137 - Prophets Denied Honor: An Anthology on the Hispanic Church in the United States

Prophets Denied Honor: An Anthology
on the Hispanic Church in the United States
By Antonio M. Stevens Arroyo
Maryknoll. Orbis, 1980. 279 pp. $12.95 (paper).

Selections from over sixty authors including reports and documents from numerous conferences, are here compiled. An impressive variety of literature, almost exclusively from Mexican-American and Puerto Rican sources, captures the richness of the Hispanic alma and the struggle of this beleaguered community for dignity and self-determination in and outside the church.

Every section and most articles are prefaced with historical and biographical data serving a two-fold purpose: (1) to introduce the context which inspired the writings; and (2) to provide a framework which unites a diverse body of literature into a cogent treatise.

The book is divided into four sections. The first consists of writings of Hispanic pensadores who shaped and voiced the Hispanic identity. The second details the emergence of an indigenous Hispanic Catholic leadership and consciousness expressed in new liturgical forms, militant resistance to oppression, and an emerging dynamic clergy and laity. The final two sections provide a sweeping survey of the genesis, development, and consequences of the two historic National Hispanic Pastoral Encounters in 1972 and 1977.

Hispanic and non-Hispanic scholars, ministers, teachers, and students will find this an invaluable reference.

Benjamin Alicea
New Brunswick Theological Seminary
New Brunswick, N.J.