2008 Book Prize
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Drawing upon years of painstaking research, Rev. Dr. Raúl Gómez-Ruiz was declared the winner of this year’s Book Prize with his sweeping and multidisciplinary Mozarabs, Hispanics, and the Cross. The work presents original ways of viewing Hispanic Christianity, both historically and geographically, by exploring this heretofore ignored source in order to show the theological and cultural underpinnings of Hispanic religious practices impacting US Church life. He focuses on the Mozarabs, a Spanish ethnic group who experienced marginalization and domination by Islam and by Christian alike but because of their regard for their ancient rite, have been able to sustain their identity and community.
One way that culture and identity develop is by means of cultural events, that is, by means of rituals, such as the liturgy. Gómez-Ruiz avers that, “Our rituals say something about who we are in relation to one another but also in who we are in relation to God, the Church, and to society in the United States. Therefore my book is an invitation to us who call ourselves Hispanics, Latinos and Latinas in the United States, to examine the rituals that are constructing our cultural identity and asserting our presence in a culture which by our mere presence and participation in it is being shaped by us.”
Dr. Gómez-Ruiz, a priest of the Society of the Divine Savior, is professor and vice president for Academic Affairs at the Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin.
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2005 Book Prize
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With an impressive wealth of information, Dr. Arlene Sánchez-Walsh admirably succeeds in presenting to the reader a detailed and engaging analysis of the California Latina/o Pentecostal experience in her prize-winning book Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society. Focusing on four separate historical case studies, Dr. Sánchez-Walsh provides much-needed insight into this seldom explored territory, especially in view of the growing Latina/o Protestant population, three quarters of which is Pentecostal.
Dr. Sánchez-Walsh is Associate Professor of Church History and Latino Church Studies at the Haggard School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University. Her latest projects include a book on multicultural evangelical youth culture, as well as a textbook for Columbia University Press's "Religion in America" series entitled "Pentecostalism in America."
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2004 Book Prize
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Skillfully transforming her dissertation, Dr. Michelle A. González penned the 2004 winning entry, Sor Juana: Beauty and Justice in the Americas. With its versatile presentation in a manner that addresses several theological disciplines—history, theology, ethics, arts and religion— the work will surely draw the attention of a wide and discriminating audience. Drawing upon historical sensitivity in relating Sor Juana’s thought to its context, González shows conceptual depth in probing the categories of beauty, the good and the true, with an acute eye to contemporary theology regarding aesthetics, feminist theology, and Latin American liberation theology.
Dr. González, of Cuban heritage, is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at University of Miami, having obtained her PhD in Systematic and Philosophical Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in 2001. Her research and teaching interests include Latina/o, Latin American, and Feminist Theologies, as well as inter-disciplinary work in theological aesthetics.
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2003 Book Prize
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Innovation is something the HTI program seeks on a constant basis, and last year’s inauguration of the Book Prize proved to be a fruitful incursion into a territory previously unknown to us. The 2003 prize once again gave evidence of the literary and scholarly talents of several worthy Latina/o authors who gave their insight into a myriad of compelling topics.
Dr. Benjamín Valentín's Mapping Public Theology: Beyond Culture, Identity and Difference presents a bold and far-reaching argument for a basic shift in the agenda of the Hispanic/Latino theology in general. The work proposes that it is time for Hispanic/Latino theology to move beyond the essential work of affirming Hispanic cultural identity and popular religion, to move into a broader coalition or alliance of liberation theologies. Valentín presents this argument in such depth and detail that the book could very well become a landmark in the field, perhaps reframing basic issues of theological methodology for the next generation of Hispanic and Latina/o theologians.
Dr. Valentín, of Puerto Rican heritage, is Professor of Theology and Culture and Director of the Orlando Costas Latino/a Studies Program at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. His teaching and research interests are in contemporary theology and culture, constructive theology, the relation of religion and theology to American public life, and liberation theology.
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2002 Book Prize
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On Being Human: U.S. Hispanic and Rahnerian Perspectives by Miguel H. Diaz is a very careful and constructive form of dialogue between the US Hispanic theological community, regarding anthropology in general, and the formidable theological program of Karl Rahner. Furthermore, it is a fresh, clear project that advances the dialogue between Hispanic theological developments and a significant "traditional" voice in Catholic theology. Diaz effectively summarizes seven leading Hispanic theologians regarding anthropology and presents Rahner's theological program with considerable nuance. The result is a very fruitful conversation which itself approaches the constructive theological task regarding grace, person and community, and the social-practical dimensions of the human encounter with grace in community. Diaz further positions himself for an interesting dialogue with such womanists as Shawn Copeland, whose theological work is also in conversation with Rahner. The work is beautifully written, expertly documented, and truly learned.
Dr. Díaz is a Cuban-American who teaches theology at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He is co-editor of From the Heart of Our People: Latino/a Explorations in Catholic Systematic Theology.
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