This course, from an evangelical perspective, introduces students to the religious and cultural backgrounds of Latin America, focusing on its major religious influences—Catholicism, Protestantism, and indigenous spiritualities—as a foundation for theological thinking centered on Latin American experience. The course presents Latin America theologically, engaging both its vibrant spiritual heritage and contemporary social challenges. It equips students to articulate an evangelical theology that faithfully represents God's redemptive design in and through Latin American peoples, introducing classical, modern, and contemporary evangelical theological methods in Latin America and key trends in Latin American evangelical thought today.
By taking this course, students develop the ability to craft evangelical theological discourses informed by Latin America’s religious and cultural backgrounds and contemporary realities. This enables them to resist theological approaches that overlook the historical and religious dimensions of Latin America’s present context. With discourses rooted in these backgrounds, students can identify effective evangelical responses to Latin American religious contexts and gain initial skills to produce impactful, gospel-centered actions for today’s Latin American societies.
This course is essential because evangelical theological thinking grounded in Latin American religious contexts offers a pathway for deeper, positive, and lasting gospel impact in Latin American societies. It addresses the shortcomings of past theologizing that often ignored Latin America’s rich religious traditions, striving to proclaim the truth of Christ in dialogue with Latin America’s major religious influences while remaining faithful to evangelical convictions.
Rooted in an evangelical perspective, the course introduces students to Latin America’s religious backgrounds while highlighting the authority of Scripture and potential Latin American connections to biblical narratives. It emphasizes Scripture’s use of history, culture, and present realities to proclaim God’s truth, grounding the course in a biblical framework. The aim is to reveal God’s redemptive work through the gospel, engaging Latin American contributions and contexts.
By focusing on Latin American peoples and their religious experiences, this course fulfills the evangelical missional purpose of advancing the Great Commission in Latin America. It equips students to understand and participate in God’s redemptive mission through the proclamation of the gospel in Latin American contexts.
The course is deeply engaged with the particularities of Latin America, especially its major religious influences. It emphasizes evangelical theological conversations that respect Latin America’s religious diversity while articulating the uniqueness of Christ. Students explore theological thinking in non-Latin American evangelical contexts, distinguishing these from Latin American evangelical approaches.
From a Latin American evangelical perspective, students gain insights into how culture and religion shape theological thinking and recognize the importance of engaging Latin America’s major religious traditions in theological dialogue. They learn that understanding religious contexts is vital for effective gospel communication. Positive and negative examples of evangelical engagement with Latin American religions will help students assess the role of culture and religion in theology.
The course aims to equip students to address Latin American religious and social issues with evangelical theological clarity, enabling them to respond effectively to challenges posed by Catholicism, Protestantism, and indigenous spiritualities. Students develop competency in crafting gospel-centered responses to contemporary Latin American contexts.
Students are guided to reflect on past, present, and future (simulated) Latin American religious experiences through an evangelical lens. Those in ministry select one theological topic, such as engaging a specific Latin American religious tradition, and experiment with applying evangelical principles to a Latin American context or life experience.
