Journal for the Hispanic Theological Initiative
The main theme of this 2007 annual study conference of the Society for Pastoral Theology is “Doing Pastoral Theology in a Post-Colonial Context: Intercultural Models of Pastoral Care and Theology.”
I find it highly ironic to converse about postcolonial perspectives in Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island that has been aptly described by one of our foremost juridical scholars as “the oldest colony of the world.”
El tema principal de esta conferencia estudio anual 2007 de la Sociedad de Teología Pastoral es “hacer teología pastoral en un contexto post- colonial: Modelos Interculturales de la Pastoral y Teología.”
Me resulta muy irónico para conversar sobre las perspectivas poscoloniales en Puerto Rico, una isla del Caribe que se ha descrito acertadamente por uno de nuestros eruditos jurídicos más importantes como” la colonia más antigua del mundo.”
Raúl Gómez-Ruiz has written a learned and timely book. Mozarabs, Hispanics, and the Cross surely merits the coveted HTI Book Prize.
More importantly, it should be read by all Latina/o theologians.
Raúl Gómez- Ruiz ha escrito un libro aprendido y oportuna. Mozárabes, los hispanos, y la Cruz seguramente merece el premio codiciado libro HTI.
Más importante aún, debe ser leído por todos Latina / o teólogos.
Since the breakup of Spain’s colonial empire between the late 1700s and the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Hispanics have looked back upon their Iberian cultural and family heritage with an ambivalence not easily understood by persons of Anglo-European or Germanic ancestry.
After the events of 1492, Spain bequeathed to the diverse peoples who would eventually comprise the cultures and nations of the Western Hemisphere the Castilian language and a predominantly Roman Catholic religious affiliation.
Desde la desintegración del imperio colonial de España entre finales de 1700 y el final de la Guerra Española – Americana en 1898, los hispanos han mirado hacia atrás sobre su patrimonio cultural y mente familias ibérico con una ambivalencia no se entiende fácilmente por personas de la anglo- europeo o germánica ascendencia.
Después de los acontecimientos de 1492 , España legó a los diversos pueblos que se Eventualmente comprender las culturas y las naciones del Hemisferio Occidental del idioma castellano y una afiliación religiosa de mayoría católica.
Raúl Gómez-Ruiz has written a learned and timely book. Mozarabs, Hispanics, and the Cross surely merits the coveted HTI Book Prize. More importantly, it should be read by all Latina/o theologians.
In it they will discover a vast treasure that contains coins of rare vintage as well as some newly minted ones – the history of the Iberian peninsula from the Celtiberians to twenty-first century Spaniards, the origins of the Hispano-Mozarabic rite and the history of its Good Friday Procession, an ethnographic study of the symbolic dimensions of the cross in the context of that particular ritual, and a comparison of the Mozarabic and contemporary Hispanic spiritualities of the cross.
Raúl Gómez- Ruiz ha escrito un libro aprendido y oportuna. Mozárabes, los hispanos, y la Cruz seguramente merece el premio codiciado libro HTI . Más importante aún, debe ser leído por todos Latina / o teólogos.
En ella van a descubrir un vasto tesoro que contiene monedas de rara de cosecha, así como algunos recién acuñadas ones – the historia de la península Ibérica desde los celtíberos a los españoles 21o siglo, los orígenes del rito hispano- mozárabe y la historia de su Procesión del Viernes Santo , un estudio etnográfico de las dimensiones simbólicas de la cruz en el contexto de ese ritual particular, y una comparación del mozárabe y espiritualidades hispanas contemporáneas de la cruz.
One way that culture, identity, and therefore community develop is through rituals. Such is the case with liturgical celebrations and processions. As an example of this, I examine the Mozarab community of Toledo, Spain by focusing on its participation in their Good Friday Liturgies and in the Processions of Toledo.
After explaining the Mozarabs’ origins, I set the scene by describing the ritual field of the processions in general terms.
Una manera en que la cultura , la identidad , y por lo tanto la comunidad desarrollan es a través de rituales. Tal es el caso con las celebraciones y procesiones litúrgicas. Como ejemplo de esto, examino la comunidad mozárabe de Toledo, España, centrándose en su participación en sus liturgias Viernes Santo y en las procesiones de Toledo.
Después de explicar los orígenes de los mozárabes,” me puse la escena describiendo el campo ritual de las procesiones en términos generales.
Perspectivas is pleased to present its issue for the year 2008. We introduce this issue with a summary of the articles that have been selected for publication. In his article “Ritual and the Construction of Cultural Identity: An Example from Hispanic Liturgy,” Raúl Gómez-Ruiz draws the reader’s attention to some key questions which moved him to write the book Mozarabs, Hispanics, and the Cross (Orbis, 2007), for which he received the 2008 HTI Book Prize. The questions which lure him to explore the relationship between ritual, culture, and identity begin with the quest to discover the meaning behind particular religious rituals in the Hispanic cultural heritage, namely, those of the Mozarab community in Toledo, Spain.
The author begins by drawing his audience to participate with him in the Mozarab processions and Good Friday liturgies of Toledo. His own participation in these liturgies leads him to consider in depth the meaning of ritual in relation to culture and identity. He dis- covers that culture and identity develop hand-in-hand, by means of religious rituals that re-enact sacred events. When the discus- sion of cultural identity and religious ritual is considered in the context of the situation of Latinas/os in the United States, the issue of the construction of identity comes to the fore.
Alberto Hernández situates Gómez-Ruiz’s book in the broader context of the history of Christianity and Spain as a significant contribution to the academic, theological, and cultural project of recovering the history of the medieval Iberian Catholic tradition, a tradition whose ancient Mozarabic elements still influence Hispanic spirituality in Spain and portions of the former Spanish Empire. The author responds first as a historian specializing in the religious history of medieval and early modern Spain. And, sec- ondly, he responds from the viewpoint of a Hispanic American whose questions on cultural identity and family heritage reflect similar themes raised by Gómez-Ruiz about Hispano-Mozarabic ritual practices, liturgy, and cultural identity
Peter Casarella responds to the work of Raúl Gómez-Ruiz by focusing on what Mozarabic identity might mean to Latinas/os. He begins by considering further the issue of a Mozarabic com- munal identity which, “apart from liturgical acts,” is hardly acknowledged by fellow Spanish citizens. He then raises the ques- tion of whether Mozarabic identity can, in this sense, be compared to Latina/o identity, drawing attention to the disparities between Mozarabs and Latinas/os, even as he addresses the possibility of their similarities. Next, he elaborates on the symbolism of the cross which is presented in Mozarabs, Hispanics, and the Cross and lastly comments briefly on the type of liturgical theology which appears in this book.
“Strangers No More” is a collaborative project that has devel- oped a forum for the purpose of bringing Latina/o and African American scholars of theology and religion in dialogue with one another in order to facilitate partnership and mutual support. We share with our readers several documents that developed as a result of two workshops that were held in November 2005 and November 2007 at the annual joint meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. The authors of these documents include: Sharon Watson Fluker, Edwin Aponte, Evelyn L. Parker, James Logan, Elaine Padilla, Stephanie M. Crumpton, Néstor Medina, and Kamasi Hill.
Suzanne E. Hoeferkamp Segovia, PhD
Managing Editor
