Carmen Nanko-Fernández. Theologizing en Espanglish: Context, Community, and Ministry. Foreword by Gary Riebe-Estrella, SVD. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2010. Pages, xx + 188. Paper, $25. ISBN: 9781570758645.

Theologizing en Espanglish: Context, Community, and Ministry is a tour-de-fuerza synthesis and advancement of Latino/a Christian thought on ministry and theology, two “inextricably intertwined” communal enterprises (xviii). Several chapters are reworked from earlier published articles by Carmen Nanko-Fernández, yet these updated writings complement the book’s newer material, offering greater unity of content than is typically found in a scholar’s reader of essential writings.

Nanko-Fernández explores several implications of her recognition that experiences of life together en lo cotidiano [in daily life] constitute the revelatory sources for, and context of, theological reflection—its locus theologicus. She challenges theologians to critical awareness of the contexts and relationships within which we are embedded and implicated, and which unavoidably shape the content and horizons of our thought. She finds this critical awareness lacking, for example, in the distant and linear See, Judge, Act method of theologizing. Further, Nanko-Fernández argues that recognizing lo cotidiano as the source and context of our theologizing also demands our making lo cotidiano a hermeneutical lens and epistemic principle within our theologizing.

Dignidad: Ethics through Hispanic Eyes. By Ismael García. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997. Pages, 190. Paper, $16.95. ISBN: 0687021340

Reviewed by: Louke Van Wensveen

In Dignidad, Ismael García interprets the moral language of Hispanic Americans and offers his own critical perspective as an Hispanic Christian ethicist. The book follows in the footsteps of his earlier work, Justice in Latin American Theology of Liberation (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1987), with a substantial chapter on justice (chapter two) and a consistent focus on the themes of oppression and liberation. However, in Dignidad the scene moves to the United States, where we find a diverse Hispanic community trying to carve out a place of dignity. García joins pioneering ethicists such as Anthony Cortese and Ada María Isasi-Díaz in providing a theoretical articulation of this distinct praxis.

Kendall, Daniel and Gerald O’Collins, eds. In Many and Diverse Ways: In Honor of Jacques Dupuis. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003. Pages, xiv + 290, $30.00. ISBN: 1570755108

Reviewed by: Gabriel Reynolds

In Many and Diverse Ways is a Festschrift in honor of Belgian Jesuit theologian Jacques Dupuis on his eightieth birthday. As one might expect, it is made up of articles by prominent theologians on subjects cognate to the work of Dupuis, which itself is catalogued at the end of the volume in an exhaustive bibliography. Yet what distinguishes this volume is its relation to the most recent phase of Dupuis’ career: the publication of his Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism and the subsequent investigation thereof by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which culminated in an official notification on 24 January, 2001. These events form the backdrop for all of the eighteen articles of In Many and Diverse Ways, which thereby enter into the lively current debate on religious pluralism. The focus of this volume on this question is also reflected in the inclusion of a second bibliography, which includes the many documents and academic reviews related to Dupuis’ book and the CDF’s investigation. Thus In Many and Diverse Ways is more than a Festschrift: it is an enterprise of collaborative theological speculation on religious pluralism.

Dalton, Frederick John. The Moral Vision of César Chávez. By Frederick John Dalton. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2003. Pages viii + 200. Paper, $20.00. ISBN: 1570754586

Reviewed by: Margaret R. Pfeil

This volume appeals to virtue ethics from the perspective of liberation theology to portray the moral meaning of César Chávez’s public witness as the founding organizer of the United Farm Workers of America. Beginning with the story of his own encounter with Chávez’s work and legacy, Dalton effectively employs a narrative approach to make the case that Chávez’s moral vision of the dignity of human labor was sustained by a lifelong process of character formation anchored in the virtues of nonviolent love, faith, justice, and solidarity.

Phan, Peter C. Christianity with an Asian Face: Asian American Theology in the Making. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003. Pages, xvii + 253. Paper, $30.00. ISBN: 1570754667

Reviewed by Anselm Kyongsuk Min

Asians have been coming to North America for some decades now, yet there has been no significant theological output that represents the Asian American experience. Peter C. Phan, the first Asian American President of the Catholic Theological Society of America, has written a book that aims to be, as the subtitle states, “Asian American theology in the making.” The book is divided into two parts, the first dealing with methodological issues of intercultural theology, the second with substantive issues bearing on inculturation in the context of an Asian American theology.

