In the current issue of Sojourners:It’s easy—and human—to apply labels according to our assumptions. But we know that categorizing anything, especially whole groups of people, is risky business. Latinos are frequently seen as a monolithic community—particularly by pundits and pollsters in this election season—but as our writers tell us, they’re anything but. Former Sojourners staffer Aaron McCarroll Gallegos and Azusa Pacific University professor Arlene Sánchez Walsh look at one of the most misunderstood groups, Latino Pentecostals, and write about the ways in which Latino Pentecostals are not only defying labels, but defining themselves.
3 comments:
This is an OK, but not spectacular article. The basic point is well taken, that Latino Pentecostals do not fit well into many of the received racial and political categories in the USA. However, that does not necessarily mean that the group will come to exert a profound influence on the shape of American social or political life, as is implied in the piece.
For one thing, speaking of "Latinos" is almost as deceptively neat as speaking of "Asians." Latinos are so ethnically and culturally diverse that even using one word to describe them is conceptually dangerous. That effectively means that they may never come to constitute a political or social force that is unified enough to affect the American political or social order.
Taking part in a small study of Hartford Area Latinos and their views of scripture, I would add that there are extreme differences between Latino Pentecostalisms as well. The Neo Pentecostals are so different from the old school folk that they define themselves just as much by that difference as they do the emergence from Catholicism. Ironically, Latino Catholicism is much more Charismatic than is the majority Catholic church in the USA. However, because of the perception of religious difference between Latino Protestantism and Catholicism, finding enough unity to affect cultural or political influence will prove very difficult.
I think that the article actually overstates the grounds for unity within Latino Pentecostalism. Many Latino Neo Pentecostals are just as adamant about leaving behind old Pentecostal legalism as they are leaving behind Catholicism. Only if they can unite with each other and with Latino Catholics will they end up having a substantial impact on American social life.
Excellent points, Brian. Anyone else out there??
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