Rev. Dr. Robert Chao Romero

Justice, Theology, and Mission: Lessons from Latina/o Theology and the Brown Church.

We live in a moment where many have entered the process of spiritual deconstruction and are asking complicated theological questions related to racial justice, mission, and Christian identity. Unbeknownst to most, Latin American and U.S. Latina/o Christians have wrestled with these same issues for the past five hundred years and developed passionate and persuasive responses. This talk explores the history of the Brown Church and asks:

How can Latina/o theological reflection on issues of racial justice (Brown Theology) serve as a roadmap for healthy spiritual reconstruction, mission, and identity formation?

Rev. Dr. Robert Chao Romero is "Asian-Latino," and has been a professor of Chicana/o Studies and Asian American Studies at UCLA since 2005. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA in Latin American History and his Juris Doctor from U.C. Berkeley. Romero has published more than 30 academic books and articles on issues of race, immigration, history, education, and religion, and received the Latina/o Studies book award from the international Latin American Studies Association. His recent book, Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity (2020), received the InterVarsity Press Readers’ Choice Award for best academic title. Romero is a former Ford Foundation and U.C. President's Postdoctoral Fellow, as well as a recipient of the Louisville Institute's Sabbatical Grant for Researchers. Robert is also an ordained minister and community organizer.