Justo Gonzalez

Justo L. González is a Cuban-American Methodist historian, theologian, a prolific author, and an influential contributor in the development of Latino/Latina [Hispanic] theology.

Contents

Education

Justo L. González was born in Cuba on August 9, 1937,[1] attended United Seminary in Cuba, received his M.A. from Yale, and then went on to receive his Ph.D. He was the youngest person to be awarded the historical theology doctorate at Yale.

Teaching

González taught at Candler School of Theology of Emory University in Georgia for eight years followed by eight years at United Seminary. He also served as adjunct professor of history at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia and is now retired from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.[2] He was also a member of the Rio Grande Conference of The United Methodist Church.[3]

He is a leading voice in the growing field of Hispanic theology,[4] comparable to such figures as Virgilio Elizondo, Orlando Costas,[5] and Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz. González is one of the few first generation Latino theologians to come from a Protestant background. (See list of Hispanic theologians.) With Mexican-American United Methodist minister Roy Barton, González helped found the first academic journal related to Latino/a theology, Apuntes published by the Mexican American Program of Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.[6] He also helped to found the Association for Hispanic Theological Education, for which he has twice served as Executive Council Chair.[7] He was the first Academic Director of the Hispanic Summer Program[8] and helped found the Hispanic Theological Initiative.[9]

A festschrift has been published for him: Hispanic Christian Thought at the Dawn of the 21st century: Apuntes in Honor of Justo L. González, edited by Alvin Padilla, Roberto Goizueta, Eldin Villafañe (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005) with contributions from Roman Catholic and Protestant Latina and Latino theologians, historians, and biblical scholars.

Justo González is the main narrator for the video lessons of the Christian Believer study course from Cokesbury publishing.

Writings

In 1984–5 González wrote a popular two volume textbook entitled The Story of Christianity that covers the history of the church from founding till the present in a readable style. He is also the author of a three volume work titled History of Christian Thought. Both works commonly are used as college and seminary textbooks.

Additional books include:

Notes

  1. ^ CV online at
  2. ^ see
  3. ^ CV online at
  4. ^ Bañuelas, Arturo J. “U.S. Hispanic Theology: An Initial Assessment.” 1992. Mestizo Christianity: Theology from the Latino Perspective. Ed. Bañuelas. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995. 53-82; Aponte, Edwin David and De La Torre, Miguel A., eds., Handbook of Latina/o Theologies. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2006; Fernandez, Eduardo C., La Cosecha: Harvesting Contemporary United States Hispanic Theology, 1972-1998. Liturgical Press, 2000; De La Torre, Miguel A., and Edwin David Aponte, Introducing Latino/a Theologies. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001. .
  5. ^ Rossing, John P. "Mestizaje and Marginality: A Hispanic American Theology." Theology Today 45.3 (1988): 293-304. Online at [1]
  6. ^ Cortez, Marc. "Mañana Theology: The Challenge of U.S. Hispanic Theology for Theological Education in the 21st Century." Paper presented to the Evangelical Theological Society, Portland, OR. April 3, 2004. Online at [2]
  7. ^ AETH website
  8. ^ HSP website
  9. ^ see

Bibliography