Boff, Leonardo. Holy Trinity, Perfect Community. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000. Pages, xvii + 125. Paper, $16.00. ISBN: 1570753326

Reviewed by: Michael E. Lee

In 1988, two years after he published his great work on the Trinity and the same year that its English translation, Trinity and Society, appeared, Leonardo Boff composed a condensed version of his text entitled Santíssima Trindade é a melhor communidade. Twelve years later, Boff’s attempt to present his trinitarian reflections in less technical language appears in its own English translation. Although delayed in its appearance, Holy Trinity. Perfect Community offers a timely reminder of the central importance of the Trinity to Christians and the role that this doctrine can play in the social project of liberation.

Goddess of the Americas/La Diosa de las Americas. Edited by Ana Castillo. New York: Riverhead Books, 1996. Pages, xv +231. Paper, $14.00. ISBN: 1573220299

Reviewed by: Lara Medina

Goddess of the Americas/La Diosa de las Americas edited by Ana Castillo offers an outstanding collection of creative writings by an impressive group of artists and intellectuals on the diverse meanings of Guadalupe/Tontanzin to their contemporary lives. In homage to the divine mother, and as an offering to a world in need of feminine wisdom, Castillo and her contributors challenge the reader to ponder the multiple ways that Guadalupe remains present and active in our troubled world. In short essays, poetry, performance narrative, and theological reflections, the reader encounters multiple perspectives on the complexity of Guadalupe's identity and the limitless power of her unconditional love. No longer confined by official ecclesial interpretations of the Guadalupe event as solely a Marian apparition, the authors re-image, reconstruct and reclaim the divine woman for themselves out of their own spiritual and socio-political contexts. As Castillo writes, “we make no claim to represent the Catholic Church here, thank goddess” (xxii).

Groody, Daniel G. Border of Death, Valley of Life: An Immigrant Journey of Heart and Spirit. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. Pages, xv + 188. Paper, $24.95. ISBN: 0742522415
Reviewed by: Roberto Goizueta

While the literature on Mexican immigrants is extensive, covering a broad range
of disciplines, little has been written on the spiritual lives of Mexican immigrants. If only
as a remedy for this lacuna, then, the publication of Daniel Groody’s book Border of
Death. Valley of Life represents an important achievement. Yet the book's value is not
limited to its significance as a resource for research on immigration, for this is a volume
that one will return to over and over again, in search not only of intellectual insight but
spiritual sustenance as well.

González, Justo L. For the Healing of the Nations: The Book of Revelation in an Age of Cultural Conflict. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1999. Pages, ix + 117. Paper, $15. ISBN: 1570752737

Reviewed by: Francisco García-Treto

This brief but important book is not a commentary on the Book of Revelation. Together with his spouse, the author has already produced such a commentary: Catherine Gunsalus González and Justo L. González, Revelation (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1997). Rather, in this work González provides an enlightening example of the way in which a new look at the historical context of the production of this ancient book, carried out from the mestizo/multicultural perspective that González brings to his expertise in historical and biblical scholarship, can open for the contemporary church new and valuable vistas on the message of Revelation. The book’s six chapters fall into two symmetrical parts, the first ([1] “Garlic Wars? Culture and Conflict in the Twenty-first Century;” [2] “Culture and Conflict in the First Century;” and [3]: “Culture and Conflict in the Early Church") provides a framework for the specific look at Revelation that the second presents.

Padilla, C. René, ed. Bases Biblicas de la Misión: Perspectivas latinoamericanas. Buenos Aires: Nueva Creación; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. Pages xi + 474. Paper. ISBN: 0802809529 Reviewed by: Alberto L. García This work is the first fruit of efforts among Latin American evangelical theologians and exegetes to provide a missiological contextual reading of the entire Bible in light of the Latin American reality. The majority of the contributors are Latin American scholars from different theological traditions. There are also a few North American contributors who have worked for many years in Latin America. This insightful book was born from Latin American convictions that there are very few Latin American studies that analyze the Scriptures from a contemporary Latin American perspective. The collaborative effort for the volume was forged from a series of consultations sponsored by the Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana (FTE) in conjunction with three Latin American theological centers: Centro Kairos (Buenos Aires), Centro Evangélico de Misionología Andino-Amazónica (Lima) and La Comunidad Teológica (Mexico).