In Search of Christ in Latin America: From Colonial Image to Liberating Savior

by Samuel Escobar

Publisher:

IVP Academic

, 2019

Overview

Noted theologian Samuel Escobar offers a magisterial survey and study of Christology in Latin America. Starting with the first Spanish influence and moving through popular religiosity and liberationist themes in Catholic and Protestant thought of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, In Search of Christ in Latin America culminates in an important description of the work of the Latin American Theological Fraternity (FTL). Escobar chronologically traces the journey of Latin American Christology and describes the milestones along the way toward a rich understanding of the spiritual reality and powerful message of Jesus.

IVP Academic is pleased to release this important work, originally published in Spanish as En busca de Cristo en América Latina, for the first time in English.

Key Features

• Offers theological, historical, and cultural analysis of Latin American understandings of Christ
• Discusses the sixteenth-century Spanish Christ, popular religiosity, and developed theological reflection
• Examines the figure of Jesus Christ in the context of Latin American culture of the twentieth century

Contents

• From the Poor Christ to Christ of the Poor
• The Iberian Christ Who Crossed the Oceans
• That Other Christ of the Indians
• Christ in Early Protestant Preaching
• The Beginnings of an Evangelical Latin American Christology
• Christ in Ecumenical Protestant Thought
• Christology in Times of Revolution
• A Christological Renewal in Catholicism
• Jesus Christ and the Revolutionaries
• The Kingdom of God
• Latin America Enters the Theological Scene
• Christ in Latin American Culture Once Again
• Jesus Christ’s New Time for Reflection and Dialogue
• Jesus and the Lifestyle and Mission of the Kingdom
• With Jesus in Global Mission

Praise for the Print Edition

One of the foremost Latin American theologians Samuel Escobar deftly weaves together the vivid colors of Latin American Christology in this clear, comprehensive, and critically engaged volume. In Search of Christ in Latin America is a tapestry of the dramatic portraits of Christ incarnate that emerge from the Latin American context as a gift to the pueblo and the global church. Escobar is a participant in the development of Latin American theology and not simply a sideline observer. As such, Don Samuel offers us a faithful as well as readable reflection on Jesus’ person, presence, ministry, and significance for contemporary Christian mission.

—Gene L. Green, professor of New Testament, emeritus, Wheaton College and Graduate School

Where do we begin the task of elaborating an Original Latin American Christology? In this well-documented account of the presence of Christ’s image in Latin America, Samuel Escobar answers that question with cultural, missiological, and theological competence. I know of no other work within Protestantism that has achieved what Escobar did in this book—not another modern Christology of sorts but the path for the construction of Original Christology from the context of the American Global South, beyond normative occidentalized theological attempts.

—Oscar García-Johnson, Fuller Theological Seminary, author of Spirit Outside the Gate

A treasure of a book! Escobar includes historical, sociological, political, and theological information and insights that give us the complex layers of understanding Christology in Latin America starting with its roots in Iberian theology and focusing on the Christology in the twentieth century. The explanations are clear, and the interweaving of the different sources and arguments can be easily followed. I simply could not put it down. As a practical theologian interested in matters of mission and evangelism, I had been thirsty for a resource such as this one. It is enjoyable and profoundly interesting reading.

—Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, coordinator of relations with theological entities for the Association for Hispanic Theological Education

Product Details

• Title: In Search of Christ in Latin America: From Colonial Image to Liberating Savior
• Author: Samuel Escobar
• Publisher: IVP
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 384
• Resource Type: Histories
• Topic: Church History

About Samuel Escobar

Samuel Escobar, a native of Peru and a leading Latin American theologian, was one of the key participants in the International Congress on World Evangelization at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974. He is professor emeritus of missiology at Palmer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, USA and teaches contemporary theology at Facultad Protestante de Teologia UEBE in Madrid, Spain. He has previously served as president of the United Bible Societies and the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.