Signs of New Life in Central America and the Caribbean : Christian
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Signs of New Life in Central America and the Caribbean: Christian Revitalization amid Social Change Report on the Revitalization Conference Held in San Jose, Costa Rica July 2016 Editor: Karla Ann Koll SIGNS OF NEW LIFE IN CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN Christian Revitalization amid Social Change Karla Ann Koll Editor First Fruits Press Wilmore, Kentucky ©2019 Table of Contents | i TABLE OF CONTENTS Contributors iii Introduction The Global Conversation on Religion and Revitalization in the Latin American and Caribbean Context Bryan T. Froehle 1 1. “All over the World, this Gospel Is Growing.” Making Sense of Revitalized Christianity in Asia, Africa and Latin America I. A Global View Wanjiru M. Gitau 18 II. Approaching Christianity in Latin America and the Caribbean Karla Ann Koll 29 2. New Jerusalem in a Garbage Dump: Religious Revitalization of Urban Space in Managua Carlos Aguirre Salinas &Adrian Tovar Simoncic 39 3. Building Bridges towards Inclusion and Dignity: Belice Bridge Labor and Educational Project America Gabriela Ochoa & Robert Brenneman 69 4. Dying to Rising: Revitalization and the Catholic Church in Cuba Ondina Cortés, rmi & Laura María Fernández Gómez 93 ii | Table of Contents 5. Abundant Life: An Evangelical Megachurch in Costa Rica Clifton L. Holland & Jordan Dobrowski 131 6. The Revitalizing Power of Transnational Networks: A-Brazo and the Global Holistic Mission Movement Stephen Offutt & Hilda Romero 153 7. World Christian Revitalization and the Circle Method Bryan T. Froehle with Karla Ann Koll 181 8. Revitalization of the Micro-churches in Latin America and the Caribbean Pablo Richard 203 9. Reflections on Revitalization I. A Word about Revitalization Herbert Mauricio Alvarez López 218 II. Revitalization of Mission? Karla Ann Koll 224 III. From Local Impact to Cultural Change H. Fernando Bullon 233 IV. Paths of Resistance and Transformation in the Search for Life Priscila Barredo Pantí 239 10. Revitalization, Renewal and Revival: Achievements, Challenges and Promise Nestor Medina 251 Contributors | iii CONTRIBUTORS Carlos Aguirre Salinas. Professor and researcher at Martin Luther University, Managua, Nicaragua; researcher at the Center for Social and Cultural Analysis (CASC), Central American University (UCA); member of the Latin American Network for Pentecostal Studies (RELEP). Herbert Mauricio Alvarez Lopez. Roman Catholic layman who teaches theology at the Rafael Landivar University and at CEDEPCA (Evangelical Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America) in Guatemala, member of the AMERINDIA theology network in Guatemala. Master in Sciences of Charity (Social Theology) from the Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany; Master in University Education and Licentiate in Theology from the Rafael Landivar University, Guatemala. Priscila Barredo Pantí. Communications Director for the Latin American Biblical University (UBL) and communications coordinator for the Together with Children and Youth Movement. Master in Bible from the ESEPA Seminary and a master’s student in Latin American Studies at the National University of Costa Rica. Robert Brenneman. Associate Professor of Sociology, St. Michael’s College, Colchester, Vermont, USA. Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. H. Fernando Bullon. Professor emeritus, Nazarene Seminary of the Americas, and adjunct professor at the Evangelical University of the Americas, San Jose, Costa Rica. Specialist in religion and development. Ph.D. from the Faculty of Economic and Social Studies of the University of Manchester, England. Ondina Cortés, rmi. Assistant Professor of Practical Theology, St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida, USA. Ph.D. from iv | Contributors St. Thomas University. Jordan Dobrowski. Research assistant, Latin American Program for Socio-religious Studies (PROLADES), San Jose, Costa Rica. B.A. in anthropology from Augustana University, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA. Laura María Fernández Gómez. Lay Leader, Diocese of Santa Clara, Cuba. Bryan T. Froehle. Professor of Practical Theology, St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida, USA. Director of research and lead facilitator for the consultation in Costa Rica on which this book is based as well as many of the consultations funded by two grants from the Luce Foundation to Asbury Theological Seminary’s Center for the Study of World Christian Revitalization Movements. Ph.D. in Sociology from University of Michigan, USA. Wanjiru M. Gitau. Visiting scholar, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, USA. Graduate of the University of Nairobi. Doctorate in Cross-Cultural Missions from Africa International University, Center for World Christianity, Nairobi, Kenya. Clifton