Issues in Hispanic-American Theology: The Role of Scripture Among Hispanic Americans

One of the various issues to be dealt with in Hispanic-American theology is that of the role of the Bible. We begin by acknowledging that in both the Catholic and the Protestant traditions, as well as in other independent Christian communities of the Hispanic-American Diaspora, that the Bible plays a very important role.  Up until the time of Vatican II, Hispanics in the U.S.A. had to content with the issue of language.  To begin with, up until that time, the Mass in the Catholic churches was conducted in Latin. Secondly, the language spoken by the majority of Hispanics in the U.S.A. especially by those of of the first and second generations was Spanish.  And thirdly, many of the Hispanic Catholic parishes were shepherded by non-Spanish-speaking priests, so that the congregants celebrated in English, a language which they had a difficult time understanding and becoming accustomed to.

In the Protestant churches (especially the Pentecostal churches), the worship services were conducted in the Spanish language.  Second-generation Hispanic youth (including yours truly) learned how to read Spanish by reading the Bible.  Our world revolved around the Bible and around how the particular church understood its message.  In the Baptist and Pentecostal churches, Bible institutes were established to prepare pastors and other church leaders.  Many of the second and third-generation Hispanics (including yours truly) attended and graduated from these schools and were subsequently appointed, commissioned, and ordained to leadership positions in the Church.

Like it happens in the churches of other cultures, ethnic groups, nationalities, and races, Hispanic churches have sometimes fallen into the trap of bibliolatry, i.e. worship of the Bible.  There is a tendency to read the Bible superficially, and literally, without paying much attention to the linguistic and cultural origins of the Scriptures, the context (both external and internal), the history of how we got the Bible, the issues of date, authorship, audience, reason for writing, styles of writing, types of literature in the Bible, matters of different translations, etc.  The mindset has been "The Bible says so, end of story."  The basic belief is that the Bible is "the Word of God," and therefore, we should not bother with all this other "razzle dazzle."  One radio preacher once said "I believe in the Bible from cover to cover and I even believe the cover."  Added to that is the idea that in order to do theology, it is not necessary to read or study any book other than the Bible.  Any reading of additional literature (with the exception of devotional books and commentaries), will result, according to this thinking, in having the message of Scripture clouded, distorted, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and that eventually the authority of Scripture will not only be called into question, but also undermined.

Regarding the last sentence, I will never forget, and often tend to quote an experience which I had back in the 1970's in a Hispanic Pentecostal church in Staten Island, New York.  One Sunday morning, I was asked to conduct the adult class in the Sunday School because the teacher for that class was absent. In those days, a Sunday School lesson book (a devotional commentary) was used alongside the Bible.  There was a heated discussion about a particular issue.  One of the members of the church insisted that his point of view on the subject was the correct one, because his position was supported by the lesson book.  When I showed him that the lesson book contradicted the Scriptures, his response was that "whoever inserted that in the Bible was wrong."  Needless to say, I as the teacher for the day, was both flabbergasted and shocked!  I could not believe for one single second that this individual was giving more authority and more weight to the lesson book than he was to the Bible.

Fernando Segovia reminds us that neither the task of theologizing, nor the task of interpretation, both highly interrelated and interdependent activities take place in a social vacuum. Such a theoretical position is by no means new, but it came into much greater prominence, and with much greater vehemence, in the last quarter of the twentieth century than ever before (Fernando F. Segovia, "Hispanic-American Theology and the Bible: Effective Weapon and Faithful Ally," in We Are A People: Initiatives in Hispanic-American Theology:  Roberto Goizueta, ed.  Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992, p. 21).

Since the beginning of the 1970's, theological studies have seen the explosion of a number of movements that have called into question the established theological methods, with their often implicit claims to universality and objectivity.  Similarly, the end of the 1970's, witnessed the displacement of the long-reigning and universally accepted paradigms of historical criticism within biblical studies, with its implicit search for a sole, definitive, and objective meaning of the biblical text-a meaning that was usually located in either the world represented by the text or in the intention of the author of the text.  Both of these shifts were fundamental in character, involving profound and far-reaching theoretical and methodological changes (Segovia, p. 23).

In the field of theological studies, this shift was in part represented by a deliberate and explicit attention to the role of context in the theological task, with a wide variety of contextual theologies emerging as a result, for example, liberation theologies of the Third World, feminist theology, and so-called minority theologies of the First World (Susan Brooks and Mary Potter Engel, "Introduction: Making the Connection Among Liberation Theologies Around the World," in Lift Every Voice: Constructing Theologies from the Underside.  Thislethwaite and Engel, eds.  San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990, pp. 1-15).

