Apropos for Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15, 2012), I have reviewed Santo! Varieties of Latino/a Spirituality (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2012) by Rev. Dr. Edwin David Aponte for the Englewood Review of Books. Please hop on over to the Englewood site to read it.
This is an academic theology book, but I encourage anyone who has anything to do with the church not to shy away from it. Aponte brings some important missiological concerns to light, the primary of which is how the dominant culture of today’s church conceives Hispanic ministry. The reader may be surprised to learn how myopic, and even colonial our approach is.
Rev. Dr. Aponte was one of my professors at Perkins School of Theology, the graduate theology school of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. That was about twelve years ago, and I remember him speaking of this book. He used those years wisely to research and formulate his premise and arguments. I highly recommend this book to seminaries, divinity schools, and Christian colleges.