B.A., Southern California College
M.A.T.S., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Ph.D., Boston University
e-mail: ruben-rivera@bethel.edu
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Courses Taught
Christianity and Western Culture
Christianity in America
Latin American Civilizations
Latin American Christianity
Minorities in America
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The parts of the discipline of history that most intrigue and fascinate me are...
...reading and researching in primary source documents.
For me, history comes alive when it is more than just a series of
dates, places, events, or even controversial issues and concepts that
someone else from a different time, place, or even culture, has
compiled after the history actually took place. For me this always
feels like getting second hand information, filtered and interpreted
before I actually get it.
For example, reading the accounts of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, the
post-Cortéz Aztec oral tradition, African Americans David Walker, Ida
Wells, and countless others (whose stories most people never got to
hear in public school), sheds light on historical events in a way
previously unheard of less than one generation ago. To paraphrase one
of my students: I live just a stone's throw away from where all this is
supposed to have taken place, and I never heard any of this before. For
me, going to the original sources puts me closer to the truth, puts a
human face on history, and demands critical thinking and reevaluation
about "how things really went."
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One of the things I enjoy most in the classroom is...
...dialogue that arises on what we are learning means to Christian faith.
In history courses we have opportunity to see how people of the past
thought and acted, and the legacy they have left us to deal with, both
good and bad. In the classroom, participants generally (or at least
initially) fall into two categories: those whose culture and personal
experiences make it is easy to be critical, judgmental, and
unsympathetic about the past, and those whose culture and experiences
promote defensiveness or denial about anything that hints at blame, or
otherwise causes discomfort, shame or guilt. I therefore consider it
progress when someone raises a question like, "Would we really have
done differently if we were in their place?" Or, "Are we really
thinking and acting any differently today?" For me, this is one of the
most exciting things about the Christian liberal arts classroom: faith
asking honest questions about harsh realties, past and present. The
dream to be realized is living out the truth we discover.
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Currently, I am working on...
finishing my doctoral dissertation on a key pioneer of indigenous Latin
American mainline Protestantism before the liberation theology era.
Beyond this I have several projects that I have started to plan,
research, and in some cases write (which will have to take a back seat
until my dissertation is completed).
Some of these are, the Hispanic Protestant experience in the U.S.;
dialogues from a Hispanic evangelical perspective on the ongoing
challenges to racial and ethnic equality and other issues of
Christianity and social justice; and developing the theological
foundations for this dialogue.
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Some interesting things I have done in the past include...
research and oral interviews in the history of Puerto Rican
Pentecostalism; studies in the expansion of evangelical religion in
Latin America, its impact and implications for the future; history and
issues of Christian missions in the "Third World"; and social justice
from a Hispanic evangelical perspective.
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Certain books have
shaped who I am as a historian:
Chief among these of course is the Bible. It is
central to my worldview and helps me to make sense
of what people (including Christians) have said
and done in the context of the sin problem common
to all humanity. As a young Christian the books of writers like
C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton helped me to think
critically about what I believe and why. These writers
ingrained in me the habit of looking for assumptions,
prejudices, agendas, and unevaluated opinions that
often underlie a person's beliefs and arguments.
The writings of proponents of liberation theology
like Dom Helder Camara, Leonardo Boff, Gustavo Gutiérrez,
Paulo Friere, and others, allowed me to see for
the first time that maybe some aspects of my precious
Christian tradition and practices were themselves
based not so much on biblical truth as certain cultural
assumptions and prejudices. While I do not subscribe
to the whole liberation theology package, which
is itself currently undergoing change, it has raised
important questions, like, how can some Christians
be satisfied to be part of certain social attitudes
and structures that oppress and impoverish other
people for whom Christ died? Some books I would
recommend are:Justo González, Mañana:
Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective
John de Gruchy,The
Church Struggle in South Africa
Vincent Donovan, Christianity
Rediscovered
Virgilio Elizondo, The
Future is Mestizo: Life Where Cultures Meet.
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Advice I would give to college students:
As you prepare for your career,
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- trust absolutely in the grace and guidance of God--honoring
God in all you do--while you do all you can at the level of common
sense and good stewardship;
- never surrender your conscience to any human being, agency, or
movement; never coerce others to surrender their conscience to you; but
live out what you really believe in humility and without fanfare;
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pursue excellence; reach for the stars; but resist with
all your might that magical transition most people make, from achieving
success and power to believing that is where they belonged all along.
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