Ana Maria Diaz-stevens - Recognizing The Latino Resurgence In U.s. Religion

Recognizing the Latino Resurgence in U.S. Religion

Contemporary Perspectives on Religion

Lynn Davidman, Gillian Lindt, Charles H. Long,
John P. Reeder, Jr., Minian Smart, John F. Wilson,
and Robert Wuthnow, Advisory Board

Recognizing the Latino Resurgence in U.S. Religion:
The Emmaus Paradigm, Ana Maria Diaz-Stevens and
Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo

The Culture of Religious Pluralism,
Richard E. Wentz

New Religions as Global Cultures: Making the Human Sacred,
Irving Hexham and Karla Poewe

Church, Book, and Bishop:
Conflict and Authority in Early Latin Christianity,
Peter Iver Kaufman

Religion and Politics in America:
Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices,
Robert Booth Fowler and Allen D. Hertzke

Birth of a Worldview: Early Christianity in
Its Jewish and Pagan Context, Robert Doran

The Emmaus Paradigm

Ana Mara Daz-Stevens
Union Theological Seminary
Anthony M . Stevens-Arroyo
Brooklyn College

Explorations: Contemporary Perspectives on Religion

First published 1998 by Westview Press

Published 2018 by Routledge
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ISBN 13:978-0-8133-2510-1 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-8133-2509-5 (hbk)

To the 14th of December in our lives.

To
William Loperena, O.P.
Teacher, muse, brother in religion

The Misa Jbara
God's voice to our people, from the peaks of island mountains and into the depths of patriotic conscience

Adn Esteban
Our one son, in the image and likeness of our union, alchemy of legacy and hope

This book reflects scholarly research during the better part of twenty years, and our most heartfelt gratitude is to the Latinas and Latinos of faith who made the commitments and sacrifices we report her. Assuredly, many of the key ideas developed in this book were first published in other sources. The demographic patterns explained in the first chapter were first presented in a keynote address by Ana Mara Daz-Stevens at an important 1997 meeting in Washington. Analysis of past sociological approaches to Latino religion reflects the thrust of a European publication by Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo. The second chapter uses material from an encyclopedia article published under both our names. "The matriarchal core" and "pious colonialism" were terms defined by each of us in separate articles published in the Latino Studies Journal. The final chapters incorporate materials that were part of our contributions to the Notre Dame historical series. Despite this repetition of some key ideas, this book represents a unique publication that places these notions into a coherent narrative.

We are grateful to the Program for the Analysis of Religion Among Latinos/as (PARAL), a true community of scholars who have supported us in the view that Latinos and Latinas are essential contributors to contemporary religion in the United States. In particular, the participants at the April 1996 PARAL conference at the University of California, Santa Barbara were helpful in clarifying how to present the resurgence as a social movement. We are indebted to Justo Gonzlez and Rubn Amendriz for insightful comments on the resurgence among Protestants and to Barry Kosmin for his invaluable guidance on matters statistical. Support from our colleagues at Union Theological Seminary and Brooklyn College was timely, and the sabbatical years we spent as Fellows at Princeton University's Center for the Study of American Religion provided us with time and critical input during the preparation of the manuscript. Those weekly seminars at Princeton led by Professor Bob Wuthnow convinced us that non-Latinos were eager to learn more about the Latino experience. At Westview Press, Mary Kay Scott and Spencer Carr were the first to have faith in us. In the production process, we say "gracias" to Laura Parsons, Gabriella Zoller, and Scott Horst. The copy editing by Michele Wynn was not only efficient, but she was so diplomatic in her comments that we felt good about most of the changes she suggested. Finally, we have to thank our son Adn, who had to learn during the writing of the book that there were times when his parents were "unavailable." He has matured enough to be able to make these sacrifices gracefully. We thank him, and hope that this book offers him not only a description of a legacy he has received but also the outlines of a commitment he should make.

Ana Mara Daz-Stevens
Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo
February 2, 1997
Our Lady of Candelaria

T HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE contains one of our favorite passages (Luke 26:13-35). Lwo disciples are leaving Jerusalem after the Passion and Death of Jesus, with heads held low as they walk on the road leading out of the city. They meet a stranger, with whom they strike up a conversation as they go along. He seems not to know anything of the events of the past three days, and the disciples spin out their tale. They admit they had hoped that Jesus would restore the Kingdom of Israel to its past glory, which discloses their political views; they relate that they do not believe the account of "some women" that Jesus had risen from the dead, which says mountains about a gender bias. But the stranger proceeds to cite the prophets and the scripture to convince them that they should have anticipated these events rather than be discouraged about them. As the trio approaches the small town of Emmaus, the two disciples excitedly plead with the stranger to dine with them now that evening has fallen. And when he breaks bread at table with them, they recognize that the stranger is Jesus. He vanishes from their sight before they can recover, and they are left with emotion: Their hearts, they feel, were "burning inside them" as they walked on the road with a man they did not recognize, speaking of events they had not understood.

This book spells out our Emmaus experience. We lived through the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s. We were a part of most of the events we describe herein, and we know as personal friends many of the persons who helped make the history told in these pages. But like the disciples, when we were on that road, we did not fully recognize that we were engaged with important events. Moreover, we were sometimes discouraged and downcast at seeing how many of our hopes were dashed. Now, thirty years later, we have come to see a pattern and a reason not only for the successes that inspired us but also for the failures that often discouraged us. It is the "Emmaus paradigm" that has enabled us to revisit the path and recognize that we were in the generation that produced the Latino Religious Resurgence.