Hispanic Summer Program
Posted July 9, 2006
FORT WORTH -- A half-dozen students from Asbury Seminary in Wilmore and Lexington Theological Seminary (LTS) are at Texas Christian University this month to attend the Hispanic Summer Program.
They'll be taking courses, such as Postcolonial Biblical Criticism, Multicultural Ministry, Documenting and Constructing the History of the Latino Church, and Discovering Jesus in the U.S. Latino/a Context.
About 65 students from 20 divinity schools across the United States are taking part in the two-week long program, the only one of its kind in the United States.
Most participants are Hispanic, although the program accepts people of all races and denominations who are interested in Latino church ministry. Catholics, Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants and Pentecostals are all participating.
This is the program's 18th year and director Jose Irizarry describes it as "a seminary without walls." Last year, it met at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. Next year, it will be held at Duke.
Chapel is held each weekday and attendance is mandatory. Students organize the sessions. "It's important for all of us to come -- not as observers, but as participants," Irizarry said.
This afternoon, LTS Dean Daisy Machado will speak at the program's convocation. Machado, a native of Cuba, taught at TCU before coming to Lexington last year.
The convocation is at 3:30 p.m. -- until then, many participants are pausing to watch the World Cup Finals match between France and Italy (which is tied 1-1 as I write.)
Many of the students and professors are immigrants -- from Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala. They've flown here from Massachusetts and California and all the so-called flyover states in between.
Some courses are taught in Spanish. Others are in English. Each class meets three hours a day, five days a week. Classes begin tomorrow.
During free time yesterday, three Lexingtonians toured University Christian Church -- the second largest Disciples of Christ congregation in the U.S., as of 2005.
Some of the Disciples' most-gifted preachers, including Lexingtonian Albert Pennybacker, have served as pastor there.
The massive Italian-renaissance structure, on the edge of campus, is absolutely beautiful, popular with university staffers and just a bit high-brow. It's the only church I've seen with a subscription to The Economist -- visitors can browse the British newsweekly while they sip their Sunday morning coffee. The stained glass windows are distinctly Texan -- one features a cactus, another portrays a thistle. A third memorializes I horned frog -- Texas Christian's team mascot.
Horned frogs, which are actually lizards, are Texas' official state reptile, according to TCU's website. "When angered or frightened, horned frogs can squirt a fine, four-foot stream of blood from their eyes," the website claims.
(For more horned frog trivia, go to www.admissions.tcu.edu/horned_frog.asp)
(For more information on the theology program, go to www.hispanicsummerprogram.org)