Hispanic Methodists, Presbyterians, And Baptists in Texas

by Barton, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780292713352
• ISBN10: 0292713355
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

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 neighbours 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 Protestanteshave 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 aslos Protestantesinteracted 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 inlos 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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
1. Introduction	1	(11)
2. The Tejano/a Catholic Worldview	12	(15)
3. "Onward Christian Soldiers": Anglo-Protestant Missionaries	27	(18)
4. "Jesus Is All the World to Me": Los Protestantes' Appropriation of Anglo-American Protestantism	45	(33)
5. "Jesús Es Mi Rey Soberano": The Mexican-American Character of los Protestantes	78	(37)
6. ¿"Somos Uno en el Espiritu"? The Relationship between los Protestantes and Catholicism	115	(22)
7. Conclusion	137	(10)
Appendices
A. Institutional History of the Rio Grande Annual Conference	147	(5)
B. Institutional History of the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas	152	(5)
C. Institutional History of the Texas-Mexican Presbytery	157	(4)
D. Máximo Villarreal Book Collection	161	(7)
E. Course of Study Readings for Ordination for Spanish-Speaking Methodists	168	(4)
F. "Hispanic Creed"	172	(3)
Notes	175	(40)
Bibliography	215	(18)
Index	233