Theological work

Theological work

As an ELCA pastor and theologian serving in an academic context, I am called not only to serve the people with whom I work in Mexico but the ELCA and the Christian Church at large elsewhere in the world. I consider that my role as missionary is not only to teach but to learn, both from my students and colleagues as well as from the academic research I do as a professor of theology.

For me, Christian theology and Christian mission are intimately and inseparably linked. As I often tell my students, bad theology brings pain and suffering into people’s lives; in contrast, good theology gives wholeness and well-being to people. Unfortunately, in the Mexican context, there is quite a bit of bad theology: theology that leads to the oppression and exclusion of people both in the church and the Mexican social context; theology that directly or indirectly promotes and justifies social inequality and economic injustice; theology that leads to various types of abuse and violence in the home, the work place, and other contexts; theology that marginalizes women, children, the elderly, the poor, and indigenous peoples. Such theologies need to be replaced with theologies that liberate, include, and empower people through the proclamation of the gospel, rightly understood.

 

That is why I consider the theological task so important, since I am convinced that the problems and challenges that we face in our churches and our world today can only be addressed adequately on the basis of solid Christian theologies that promote God’s will for the wholeness of all people and all creation.

The theological work that I have done in both English and Spanish is listed on my CV (see “Personal Information”). I also have an Amazon author page, which can be accessed by CLICKING HERE. However, a good part of my published theological work in Spanish is in the online courses that I teach at Augsburg Lutheran Seminary.

To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the posting of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, I wrote up 94 theses of my own and placed them on a separate website, 94t.mx (CLICK HERE to access). My theses offer an outline of my own theological project and vision. On the same site, I also post many of the other things I have written, some of which have not been published elsewhere. The material there is both in English and in Spanish and includes a Spanish translation of my theses. Because I now use that site for my theological work, I have not posted any theological material on this site, except for the sermons I share.