The Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, professor of social ethics and Latinx studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colo., an award-winning author and scholar activist, will deliver the Phipps Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 3 in The Joni and Buck Smith Arts Forum in Myles Center for the Arts on the campus of Davis & Elkins College. His talk is titled “Why They Come: Understanding the U.S. Immigration Crises.”
The lecture is free and open to the public. Time will be allotted for questions from the audience and a reception will take place afterward.
In addition to the lecture, De La Torre will show a documentary, “Trails of Hope and Terror,” made by him and his son, Vincent De La Torre. The screening will take place at 11 a.m. November 3 in Eshleman Science Center 400. There is no admission fee and a discussion will follow.
The recipient of several national book awards, De La Torre is a frequent speaker at national and international scholarly religious events and meetings. He also speaks at churches and nonprofit organizations on topics concerning the intersection of race, class and gender with religion.
De La Torre has been an expert commentator concerning ethical issues, mainly Hispanic religiosity, LGBT civil rights and immigrations rights, on several local, national and international media outlets. A scholar-activist, De La Torre has written numerous articles in popular media including a monthly column for the Associated Baptist Press.
Born in Cuba months before the Castro Revolution, De La Torre and his family came to the United States as refugees when he was 6 months old. For a while the U.S. government considered him an “illegal immigrant” asking him to “self-deport” in 1960. Although he was baptized and confirmed by the Catholic Church, his parents were devotees and priest/priestess of the religion Santería.
In his teens, he moved to Miami, Fla., where at age 19 he started a real estate company that grew to employ more than 100 sales agents. During this time, he also obtained a master’s degree in public administration from American University in Washington, D.C. Eventually he was elected president of the Miami Board of Realtors. He was also active in local politics, becoming the founding president of the West Dade Young Republicans. In 1988, he was a candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, but lost the bid.
In his early 20s, he became a “born-again” Christian and joined University Baptist Church in Coral Gables, Fla. His real estate firm was a financial success; however, De La Torre dissolved the 13-year-old company and attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in order to obtain a Masters in Divinity. During his seminary training he served as pastor to a rural congregation, Goshen Baptist Church in Glen Dean, Ky.
De La Torre continued his theological training and obtained a doctorate from Temple University in social ethics. The focus of his academic pursuit has been ethics within contemporary U.S. thought, specifically how religion affects race, class and gender oppression. He specializes in applying a social scientific approach to Latinx religiosity within the United States, Liberation theologies in the Caribbean and Latin America, and postmodern/postcolonial social theory.
De La Torre also is a recognized international Fulbright Scholar who has taught at the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development in Mexico, Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies in Yogyakarta, University of Johannesburg in South Africa and Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany.
De La Torre serves as the executive officer for the Society of Race, Ethnicity and Religion and in 2012 was president of the Society of Christian.
Established in 1995, the Phipps Lectureship brings accomplished scholars from a wide range of backgrounds to campus to provide opportunities for sharing ideas and experiences in religion, philosophy and related disciplines. Dedicated to continuing Dr. Phipps’s legacy of scholarship, inquiry and the candid discussion of ideas, the lectureship connects students and the public with leading scholars through classroom visits, small group meetings and an annual free public lecture.
Related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Davis & Elkins College is located in Elkins, 2 hours east of Charleston, 3 hours south of Pittsburgh and 4 hours west of Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit the College website at www.dewv.edu or call 304-637-1243.
