{"id":45062,"date":"2019-05-22T00:01:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T04:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?p=45062"},"modified":"2019-05-03T16:48:22","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T20:48:22","slug":"the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"The Latin American Evangelical Left: An Interview with David Kirkpatrick, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This is Part II of an interview with David C. Kirkpatrick<\/a>, author of <\/em>A Gospel for the Poor: Global Social Christianity and the Latin American Evangelical Left<\/a>. For Part I, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013David R. Swartz<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

You appear to be one of the first to highlight women in the development of the Latin American Theological Fraternity. How does the narrative change when Catharine Feser Padilla is included?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some have attempted to make this a story of North vs. South or \u201cthe Rest vs. the West.\u201d The influence of Catharine Feser Padilla problematizes attempts to weaponize the narrative and use it for tribal vendettas.\u00a0 For post-war global evangelicalism, the story was always multidirectional and diverse\u2014transcending nationalities and borders.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Catharine Feser Padilla and Ren\u00e9 Padilla \u2014 courtesy of Ren\u00e9 Padilla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Catharine\u2019s story also confirmed for me the need to interrogate sources.\u00a0 As historians, we cannot uncritically receive narratives and documents that enter established archives\u2014especially within fraught religious, racialized or gendered spaces.\u00a0 Perhaps surprisingly, Catharine, as a female American missionary, actively sought to conceal <\/em>her own influence in order to expand<\/em> it.\u00a0 She navigated the expectations and restrictions of conservative evangelical spaces, while working behind the scenes to push social Christian ideas.\u00a0 Her influence was immense, while we may never know its full extent.<\/p>\n

My initial hypothesis was confirmed during my first day of interviews with Ren\u00e9 Padilla in his Buenos Aires home. \u00a0He gave a passing comment that Catharine, his spouse of almost 50 years, had edited \u201cnearly everything [he] wrote\u201d, including papers at global gatherings.\u00a0 Translation, of course, is never a neutral exercise but always involves interpretation. I began to ask how her own stamp marked Padilla\u2019s thinking from the outset. At a very basic level, Catharine provided a bridge for a non-native speaker like Ren\u00e9 Padilla to communicate his ideas fluently.\u00a0 But more importantly, she pushed Padilla leftward politically and theologically.\u00a0 She also gave him the license to accelerate a fierce critique of American foreign policy.\u00a0 Her love of Latin America kept Padilla in the region long after close colleagues like Escobar and Costas left for positions of influence in the United States and Canada.<\/p>\n

(I am also grateful for Dana Robert\u2019s work and friendship in helping excavate this story.\u00a0 While I knew I wanted to explore Catharine\u2019s fascinating and hidden influence, I am grateful to a coffeeshop conversation with Dana for the framework to understand it.<\/p>\n

One of the challenges of writing transnational history is language and travel. What were some of the challenges and rewards of traveling abroad and working in Spanish?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Writing this book was deeply enriching for me.\u00a0 The diverse people I met, the gripping stories I heard, and the indelible experiences I had will live with me forever.\u00a0 In terms of research, Spanish was indispensable given the contested and transnational space that the main characters operated within.<\/p>\n

In a story like this one, only dealing in English sources would have severely distorted the narrative\u2014especially given the power dynamics between Latin America and the United States.\u00a0 Many of the Latin American leaders I interviewed are bilingual.\u00a0 For me, interviewing them in Spanish was an intentional choice to allow them to tell their story in their native language.\u00a0 This created more work for me, as the book is written in English, but I think allowed for a more rich and accurate narrative.\u00a0 More importantly, I think, I was constantly aware of my own positionality as an American researcher, especially over the question of power balance.\u00a0 As a white American male, I wanted to shift the power as much of it toward my Latin American informants. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond my positionality, the Spanish research produced some surprising and fruitful discoveries.\u00a0 Padilla and Escobar, for example, often used their bilingualism to their own advantage.\u00a0 There are even a handful of examples in the book where they either changed the meaning or gave alterative translations of their fierce critiques of American evangelicalism.\u00a0 This is simply one example where they sought to obscure the white American gaze across the border and carve space for their own contextual thinking.\u00a0 On a textual level, most of their writings are Spanish documents that remain untranslated.\u00a0 Comparing writings in Certeza <\/em>magazine against Christianity Today, <\/em>for example, produced some fruitful discoveries that the book explores.<\/p>\n

