in both Egypt and Babylon, as depicted in the books of Exodus, Daniel, Nehemiah, and Ezra on the one hand, and on the other, the historical situation of Hispanics in the U.S.A.  The Hebrews had left Canaan for Egypt be cause of a famine in the land.  Jacob's descendants settled in Egypt after migrating from Canaan. Initially for them, Egypt was the "house of abundance" because of the resources and the amounts of food available there.  Eventually, because of the xenophobic mindset of the Egyptian king, the "house of abundance" became the "house of bondage."  Because of this xenophobic hysteria, the Hebrews were enslaved and subjected to agony, cruelty, and misery.  They were eventually, through the liberating and salvific acts of Yahweh God, mediated through the leadership of Moses, liberated from that bondage and returned to their land.

The Hebrews/Jews were exiled to Babylon.  They spent 70 years in that new country.  There they were exposed to a new language (Aramaic, a cognate language of their own Hebrew).  There is no doubt that the religious mindset of the Babylonians had an impact on Jewish theology, even extending to the writings of the Hebrew Scriptures.  Issues such as angeology and demonology crept into their sacred texts.

During their time in Babylon, the Jews also came under the rule of the Persian and Greek Empires.  Under the Greeks, they were exposed to philosophy, especially to the philosophy of Plato, which undoubtedly had the result of their engaging with the mindset of the "immortality of the soul."

The Hispanic colonial and diasporic experiences carry certain similarities with the diasporic experiences of the Jews.  For one, Hispanics, among all things, have come here as a result of U.S.A. imperialistic activities in their countries of origin.  This imperialistic activity has in turn, generated economic, political, and social conditions that have made it necessary for Hispanics to migrate to the "house of abundance (the U.S.A.). Eventually, as we shall see later, the "house of abundance" becomes the "house of bondage" for Hispanics in the U.S.A.

Now, there is a caveat in understanding Hispanic migration history.  Hispanic roots in what is now the U.S.A. are more ancient than the Anglo-American ones.  To the extent that the immigrant analogy is appropriate, it must be nuanced by such significant facts as the symbiotic relationship of Hispanic immigrants, at least the largest groups of them-the Mexicans and the Puerto Ricans-with their homeland (Allan Figueroa-Deck, S. J. "At the Crossroads: North American and Hispanic," in We Are A People, Roberto Goizueta, ed.  Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992, p. 3).

It is also relevant to note that the Spanish language, unlike the language of other immigrant or migrant groups is not "foreign."  Spanish is the second language of the U.S.A. and has been continuously spoken in the American Southwest from the sixteenth century onwards (Alfredo Mirande, The Chicano Experience: An Alternative Perspective. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985, pp. 185-200).

The marginality of Hispanics within North American society is a complex matter that needs to be understood at the outset.  Certainly, one of the factors is the strong anti-Hispanic bias of Anglo-American culture.  Linked to this, of course, were the bitter polemics of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation of the sixteenth century.  Spain herself had become marginalized from the modern world through the strident identification with Catholicism, especially the distinctive Spanish brand from the Reconquest.  Hispanic Catholicism, moreover, rooted itself to the indigenous cultures of the Americas in the sixteenth century before Anglo-American Protestants or Catholics set foot on North American soil.  Already, in the sixteenth century, Spain and Portugal were importing slaves from Africa. Another important branch of Hispanic-American culture was born in the Antilles and the Coast of Central and South America as the Spaniards and the Africans forged a new mulatto race.  Such an intense miscegenation never occurred in the Anglo-American colonies, where colonization involved the transfer preexisting European patterns upon a wilderness.  In Hispanic America, by contrast, a complex hybrid was being forged.  Hence, the starting points for these two cultures-the Hispanic-American, and the Anglo-American are drastically different (Deck, in Goizueta, p. 4).

A key issue in doing theology from the Hispanic-American standpoint is to know and understand that theology has to take into account the history of land-grabbing colonization and exile.  This theology or discourse about God has to emerge from and be constructed by those who have been victims of colonization and forced exile.  It cannot be a theology which is imposed by the conquering colonizer.

Liberation Theology, both Latin-American and Hispanic-American begins with the assumption that oppression and suffering (in this case, colonization and exile) are the starting points for biblical interpretation and theological reflection.  In subsequent essays, we will discover how this theology is done and carried out in the Hispanic-American community.

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

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona