Reading the Bible from the Margins [Paperback]

Miguel A. de la Torre (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Orbis Books (March 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570754101
• ISBN-13: 978-1570754104
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For more information on Dr. De La Torre, visit his website at: www.drmigueldelatorre.com


Miguel A. De La Torre (born October 6, 1958) is an associate-professor of social ethics at Iliff School of Theology, a religious scholar, author, and an ordained minister. Born in Cuba months before the Castro Revolution, De La Torre and his family migrated to the United States as refugees when he was an infant. At nineteen years of age he began a real estate company in Miami. De La Torre dissolved the thirteen-year-old real estate company in 1992 to attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in order to obtain a Masters in Divinity and enter the ministry. During his seminary training he served as pastor at a rural congregation.

De La Torre continued his theological training and obtained a doctorate from Temple University in social ethics in 1999. According to the books he published, he focuses on ethics within contemporary U.S. thought, specifically how religion affects race, class, and gender oppression. His works 1) applys a social scientific approach to Latino/a religiosity within this country; 2) studies Liberation theologies in the Caribbean and Latin America (specifically in Cuba); and 3) engages in postmodern/postcolonial social theory. In 1999 he was hired to teach Christian Ethics at Hope College in Holland, MI. De La Torre resigned his tenure in 2005 and took the position of associate professor for social ethics at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.

Since obtaining his doctorate, De La Torre has authored numerous articles and books, including several books that have won national awards, specifically: Reading the Bible from the Margins, (Orbis, 2002); Santeria: The Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004); and Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins, (Orbis, 2004). He has been an expert commentator concerning ethical issues (mainly Hispanic religiosity, LGBT civil rights, and immigration rights) on several local, national, and international media outlets.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book to get into America's pews, May 24, 2003

By 

Dean J. Snyder "Pastor, Foundry UMC" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading the Bible from the Margins (Paperback)

De La Torre must have learned a lot about how to explain difficult concepts about biblical interpretation by teaching undergraduates right out of their church youth groups at an evangelical college.

He has used his classroom experience to write a crystal-clear, focused and even entertaining book explaining that our interpretations of the Bible are culturally influenced in such a way as to reinforce ideas and practices that baptize our own privileges and justify the oppression of others.

The first several chapters of the book are as clear an explanation of how biblical interpretations can be culturally flavored in such a way as to under gird the reader's self-interest as I have read anywhere.

However, De La Torre never depreciates Scripture or undermines its value and authority. He is unabashedly Christian. He affirms his commitment to his faith and the book which is its foundation.

At the same time, he is clear that Scripture has commonly been read and interpreted by the advantaged and learned in such a way as to justify racist, misogynist and homophobic biases.

He uses illustrations from his own experience as a Hispanic man to help his readers begin to understand that what often seems straightforward and obvious in Scripture isn't necessarily so.

He has also carefully listened to African-American, Asian-American, feminist and gay thinkers; he includes in his book their thoughts about how their ethnic and class perspectives open to them new insights into the meaning of Scripture that the dominant church culture usually misses.

Later chapters in the book, in which De La Torre makes a case for cultural interpretations of Christ are a tad more forced and less satisfying. (Surely we don't need to make Christ Hispanic in order for the cross and resurrection to be relevant for the experience of Hispanic people. The oppressed can experience God identifying with their oppression through Christ without having to change Jesus' genes. He is still a marginalized Jew, and this is why he speaks today to marginalized people of whatever race or culture.)

Yet, this is quibbling. This is a fine book that should make all Christians rethink the way we read the Bible and help the church become more like Christ. I am using it to teach a class for my congregation and encouraging my members to read it.

The material in this book, thanks to De La Torre's patient and clear writing, is accessible to almost anybody sitting in our pews. Some may be convinced; everyone will be pushed to rethink easy assumptions about Scripture.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best introductory text on liberation theology available, January 12, 2007

By 

Daniel M. Schweissing "haitiano" (Atlantic College, Nassau, Bahamas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading the Bible from the Margins (Paperback)

This is one of the best introductory texts on liberation theology available. It is concise, straightforward, and can be easily understood by those with little or no formal training in theology. The first four chapters deal primarily with biblical interpretation, showing how the Bible has been interpreted to justify race, class, and gender oppression as well as how oppressed communities are using the Bible to liberate themselves from such oppression. The final three chapters are devoted to a theological analysis of Christ, salvation, and reconciliation.

The theological perspectives introduced are limited to U.S. minorities (African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, women, and gays), making this text primarily an introduction to U.S. liberation theologies rather than third-world theologies. Helpful companion books would be Introducing Liberation Theology by Leonardo and Clodovis Boff (Latin American) or My Soul Looks Back by James Cone (African American).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for every Christian., November 19, 2005

By 

Louann Roberts "Rev. Louann Roberts" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading the Bible from the Margins (Paperback)

De La Torre confronts the issue that isolates Christians from understanding one another across race and socio-economic lines. I'm grateful to his candor and boldness to confront metaphorical readings of the text and encouragement to read the Bible simply while listening to the perspectives of "the least of these, my brothers."