This project will produce a book length study on Latino/a biblical hermeneutic perspectives that is academically rigorous and thus able to engage the concerns and questions of contemporary hermeneutic discussions in the theological academy while at the same time being accessible to especially Latino/a pastors and lay leaders who can pragmatically deploy such perspectives in their biblical interpretation and teaching in Latino/Hispanic congregations and communities today.

Although other scholars have already provided some initial, indispensable work on Latino/Hispanic biblical interpretation, these studies are preliminary and often appear as discrete scholarly articles. They are also authored by first generation, immigrant or Diaspora Hispanic scholars. This project is distinct in that it will result in a full, academic (yet accessible) book length study of Latino/a biblical hermeneutic perspectives, and will be written by a member of a rapidly growing segment of the Latino/Hispanic population—second or third generation and mixed race Latino/a persons born and raised in the United States.

The project contends that the hermeneutic perspectives deployed in most contemporary Latino/Hispanic contexts are not adequate to empower Latino/a church leaders to forge effective faith based responses to the serious challenges facing Latino/Hispanic communities today. The project thus seeks to claim a more secure place for Latino/a biblical hermeneutics in the academy and also to capture the theological and interpretive imaginations of Latina/o church leaders by grounding Latina/o biblical hermeneutic perspectives in a distinct Latino/a hybrid consciousness or subjectivity and by developing hermeneutic perspectives around key principles and symbols emerging from Latino/a realities and experiences: the ‘Reality’ of the Biblical Narrative; Indigenous Wisdom; Diaspora Existence; the Liberating Spirit (Pentecostalism and Liberation Theology in dialogue); the Logic of Fiesta; e