Gaston Espinosa, assistant professor of religious studies, gave a keynote presentation at Harvard University Divinity School last week on the subject of Brown Moses: Latino Pentecostal Healing, Power, and Cultural Redemption in the Borderlands.
In his paper, Espinosa explored the origins of the Latino Pentecostal movement in the 1920s and 1930s, during which time the first mass defections took place from Latino Catholicism to Protestantism. He examined how Max Weber's theory of the charismatic prophet helps to explains how many Latino Pentecostal leaders were able to engage in a process of cultural redemption on behalf of the Mexican American people. His 50-minute presentation was followed a 20-minute Q&A session and a dinner party at the Harvard University Faculty Club.
Espinosa also spoke live on the BBC World News show on Sunday, April 13, in light of Pope Benedict XVI's visit, on the topic of Latino Catholic Defections to Evangelical and Pentecostalism Protestantism in the United States. On Saturday, April 19, Espinosa also was a featured guest for the Mormonism, Religion, and American Politics: The Future of Mormonism in High Places Conference at the Claremont School of Theology.
Espinosa president of La Comunidad of Hispanic Scholars of Religion, is the author or editor of Latino Religions and Civic Activism in the United States (Oxford 2005), Rethinking Latino Religions and Identity (Pilgrim 2006), Mexican American Religions: Spirituality, Activism, and Culture (Duke, 2008), and the forthcoming Race, Religion and the American Presidency (August 2008), Religion and the American Presidency (Columbia, January 2009), and "Not by Might": A Documentary History of William J. Seymour, the Azusa Street Revival, and Global Pentecostal Origins (Duke 2009).