Justo L. Gonzalez: Missionary of Hispanic Theology in the United States: A Chat with Angel Vendrell

In today’s episode, Claire meets with Angel D. Santiago-Vendrell to talk about his book Justo L. Gonzalez: Missionary of Hispanic Theology in the United States.

Two of celebrated Hispanic theologian Justo L. González’s major works, The Story of Christianity and A History of Christian Thought, continue to be used as primary textbooks in undergraduate and seminary programs throughout the United States. But few of his literary students and admirers know the details of his biography, in particular the significance of his contribution to the emergence of Hispanic theology in the United States during the past five decades.

In this biography, Angel Santiago-Vendrell gives fresh attention to González’s role in a rapidly changing theological landscape. Born in Cuba in 1937 and profoundly shaped by the "revolutionary decade" of the 1950s, González studied theology at Yale, Basel, and Strasbourg, where he encountered George Lindbeck, Karl Barth, and Yves Congar. He became good friends with Martin Luther King, Jr., during the 1960s while teaching at the Evangelical Seminary in Puerto Rico. He later went on to serve at Candler School of Theology and then to take various denominational positions in the United Methodist Church. His work for the Fund for Theological Education led to the creation of the Hispanic Theological Initiative in 1998. Although González is best known as a prolific author, Santiago-Vendrell argues that his most enduring contribution to Western Christianity is as a pioneer in Hispanic theology.

González’s story reveals new strategies for the advancement of Hispanic people, the largest ethnic/racial minority in the United States but with the lowest proportion of educated leaders, pastors, and professors. His example of perseverance in Christian vocation calls Hispanic believers to remember and reignite their witness. Santiago-Vendrell presents González’s life and work as embodying a missional passion rooted in the gospel of incarnation, of God’s work in history. This incarnational theology is the center of an unwavering commitment in González’s life to equip and unite Christians in their proclamation of the faith. This painstaking engagement with and for the church—Hispanic and otherwise—continues to bear much fruit.

Dr. Angel D. Santiago-Vendrell is a professor ofworld Christianity and witness. He was born and raised in Puerto Rico and came to faith in Christ at the age of nineteen after hearing a sermon by Rev. Ludy González, a Puerto Rican female Pentecostal pastor. He served as a youth pastorand assistant pastor in Puerto Rico, and as senior pastor of Iglesia Metodista Unida San Andres in Jamaica Plains, MA, for three years. Before coming to Truett, from 2008 to 2010, he was an assistant professor of mission studies at Memphis Theological Seminary, and from 2010 to 2023, he served as the E. Stanley Jones associate professor of evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary, Orlando Campus. Dr. Santiago-Vendrell is passionate about missionary historiography, especially biographical studies, and how those stories could shape current Christian practices that aretransforming and liberating. He also enjoys surfing, playing basketball, and building Star Wars Lego. He lives in the Waco area with his wife, Misoon Im, and their two sons.