Ken welcomes back historian and author Michael Jimenez, the History Department Chair at Vanguard University in Southern California. He has published several articles focussing on the iconic United Farm Workers Union organizer from the Civil Rights era in the 1960s and 70s. He believes that Cesar Chavez should be considered the Latinex Martin Luther King. Like King, Chavez’s life and work are rooted in his deep and abiding Christian faith. Jimenez joins with his friend and colleague, Dr. Robert Chao Romero (UCLA professor and former guest on the podcast) in advancing the story of Christians who have influenced social change - confronting injustice and opening the door for equal access, better working conditions, increased wages, and advancing human dignity. Ken and Mike discuss the influences on Chavez’s life including MLK, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Ralph Abernathy, Coretta Scott King, and Robert F. Kennedy. When Chavez’s fast almost ended his life, RFK made a personal visit as he campaigned for President in the 1968 election. They shared communion. It ended Cesar’s fast, but just one month later, an assassin took Kennedy’s life the very night he celebrated his California victory. Michael shares his take on the Black Panther Party and the more recent Black Lives Matter movement. Michael is a thoughtful scholar and committed Christian. SHOW NOTES
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The Podcast Official Site: TheBeachedWhiteMale.com
Michael Jimenez, Ph.D. was moved by mid-century theologian Karl Barth’s critique of European theology. Mike’s dissertation on Barth helped him integrate the evangelical theology he studied as an undergraduate then graduate student with the broader vision of the Spanish speaking world of his pastor father. Ken and Mike discuss the influence of Barth. Dr. Robert Chao Romero (see BWM podcast), liberation theologian Ignasio Ellacuria, historian Hamid Debashi, the 1986 flim - The Mission, the inimitable James Baldwin and Dr. Jimenez’ recently published book: Remembering Lived Lives: A Historiography from the Underside of Modernity. SHOW NOTES
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The Podcast Official Site: TheBeachedWhiteMale.com
A fascinating autobiographical read about Mike’s Costa Rican pastor father and his passion for Augustine.
Mike’s Sojourner Blog Posts
by Michael Jimenez, Ph.D.
Remembering Lived Lives is a religious historiography book that focuses on issues and theorists located primarily in Latin America. Instead of joining the chorus of contemporary European intellectuals like Slavoj Zizek, who insist on a renewed Eurocentrism, this study challenges both historians and theologians to take seriously the work done by theorists located in what Enrique Dussel calls the underside of modernity. This is an interdisciplinary work that opens with Karl Barth’s outline for historical-theological study and closes with an analysis of the film The Mission. Written for both the history or theology instructor and student, it deals with subjects like church history, biography as theology, liberation theology as primary source material, photographs, and historical movies.
Michael Jimenez, Ph.D., wrote his dissertation on Karl Barth’s historical lectures on the Enlightenment era in order to analyze the ways the idea of European modernity continues to shape our world. He likes to take an interdisciplinary approach when discussing theological topics, focusing especially on postcolonial theory to look at ways to give a voice to “the Other.”
Mike is the author of two books:
Karl Barth and the Study of the Religious Enlightenment: Encountering the Task of History
and
Remembering Lived Lives: A Historiography from the Underside of Modernity
He and his wife, Lluvia, have two boys, Lucas and Raylan.
Mike’s Sojourner Blog Posts
More Pending
