P E R S P E C T I VAS - Princeton Theological Seminary

FROM THE EDITORU.S. Latina/o theology, in spite of its marginalized social location,continues to make positive contributions to public discoursein the United States, optimistic that its distinct vision can contributeto God’s plans for greater human liberation. This refreshingoptimism challenges perspectives like that of SamuelHuntington, who identifies Mexican immigration and what heterms “Hispanization” 1 as the greatest threat to American nationalidentity and national security in post-9/11 United States. Thisissue of Perspectivas brings together the interdisciplinary conversationthat took place at the 2006 Hispanic Theological InitiativeSummer Workshop around the theme, “Immigration: Facts,Theology and Ministry,” with two articles exploring many of thesame themes—immigration, mestizaje, inclusion, and diversity—as an alternative to Huntington’s version of the “Americandream,” which can be charitably characterized as assimilationinto the Anglo mainstream, and less charitably as xenophobicintolerance.The eschatological dimension of Christian thought (its“already-not yet” aspect) reminds the church that while it isrenewed in the Spirit and called by God to live in inclusive community,where there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, maleor female but all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:27-28), our presentreality is tainted by sin, and relationships of domination persist.Consequently, our distinct contribution to the rich tapestryof North American Christianity is summed up by the phraseteología de conjunto, in which we intentionally nurture mutuallyenriching conversation across boundaries of belief, culture, gender,and ethnicity in order to embody the Gospel’s inclusivevision (what Alejandro García-Rivera has called the communityof the beautiful). Latina/o theology’s contributions to the broad-7