L. Holland. Director, Latin American Program for Socio-religious Studies (PROLADES), San Jose, Costa Rica. M.A. from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA. Doctoral studies in cultural anthropology, missiology and church history. Karla Ann Koll. Professor of History, Mission and Religions, Latin American Biblical University, San Jose, Costa Rica. Ph.D. in Mission, Ecumenics and History of Religions from Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, USA. Nestor Medina. Visiting scholar, Emmanuel College Center for Research in Religion, University of Toronto, Canada. Specialization in theology and culture. Ph.D. from Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto, Canada. America Gabriela Ochoa. Instructor in Spanish, St. Michael’s College, Colchester, Vermont, USA. M.A. in Contributors | v Latin American History and Literature, Rafael Landivar University, Guatemala City, Guatemala. Stephen Offutt. Associate Professor of Development Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, USA. Ph.D. in Sociology from Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Pablo Richard. Chilean theologian. Former director of the Ecumenical Department for Research (DEI), San Jose, Costa Rica. Doctorate in sociology of religión from the Sorbonne University, Paris, France. Hilda Romero. Director, A-Brazo Association, San Salvador, El Salvador. Adrián Tovar Simoncic. Mexican anthropologist and sociologist specializing in religious diversification in Latin America, Pentecostalism, and indigenous theologies. M.A. in Cultural Studies from the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Introduction | 1 INTRODUCTION The Global Conversation on Religion and Revitalization in the Latin American and Caribbean Context Bryan T. Froehle 2 | Bryan T. Froehle This volume enters the global conversation on religion and revitalization from the perspective of Latin America and the Caribbean. It builds on a conversation flowing from specific cases and contexts across different confessional and historical traditions. As such, it engages the ongoing work of renewal, both within Christianity and within social life, and the inextricable link between the two. This is ultimately a comparative conversation that embraces difference and the plurality of Christian expression globally, recognizing how differences in the larger religious and spiritual context in each place add to the depth of understanding and possibilities for social transformation. This introductory chapter discusses approaches to religion and revitalization, proposing ways of moving toward a more integrated engagement. It introduces the chapters and conversation partners in the text that follows, contextualizing the conversation while situating it within the final of seven global conversations engaging Christian revitalization movement in the world today. The final section offers some thoughts on the role of scholars of religion as public intellectuals contributing in processes of social transformation. Approaches This book is the final product of a project designed to advance the conversation around religious renewal in a global Christian context. It represents the culmination of a series of seven consultations conducted around the world in as many years.1 During that time, various theoretical models and methods were tested, some intentionally, others quite accidentally. The project began when the work of the Center for the Study of World Christian Revitalization Movements moved from a previous 1 The Center for the Study of World Christian Revitalization Movements of Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Luce Foundation for these seven consultations conducted between 2009 and 2016. The Luce Foundation provided two grants, an initial one that provided for the first three consultations and a follow-up grant that supported the final four consultations. The consultations took place in Wilmore, Kentucky; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Toronto, Canada; Nairobi, Kenya; Dehradun, India; Manila, Philippines; and San Jose, Costa Rica. Introduction | 3 frame of a particular narrative informed by an historical focus to a more missiological one informed by relatively more theoretical understandings of revival and revitalization.2 It concludes in this book, which represents the development of insight from specific and profound empirical theological study in the specificity of particular cases. This represents the best of an approach to missiology that reflects the ecumenical and even inter-religious engagement of the emerging discipline of World Christianity. It presents a contemporary practical theological approach that is intentionally intradisciplinary, borrowing from a critical realist approach to link various disciplines in an epistemologically respectful fashion, including sociology, history, and theology, for the collective engagement and