Hispanic Methodists Presbyterians and Baptists in Texas

<p>The question of how one can be both Hispanic and Protestant has perplexed Mexican Americans in Texas ever since Anglo-American Protestants began converting their Mexican Catholic neighbors early in the nineteenth century. Mexican-American Protestants have faced the double challenge of being a religious minority within the larger Mexican-American community and a cultural minority within their Protestant denominations. As they have negotiated and sought to reconcile these two worlds over nearly two centuries <i>los Protestantes</i> have melded Anglo-American Protestantism with Mexican-American culture to create a truly indigenous authentic and empowering faith tradition in the Mexican-American community.</p> <p>This book presents the first comparative history of Hispanic Methodists Presbyterians and Baptists in Texas. Covering a broad sweep from the 1830s to the 1990s Paul Barton examines how Mexican-American Protestant identities have formed and evolved as <i>los Protestantes</i> interacted with their two very different communities in the barrio and in the Protestant church. He looks at historical trends and events that affected Mexican-American Protestant identity at different periods and discusses why and how shifts in <i>los Protestantes</i>' sense of identity occurred. His research highlights the fact that while Protestantism has traditionally served to assimilate Mexican Americans into the dominant U.S. society it has also been transformed into a vehicle for expressing and transmitting Hispanic culture and heritage by its Mexican-American adherents.</p>