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86 | 4 Hispanic/Latino(a) Theology Benjamín Valentín Historical Backdrop Even though it has existed alongside other theologies of liberation and alongside other forms of contextual religious discourse since at least 1975, Hispanic or Latino theology still remains unknown or undiscovered by many in the wider arena of theological and religious scholarship.1 I suppose that this neglect is related to and continues a long history of disrespect toward Latino/as and of their being rendered invisible or insignificant in the United States. However, I suspect that the neglect of Latino/a theology could also be tied to the failure to make a distinction between it and Latin American liberation theology. In other words, it is possible that people who study, follow, or do theology may mistakenly identify, equate, or lump together Latino/a theology with the liberationist theologies that have emerged in Mexico and in the Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean Basin and of Central and South America. But this is a faulty assumption, not only because each of the theological expressions that has emerged from these countries on the southern side of the U.S.-Mexican border deserves mentioning and study in its own right but also because Hispanic/Latino(a) theology should be seen as a distinctive form of theological colloquy in itself. Although influenced in certain respects by the mode of liberation theology or justice-seeking theological address that emerged in different parts of Latin America, Latino/a academic theology exemplifies the religious and theological inflections of Hispanic people living in the United States of America. In other words, Latino/a theology is a North American theological tradition—a theological tradition that is bred and based in the United States. This theological voice flows from the thought, writings, and activities of a heterogeneous group of theologians, comprised of people who can trace their ancestry in some way or another to different parts of Spanish-speaking Latin America but yet call the United States their home. The written and oral presentations of this group of theologians deserve attention and apprecia- Hispanic/Latino(a) Theology | 87 tion in mainstream theological study, both because they provide a window into a distinctive form of contextual and justice-seeking theological address that emerges from and relates to the social milieu of the United States and because they provide insight into the confounding realities of life in the United States and the varieties of Christian and other religious expressions found within it.2 To begin, it is important to note that Hispanic/Latino(a) theology grows out of and responds to the complex experience of Latino/as in the United States. That being the case, I believe that it would be worthwhile to look at the intricate cultural history and set of experiences that generally informs and gives rise to this theology. If one allowed oneself to be informed only by the insinuations that often underlie recent debates over culture, language, and immigration, one could come to think that Latino/as are all foreign newcomers to the United States. But the truth is that Latino/a history in North America actually predates the history of the United States. The history of Latino/as in North America, and the commencement of the Hispanic/Latino(a) people as a whole, begins with the Spanish exploration and colonization of the Caribbean islands and then of the North and South American continents that began with Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas in 1492. His journey to the “east” transpired at a time when Spain was seeking to expand its colonial borders and strengthen a faltering economy with resources from unexplored lands. Consequently , following Columbus’s discovery of a route from Europe to these areas, a series of Spanish explorers sailed to the Americas with the intention of surveying and settling its territories. As a result of their takeover of these lands and of their subjugation of the native peoples that inhabited them, a good part of the territory that comprises the Americas—including much of Central and South America, Mexico, large segments of the Caribbean, and most of what is now the southern and western United States—gradually came to be claimed for Spain. Spain’s boon, however, would be the bane of the different American indigenous populations as they were forcibly conquered, had their lands taken away, were exposed to new diseases brought over from Europe that proved to be devastating, were systematically mistreated, and had a different language, culture, and...

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