Misión Integral and Progressive Evangelicalism: The Latin American Influence on the North American Emerging Church

Journal Title: Religions - Year 2012, Vol 3, Issue 3

Abstract

Though commonly identified with the conservative politics of the Christian Right, over the past decade evangelicals in the United States have increasingly embraced a more politically progressive range of social concerns. Often treated as something wholly new, this trend actually has roots in Latin American evangelicalism from the 1970s. Latin American theologian/practitioners like C. René Padilla and Samuel Escobar of the Latin American Theological Fellowship, promoted a holistic vision of the church‘s mission, what they called misión integral, seeking to integrate both evangelism and socio-political involvement on behalf of the poor and oppressed. These Latin American thinkers played a direct role in the rise of progressive evangelicalism in the United States in the 1970s. While overshadowed for a time by the Christian Right, the concept of misión integral and its Latin American exponents has continued to influence the resurgence of progressive social concerns among North American evangelicals in the first decade of the 21st century, and especially those associated with the emerging church movement.

Authors and Affiliations

Michael Clawson

Keywords

Related Articles

Economic Inequality: An Ethical Response

This essay will inquire into the nature of economic inequality from the perspectives of Catholic social teaching and that of a theologian living and working in a developing country. My initial comments will discuss ine...

Child Sexual Abuse in Protestant Christian Congregations: A Descriptive Analysis of Offense and Offender Characteristics

Utilizing data from 326 cases of alleged child sexual abuse that occurred at or through activities provided by Protestant Christian congregations, this study examines demographic and contextual characteristics of alleg...

‘Better as a Buddhist’: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Reflections on the Religious Beliefs of Buddhist Men Serving a Prison Sentence for a Sexual Offence

This paper presents a qualitative analysis of the accounts offered by individuals (n = 7) convicted of a sexual offense who describe themselves as Buddhists. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews withi...

Marketing Missions: Material Culture, Theological Convictions, and Empire in 18th-Century Christian Philanthropy

In the 18th century, Halle Pietists were part of a global missionary network that reached into North America and that anticipated later developments in worldwide evangelical missions; Pietists made critical alliances w...

Why Disability Studies Needs to Take Religion Seriously

Religion and theology are central ways that many people make sense of the world and their own place in that world. But the insights of critical studies of religion, or what is sometimes positioned as religious studies...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP25267
  • DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel3030790
  • Views 347
  • Downloads 14

How To Cite

Michael Clawson (2012). Misión Integral and Progressive Evangelicalism: The Latin American Influence on the North American Emerging Church. Religions, 3(3), -. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-25267