In the field of biblical studies, this shift was characterized by a full return to social criticism, involving a wide range of the theoretical spectrum, e.g. sectarianism, millenarianism, social dynamics and roles, sociology of knowledge. Mediterranean studies, and literary criticism, again covering a wide range of theoretical spectrum, e.g., narratology, rhetorical theory, communication theory, feminist criticism, reader response (Mark Allan Powell, What is Narrative Criticism?: Guides to Biblical Scholarship.  Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990, pp. 1-21).  This approach seeks to interpret and understand the Bible in its cultural and social context.

For the purposes of this segment of the essay, Hispanic-Americans are considered as a distinct and identifiable configuration of social location, specifically circumscribed in terms of both ethnic background and sociopolitical status, and on the readings of the Bible that emerge out this group.  This approach includes the following observations:

1.  The issue of nomenclature is complex and should be approached with care, subject to ongoing revision.  The term "Hispanic-Americans" is used to designate those individuals of Hispanic descent, associated in one way or another with the Americas, i.e South, Central, North and the Caribbean who now live permanently, for whatever reason in the U.S.A. (Segovia, p. 25).

2.  Members of the group hail from any different quarters, and many different cultures, usually identifying themselves in terms of their country of origin, whether immediate (as in the case of immigrants) or remote (as in the case of later generations or those born in territories annnexed by the U.S.A. (Segovia, p. 26).

3.  The group as a whole has experienced phenomenal growth in the last several decades-a 53% increase from 1980-1990 alone-largely as a result of continuing immigration and a higher than average birthrate.  Their presence is clearly significant, and now, since the end of the 20th century, Hispanic-Americans have become the largest minority in the country (Segovia, p. 28).

4.  At the same time, from both a socioeconomic and educational point of view, the group as whole shows a considerable lag with the rest of the population.  This is true of such economic indexes such as median income, unemployment, business ownership, and home ownership.  In fact, approximately 23% of Hispanic-Americans were found to be living in poverty in 1990, as defined by government figures.  It is also true of educational attainment at all levels from primary school to university, the dropout rate among Hispanic-Americans is close to a truly alarming 35%.  In addition, from a socio-political point of view, political representation has remained meager and ineffective, a definite drawback with the American political system.. Despite its significant presence and growth in American society, therefore, the group's overall situation has remained neutral (Segovia, p. 29).

5.  Despite their divergent backgrounds and natural tendency to identify themselves in terms of their country of origin,  Hispanic-Americans have more recently begun to see themselves as a distinctive group with common needs and goals, with a specific and urgent agenda within the American political and cultural scene.  To be sure, their social situation of marginalization as well as the general tenor of outside reaction toward the group may also be seen at work in the American theological scene.  In effect, the theological voice of Hispanic-Americans has begun to make itself heard as a new and ironic kind of "Manifest Destiny,"from different quarters, but with fundamental themes in common (Fernando F. Segovia, "A New Manifest Destiny: The Emerging Theological Voice of Hispanic-Americans," Religious Studies Review 17, 1991, pps. 101-109).

En fin, we examine the use of the Bible in the Hispanic-American community in different forms.  At one point, we witness the aformentioned literal and superficial use of the Bible, without much regard to biblical history or biblical context.  Normally, this particular usage of Scripture is geared towards an eschatological moment in history, i.e. "when Jesus comes."   This use of the Bible is designed to help Christians prepare for the "hereafter."  At another point, we witness the interpretation and use of Scripture in the Hispanic- American community within a framework of socio-economic and political marginalization.  The secondary and subservient role that the Hispanic-Americans play to the "powers that be" in  U.S.A. society, together with all the injustices and oppression that accompany that role, constitute the basic biblical hermeneutic in that group.  In other words, oppression and subservience become, then, the starting points for biblical interpretation and theological reflection.  In one given moment, the Bible is used to shed light on their situation.  In the next moment, their understanding of the biblical message is derived from their existential reality.  Like in other oppressed communities, both of these hermeneutical approaches will continue to operate simultaneously in the Hispanic community, and in turn determine how the Hispanic church makes use of the Scripture in its task of proclaiming the message of the Gospel.

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

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona