Hispanic Protestants have been one of the most rapidly growing demographic groups in the United States over the last few decades. Sociologists have written about the cultural and political identities of this group, and theologians have reflected on theology and ethics from Hispanic Protestant perspectives, but considerably less attention has been paid to the predicadores/preachers in Hispanic Protestant congregations and the messages they proclaim on a weekly basis.
In Predicadores: Hispanic Preaching and Immigrant Identity, Tito Madrazo explores the sermons of Hispanic Protestant preachers within the context of their individual and communal journeys. Formed by overlapping experiences of migration and calling and rooted in their own bilingual and bicultural realities, the first-generation preachers who collaborated in this study interpret and proclaim Scripture in ways that refuse easy characterization. What is certain is that their preaching--which incorporates both traditional and liberative elements--resonates deeply with their immigrant congregations. Madrazo contends that the power of these preachers lies in how they consistently proclaim the characteristics of God that have been most significant to them in their own migrations.
Based on four years of collaborative ethnographic research, Predicadores reveals the richness of everyday preaching in local Hispanic Protestant congregations. Madrazo utilizes contemporary sociology, history, and theology in order to situate this study’s preachers within broader discourses. The witness of Hispanic Protestant predicadores is a reminder of the homiletical importance of understanding and proclaiming the gospel from within particular cultures.