Who is the most complex or intriguing character in your book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Padilla in 2013 in Buenos Aires, where he got his idea for misi\u00f3n integral. Courtesy of David Kirkpatrick.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Exploring Ren\u00e9 Padilla\u2019s life and influence was fascinating to me.\u00a0 Padilla\u2019s story is an improbable one\u2014from an impoverished Ecuadorian family, to Wheaton College and Manchester University, to speaking truth to Billy Graham on the global stage.\u00a0 Padilla\u2019s story was both typical of Protestant evangelical minorities in Latin America and a-typical in terms of its trajectory.\u00a0 He was stoned as a child for attempting to enroll in a local school as a Protestant, dodged assassination attempts as he planted churches, and endured multiple arson attempts made on their homes and churches\u2014dozens of evangelical church buildings and homes were burned down around them. \u00a0To this day, Padilla bears scars from stones thrown at him as he walked down the streets of Bogota\u0301, as early as age seven.\u00a0 Ren\u00e9 Padilla\u2019s story demonstrates the long reach of evangelical networks that transcended borders, class, race, and language.\u00a0 I hope the reader finds his story as gripping as I did.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I shouldn\u2019t ask this of a historian, but what is at stake here? If yo<\/strong>u were to write a \u201cConcluding Unscientific Postscript\u201d that was more normative than descriptive, what would you say?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the biggest challenges facing American evangelicalism today is this: \u201cHow will its leaders and churches respond to the increasing diversity of the United States?\u201d\u00a0 Unfortunately, evangelicals\u2014and Americans more broadly\u2014are often incapable or just unwilling to carefully mine their own history for direction.\u00a0 In this case, key insights into questions of justice, diversity, inclusion, and mission might be found in recent evangelical history.\u00a0 In other words, these questions are neither new nor unexpected, and many wonderful insights might be found within fraught Cold War tension over race, power, and foreign relations.\u00a0 Evangelicals can learn from their own successes and failures, timidity and courage, paternalism and partnership that dot this story in A Gospel for the Poor.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the United States, evangelicalism is facing a crisis of identity.\u00a0 While many prominent leaders have denounced white supremacy and racial bomb-throwing, challenges of diversity, inclusion, and justice remain.\u00a0 How can they remain faithful to their history and mission while addressing monumental challenges ahead?\u00a0 Perhaps part of the answer lies in their own history south of the Rio Grande.\u00a0 An alternative history of evangelicalism\u2014and definition\u2014arises when seen through the eyes of non-white evangelicals.\u00a0 Perhaps an alternative future arises alongside it.<\/p>\n

Anything else you would like to tell your readers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a writer, there are few joys greater than hearing from a reader.\u00a0 I would love to hear from you with comments, questions, or your own writing journey!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Swartz interviews David Kirkpatrick about his new book on the Latin American evangelical left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1483,"featured_media":45056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[611,833,43,35,1154],"tags":[5405,5408,5402,2773],"class_list":["post-45062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cold-war","category-david-swartz","category-evangelicalism","category-global-church","category-social-justice","tag-catharine-feser-padilla","tag-dana-robert","tag-rene-padilla","tag-samuel-escobar"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Latin American Evangelical Left: An Interview with David Kirkpatrick, Part II<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"David Swartz interviews David Kirkpatrick about his new book on the Latin American evangelical left.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Latin American Evangelical Left: An Interview with David Kirkpatrick, Part II\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"David Swartz interviews David Kirkpatrick about his new book on the Latin American evangelical left.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Anxious Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-22T04:01:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-03T20:48:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/168\/2019\/05\/Gospel-for-the-Poor.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"243\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"367\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Swartz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Swartz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/\",\"name\":\"The Latin American Evangelical Left: An Interview with David Kirkpatrick, Part II\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-22T04:01:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-03T20:48:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/04b1a43579231e63870f55020aacacf1\"},\"description\":\"David Swartz interviews David Kirkpatrick about his new book on the Latin American evangelical left.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Latin American Evangelical Left: An Interview with David Kirkpatrick, Part II\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\",\"name\":\"Anxious Bench\",\"description\":\"The Relevance of Religious History for Today\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/04b1a43579231e63870f55020aacacf1\",\"name\":\"David Swartz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40c75c130fe0fd22181e58881eeb7fb5?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40c75c130fe0fd22181e58881eeb7fb5?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Swartz\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/author\/dswartz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Latin American Evangelical Left: An Interview with David Kirkpatrick, Part II","description":"David Swartz interviews David Kirkpatrick about his new book on the Latin American evangelical left.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Latin American Evangelical Left: An Interview with David Kirkpatrick, Part II","og_description":"David Swartz interviews David Kirkpatrick about his new book on the Latin American evangelical left.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/","og_site_name":"Anxious Bench","article_published_time":"2019-05-22T04:01:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-03T20:48:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":243,"height":367,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/168\/2019\/05\/Gospel-for-the-Poor.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Swartz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Swartz","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/","name":"The Latin American Evangelical Left: An Interview with David Kirkpatrick, Part II","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-05-22T04:01:26+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-03T20:48:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/04b1a43579231e63870f55020aacacf1"},"description":"David Swartz interviews David Kirkpatrick about his new book on the Latin American evangelical left.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2019\/05\/the-latin-american-evangelical-left-an-interview-with-david-kirkpatrick-part-ii\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Latin American Evangelical Left: An Interview with David Kirkpatrick, Part II"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/","name":"Anxious Bench","description":"The Relevance of Religious History for Today","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/04b1a43579231e63870f55020aacacf1","name":"David Swartz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40c75c130fe0fd22181e58881eeb7fb5?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40c75c130fe0fd22181e58881eeb7fb5?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"David Swartz"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/author\/dswartz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1483"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}