Episode 4: Resisting Apartheid America

On Today’s episode of The Great Deconstruction podcast I’m joined by Dr. Miguel De La Torre; Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.  2012 President of the Society of Christian Ethics and Executive Officer for the Society of Race, Ethnicity and Religion (2012-17). Dr. De La Torre is a recognized international Fulbright scholar who has taught courses at the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (Mexico), Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (Indonesia), University of Johannesburg (South Africa), Johannes Gutenberg University (Germany). Additionally, he has lectured at Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana (Costa Rica), The Association for Theological Education in South East Asia (Thailand) and the Council of World Mission (Mexico and Taiwan). Advocating for an ethics of place, De La Torre has taken students on immersion classes to Cuba, Guatemala, the Peruvian Amazon, and the Mexico/U.S. border to walk the migrant trails. Among multiple yearly speaking engagements, he has also been a week-long speaker at the Chautauqua Institute, and the plenary address at the Parliament of World Religions. De La Torre has received several national book awards and is a frequent speaker at national and international scholarly religious events and meetings. He also speaks at churches and nonprofit organizations on the intersection of religion with race, class,  gender, and sexuality . In 2020, the American Academy of Religion bestowed on him the Excellence in Teaching Award. The following year, 2021, the American Academy also conferred upon him the Martin E. Marty Public Understanding of Religion Award. De La Torre is the first scholar to receive the two most prestigious awards presented by his guild and the first Latinx to receive either one of them. 

Dr. De La Torre joins us today to discuss his new book Resisting Apartheid America: Living the Badass GospelResisting Apartheid America assesses the past and present threads of systemic racism in American politics, from Plymouth Rock to the Capitol on January 6. Sweeping and unsparing in his critique, De La Torre takes on authors revered in Christian theology, including Paul, Augustine, and heroes of the Reformation, aiming to uproot the ideological foundations of racism in Christianity. Following these through lines of oppression, he warns of a decline in democracy and rise in political violence—but equips us with the nonviolent ethical f