Monday, April 24, 2023

It is the the 24th of April 2023 Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Hey, It’s Monday and I survived my Bonhoeffer research and work- thanks to those of you who have sent me nice words about the show on a complicated character. That show took some time- often the Weekend Edition is a week or months long project that I make for myself, live in the texts, read and reflect. And, it just so happens that two recent mailbag questions surround a project that I have been working on for a little while now and will give you a peak behind the curtain.

 

The questions came from Don in Frankentrost- home, he tells me of the Frankentrost Band- it is a small community, founded by Bavarians in the 19th c. under the leadership of Wilhelm Loehe.

 

He wrote: “I’ve been meaning to ask you if you've done anything on the Christian faith in Latin America. I've been listening a little over a year and I've heard lots about Africa and Asia, even Australia, but no characters or events from Latin America”. Yes! It was long. Blind spot of mine when it came to church history but I’ve been reading all I can over the past 6 months or so. And this question ties in with one from Vianey who wrote: “I’m curious to learn more about liberation theology in Latin America. What led to its development, and how has it shaped Christianity in Latin America today?”

 

Vianey grew up in El Paso- home of Gene Roddenberry of Star Trek fame and Don Bluth- a former Disney animator who broke out on his own in the 80s with movies like the terrifying Secret of Nimh and the An American Tail- from whence we get “Somewhere Out There” (which I won’t sing here, but elsewhere I’ve been known to).

So- the history of Christianity in Latin America dates from the Spanish exploration at the end of the 15th century and into the 16th century. It was the Treaty of Tordesillas which divided the new world into Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence. It was favorable to the Spanish and signed under the direction of a Pope (Alexander VI) who just happened to be a Spaniard himself.

 

So the church will grow form there- and then with the Reformation there was an renewed interests in global expansion and missionary efforts. It was the Catholic Orders which would dominate South America- and by means of civic planning and building became the backbone of new urban centers from Brazil to Argentina and Chile and beyond.

 

Today Latin America is home to 40% of the worlds Catholic population- it makes sense that there is today the first Latin American pope in Francis. In 1900 some 90% of the population claimed to be Catholic. There is a strong connection between the state and the church, and this, is in part where we see the rise of Liberation Theology. Liberation Theology comes from the Catholic Church in South America and grew out of the socio-economic and military troubles in the last century. As citizens experienced extreme poverty and coups and revolutions that church- at least a conference of Latin American Bishops and Medeillan in Colombia in 1968 proposed a way forward with “Liberation Theology”- let me give it to you in bullet points. Perhaps the most important tenet is the “preferential treatment of the poor”- in times of trouble the church is to seek out and serve the poor. Physical liberation is seen as important and the salvation of the soul- that is, if your message is “oh well, it will be better in heaven” you are essentially gnostic- or so the teaching goes. Social transformation goes hand in hand with spiritual transformation. Unjust social structures are confronted and economic coercion is seen as a parallel to violent coercion. It would be criticized by some Catholics- notably the late Pope John Paul II but is somewhat in line with the current Pope Francis.

 

You can do with Liberation Theology what you will- but note that it does make new emphases and thus reorders theological convictions. Is this ever justified? Even if you disagree with this theology it is important to see it growing out of the context of a turbulent 20th century in Latin America.

 

Worth noting, the Catholic Church has declined in recent years in Latin America and there has been a little bit of secularization but it also has seen many Catholics leave for the newer Pentecostal Protestant churches. A recent Pew study found that one in ten Latin Americans was raised in a Protestant Church but today one in five of those are in a Protestant church- largely of the pentecostal variety. The Catholic charismatic community is a newer movement trying to combat the growth of Protestant pentecostals. OK- I’m working through some bigger books and love the challenge to expand. Thanks for the questions Don and Vianney!

 

 

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary- a good word from 1 Peter

23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,

25 

    but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 24th of April 2023 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

 

The show is produced by a man who knows that Don Bluth of El Paso lived in Argentina as a mormon missionary- he is Christopher Gillespie

 

The show is written and read by a man who knows that Don Bluth’s first animated movie with Disney was… wait for it… Robin Hood. Ha! I’m Dan van Voorhis

 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.