ABSTRACT
Where is the salsa in Contextual Theology? Suppose that, as in the poem from Brunilda Vega, someone tells you that Latinas go to the same bar that has been recommended to you. Suppose that you are feeling lonely and think that the world is not a loving place anymore. Then you decide to go to the bar after praying your novena to your saint, or to the Virgin Mary. Perhaps you are asking San Antonio for a lover and you know that at the door of the bar nobody checks for rosaries or religious stamps in your pocket. The same can be said when you are at the door of the church. They don’t ask you for that old love letter that you still keep in your bag neither do they realise whose hands your loving hands like to hold. Now suppose that in your mind the church and the Latina bar somehow get mixed up with fragments of memories of the Nicene Creed and of a Christ who died of love for you some time ago contesting the fact that nobody else seems to be dying of love for you anymore. You are thinking about a religion of courage and you go to the salsa bar where a Latina may be friendly with you. But then, torn between love and rosaries, you may wonder what life would be if you were to love her. Remembering the poem from Vega, you know that in the end, you may pray for God’s forgiveness: ‘Forgive me for loving you the way I do’. But we need also forgiveness for loving God too.
