Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 68:1 (Mar 2025)
Article: Voices From Latin America: Pioneering Pathways, Lasting Legacies
Author: M. Daniel Carroll R

JETS 68.1 (March 2025) p. 137

Voices From Latin America: Pioneering Pathways, Lasting Legacies

M. Daniel Carroll R.

This plenary address was given in San Diego at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society on November 20, 2024, whose theme was “Global Voices.” M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas) is Scripture Press Ministries Professor of Biblical Studies and Pedagogy at Wheaton College.

Abstract: This article presents the development and contributions of the Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana (Latin American Theological Fraternity) to global evangelical theology and missiology, in particular its formulation of misión integral (integral mission). The founding of the Fraternidad is set against the background of currents in Latin American Roman Catholicism and evangelicalism of the 1970s to the 1990s. The article expounds the two main components of misión integral: it is fundamentally missiological and Christological. The latter leads to reframing discussions of the themes of the fullness of the Gospel and of the kingdom of God. These reflections impacted and continue to influence global evangelicalism.

Key words: Fraternidad Teológical Latinoamericana, missiology, Christology, integral mission, Liberation Theology, evangelicalism, Latin America, Lausanne, René Padilla, Samuel Escobar, Emilio Antonio Núñez

The three speakers for this year’s plenaries were asked to speak on something related to the “current state of evangelicalism” in our part of the world—in my case, Latin America. That is a quite an ask. There are over thirty countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Each country has its own history of the initial arrival of Christianity with the colonial empires, the coming of Protestant missions and gospel ministries, and of relationships of evangelical groups with the Roman Catholic Church, indigenous religions, and local and national politics. Church planting and theological education vary by country, too. There also is a nascent missionary movement out of Latin America to other parts of the world. Latin America no longer is just a mission field; it now is a missionary sender. There has been a lot of coverage, too, of the incredible growth of evangelicalism in Latin America. Clearly, there is so much to talk about.

I focus my attention, however, on a slice of the Latin American evangelical landscape, one that has impacted and continues to influence global theology and which would be of special interest to this year’s ETS conference: la Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana, the Latin American Theological Fraternity (now Fellowship).

JETS 68.1 (March 2025) p. 138

I. History Of The Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana