The Journey Begins
About three years ago, I began dreaming of writing a book. The thought made sense at the time. After finishing my PhD, I felt that I had something to share with others. I began expressing some ideas through a handful of articles and some social media posts. The articles that I put together, have mostly circulated in small academic circles. The social media posts have been sporadic, and for the most part not widely shared.
At the beginning of may 2022, I wrote a social media post that got a lot of attention. The post going viral opened the door for our local faith community to notice some of my theological opinions through social media. I was openly criticizing evangelical theology and hurtful faith practices. Somebody from church caught wind of my X account, and created a social media file of all my theological posts. They brought it to the attention of the newly arrived pastor at our faith community. As a result, the new pastor openly accused me of heresy, and asked me to resign from the board of elders. It was a painful process.
The hit of being accused of heresy for expressing ideas that unveiled the brokenness of our social and religious systems put a dent on my confidence as a community leader. Being accused of heresy and sedition within our faith community finished hurting my confidence as a writer, theologian, and thinker.
Amid this process, I have come to realize that every time that I express my opinions there is a small group of people who read, reflect, and pay attention to what I am communicating. I feel honored that a small community takes the words from this average Joe(l) as elements of their personal action, reflection, and discernment. This group is diverse. It includes people who are from my city, and from other countries, even from some places where Spanish is not their first language. Knowing this, I felt called to embark on a journey to be more intentional in sharing the theology and spirituality that is shaping the way I live. The diversity of this community invites me to write in a language that is not my own to expand the conversation beyond my contextual boundaries.
In doing so, I decided to actually write a book, which will come out in February this year. The book that I am writing is called A Human Catechism: A journey from violence and collective woundedness to peacebuilding. This title will try to connect the dots between some academic ideas, violence, everyday life, and personal trauma as a way to develop a theology and spirituality that can sustain us amid the times we live. A human catechism is a communal effort that will help us follow our deepest vocation, to be fully human. So, with this introduction I am inviting you to join me in a journey that will lead us to the release of my book. In the meant time and beyond, this will be a space to reflect about how we can become mor human, and how we can create systems of mercy and not sacrifice.