What Others Say About Sacred Tribes Journal

An Interview with Dr. Miguel De La Torre

Dr. Miguel De La Torre is Associate Professor of Social Ethics at Iliff School of Theology. He has written on a number of topics, including the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria, and biblical interpretation from the perspective of the Two-Thirds World. In light of the world’s current focus on Haiti as a result of the devastating earthquake and relief efforts, we discuss this nation and its religion to help further understanding.

John Morehead: Dr. De La Torre, thank you for your willingness to discuss Haiti and its religious expressions. To begin, can you share a little of your background and your work in the area of Afro-Caribbean religions, as well as social and theological issues from the perspective of the marginalized?

Miguel De La Torre: I’ve written mostly about the religion of Santeria in this context, which is an Afro-Cuban religion. I’ve done this for two reasons. First, my family is from Cuba so I was brought up in that religion. And number two, once I went to the academy I wanted to research the religion to get a better grasp as to its significance to a group of people. Santeria is derived from the worship of the orishas. The orishas are quasi-deities from Yorubaland, which is present day Nigeria. The hybridity caused by this African religion of orisha worship, along with a medieval Spanish Catholicism was the foundation of how this religion we call Santeria developed. The same thing happened in Haiti, but instead of Spanish medieval Catholicism it was French Catholics mixed with the worship of the orishas and that developed into what is known as voodoo. So in a way Santeria in Cuba, which I am more familiar with, is a cousin of the voodoo in Haiti, or New Orleans for that matter.

John Morehead: Although America has invested a lot of money in Haiti over the years and through various presidential administrations, they know very little about the nation. Many assume it is largely a nation which practices voodoo when in fact it has a large Christian population. Can you paint a portrait of Haitian religious expression?

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When Christians think of peace, they usually think of an inner state of harmony, or tranquility in human relationships, or freedom from oppressive forces.1 But, is this the concept of peace portrayed in the Bible? Most people would accept the fact that Jesus’ message to the masses was a message of peace and reconciliation. Even Mahatma Gandhi was fascinated with Jesus’ teachings and promoted its essence. He said “Jesus, a man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act (II-166).”2 He added “Jesus lived and died in vain if he did not teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal law of love (1-181).”3 If Gandhi venerated Christ, he was not a strong supporter of the God of the Old Testament.

Many others have perceived a striking difference between the message of the Old Testament and the message of the New Testament. First of all, first-century non-Jewish converts did not always see the necessity to abide by the Jewish law. After all, the council of Jerusalem freed those Gentile believers from the legalism of Judaism (Acts 15). In the second century, Marcion championed a difference of character between the Old Testament Yahweh and the New Testament Jesus. He claimed that Christ, the God of Christianity, was a superior being while Yahweh, who had created an imperfect world, was an inferior god. As a result, Marcion refused to accept as authoritative any scriptures that related somewhat to the Jewish god and proposed a limited “canon” of Scriptures.4

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