Hispanic Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists in Texas

by Paul Barton

Overview

The question of how one can be both Hispanic and Protestant has perplexed Mexican Americans in Texas ever since Anglo-American Protestants began converting their Mexican Catholic neighbors early in the nineteenth century. Mexican-American Protestants have faced the double challenge of being a religious minority within the larger Mexican-American community and a cultural minority within their Protestant denominations. As they have negotiated and sought to reconcile these two worlds over nearly two centuries, los Protestantes have melded Anglo-American Protestantism with Mexican-American culture to create a truly indigenous, authentic, and empowering faith tradition in the Mexican-American community.

This book presents the first comparative history of Hispanic Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists in Texas. Covering a broad sweep from the 1830s to the 1990s, Paul Barton examines how Mexican-American Protestant identities have formed and evolved as los Protestantes interacted with their two very different communities in the barrio and in the Protestant church. He looks at historical trends and events that affected Mexican-American Protestant identity at different periods and discusses why and how shifts in los Protestantes' sense of identity occurred. His research highlights the fact that while Protestantism has traditionally served to assimilate Mexican Americans into the dominant U.S. society, it has also been transformed into a vehicle for expressing and transmitting Hispanic culture and heritage by its Mexican-American adherents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292713352
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	05/01/2006
Series:	Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture , #18
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

Paul Barton is Associate Professor of Hispanic Church Studies at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. The Tejano/a Catholic Worldview
• Chapter 3. "Onward Christian Soldiers": Anglo-Protestant Missionaries
• Chapter 4. "Jesus Is All the World to Me": Los Protestantes' Appropriation of Anglo-American Protestantism
• Chapter 5. "Jesús Es Mi Rey Soberano": The Mexican-American Character of los Protestantes
• Chapter 6. ¿"Somos Uno en el Espíritu"? The Relationship between los Protestantes and Catholicism
• Chapter 7. Conclusion
• Appendix A. Institutional History of the Rio Grande Annual Conference
• Appendix B. Institutional History of the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas
• Appendix C. Institutional History of the Texas-Mexican Presbytery
• Appendix D. Maximo Villarreal Book Collection
• Appendix E. Course of Study Readings for Ordination for Spanish-Speaking Methodists
• Appendix F. "Hispanic Creed"
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

What People are Saying About This

Justo L. González

Dr. Barton's book will provide an arena for significant dialogue among scholars, as well as between Catholics and Protestants, on the nature and significance of Hispanic Protestantism in the United States.... There is no question that this book is a significant contribution to the field. Indeed, there is no other book like it.

Justo L. González

Dr. Barton's book will provide an arena for significant dialogue among scholars, as well as between Catholics and Protestants, on the nature and significance of Hispanic Protestantism in the United States.... There is no question that this book is a significant contribution to the field. Indeed, there is no other book like it.
-- Justo L. González, author of the highly praised volumes The Story of Christianity and History of Christian Thought