Predicadores

podcastOPTalksBooks2021 Book Prize
Written By Open Plaza

Dr. João Chaves and Rev. Dr. Tito Madrazo discuss his latest book on Hispanic preaching and immigrant identity

Image: David Malan/Getty Images

Image: David Malan/Getty Images

 
 

Rev. Dr. Tito Madrazo sees ethnography as a way of "bearing witness, of bearing testimony." In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. João Chaves talks to Rev. Dr. Madrazo about his new book Predicadores: Hispanic Preaching and Immigrant Identity (Baylor University Press, 2021) and about his work, which was deeply influenced by his own personal story. Born in Venezuela and now an ordained Baptist pastor, Rev. Dr. Madrazo embarked on four years of ethnographic research with first-generation Hispanic Protestant preachers and their congregations, journeying together as collaborators in his research project. In the sermons and stories of his collaborators, he discovered that pastors "proclaimed God as they had come to know God through their migration experiences,” each experience unique. Rev. Dr. Madrazo discusses his approach to research, and why he includes his collaborators in the process of telling their stories—a reminder of the homiletical importance of understanding and proclaiming the gospel from within particular cultures.

 
 

In this groundbreaking ethnographic study, Tito Madrazo examines the preaching lives and practices of Hispanic immigrants in the United States. Madrazo not only welcomes these often-neglected voices into the North American homiletical conversation, but he also develops an exciting new method for the study of preaching. Both inspiring and informative,  Predicadores is a timely and vital contribution to the homiletical literature.

—Charles L. Campbell, James T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor of Homiletics, Duke Divinity School

 
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João Chaves

Dr. João Chaves is Assistant Professor of Evangelism and Mission at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Associate Director for Programming at the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI). He holds a PhD in Religion from Baylor University, and has presented and published his research broadly, both in English and in Portuguese. Dr. Chaves is the author of four books, including Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity in the Latinx Diaspora (Baylor University Press, 2021) and The Global Mission of the Jim Crow South: Southern Baptist Missions and the Shaping of Latin American Evangelicalism (Mercer University Press, 2022). His forthcoming book, co-written with Mikeal Parsons, is titled Remembering Antônia Teixeira: A Story if Missions, Violence, and Institutional Hypocrisy (Eerdmans, 2023). He has contributed to numerous book reviews, peer-reviewed articles, and chapters in larger works. His ongoing projects include editing “Christianity, Race, and Ethnicity: Latinx Critical Conversations on Identity Construction and Religious Participation” for Perspectives in Religious Studies (Winter 2022) and co-editing, with T. Laine Scales, the forthcoming book Baptists and the Kingdom of God (Baylor University Press, 2023). Dr. Chaves is also co-editor for the Perspectives on Baptist Identity book series, published by Mercer University Press, and works with the Editorial Board for the HTI Series on Religion and Theology En Conjunto, a book series published by Baylor University Press.

Featured
Tito Madrazo

Rev. Dr. Tito Madrazo is a Program Director in the Religion Division at Lilly Endowment Inc. Previously, he served as the founding director of the Hispanic-Latino/a Preaching Initiative at Duke Divinity School, and as a Missional Strategist in Duke's Hispanic House of Studies. Dr. Madrazo also pastored congregations in Texas and North Carolina for 18 years.

A native of Venezuela, Dr. Madrazo is a graduate of Baylor University, Gardner-Webb University, and Duke Divinity School. In addition to his academic and ministerial work in the United States, Madrazo has also taught extensively in Latin America. He recently published Predicadores: Hispanic Preaching and Immigrant Identity (Baylor University Press, 2021), an ethnographic exploration of the identity and preaching of first-generation, Protestant pastors in North Carolina.

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