PRINCETON, N.J.
The Princeton Theological Seminary announced that its Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI) will award the Reverend Dr. Raúl Gómez Ruiz, SDS, its annual book prize for 2008. The prize, awarded for his book, Mozarabs, Hispanics, and the Cross, will be presented at HTI's twelfth annual summer workshop at Princeton Seminary on Saturday, August 2. Dr. Gómez Ruiz is director of intellectual formation and professor of systematic studies at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin,
The seminary said the Hispanic Theological Initiative was created in response to the need voiced by religious leaders and pastors in Latino/a communities throughout the United States for more, and more highly qualified, Latino/a candidates for faculty and administrative positions at seminaries and universities. The program provides doctoral-level grants, mentoring, and workshops for such candidates. HTI is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, by Lilly Endowment Inc., and by Princeton Theological Seminary.
A public lecture, “Ritual and the Construction of Cultural Identity," will be given by Gómez Ruiz on Aug. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for Continuing Education's Cooper Conference Room in the Erdman Center, 20 Library Place in Princeton. Respondents to the lecture will be Dr. Peter Casarella, professor of Catholic studies at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, and Dr. Albert Hernández, assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.
Dr. Gómez Ruiz's book, (Orbis Books, Studies in Latino/a Catholicism, $42, December 2007, ISBN-10: 157075733X, ISBN-13: 978-1570757334) analyzes contemporary Hispanic cultural and religious identity by investigating the ritual liturgy of the Mozarabs, a predominantly Catholic group who lived on the Iberian Peninsula during Muslim rule. Gómez Ruiz earned his doctorate at Catholic University of America, a master of divinity at Franciscan School of Theology, and a masters of public administration from California State University-Sacramento. He is a member of the Society of the Divine Savior.
