Last month, NYU Press released “A Critical Introduction to Religion in the Americas: Bridging the Liberation Theology and Religious Studies Divide” by Michelle A. Gonzalez (University of Miami). The publisher’s description follows:
A Critical Introduction to Religion in the Americas argues that we cannot understand religion in the Americas
By drawing on a combination of historical and ethnographic sources, this volume provides a basic introduction to the study of religion and theology in the Latino/a, Black, and Latin American contexts, and then shows how theology can be reframed to better speak to the concerns of both religious studies and the real people the theologians’ work is meant to represent. Informed by the dialogue partners explored throughout the text, this volume presents a hemispheric approach to discussing lived religious movements. While not dismissive of liberation theologies, this approach is critical of their past and offers challenges to their future as well as suggestions for preventing their untimely demise. It is clear that the liberation theologies of tomorrow cannot look like the liberation theologies of today.