Book Review

By: José Humphreys

The Flavor of Our Faith by Karen Valentin, is a series of inspirational reflections, and cuentos (stories) about the experience of growing up Puerto Rican and Christian in New York. WithFlavor2_2 humor and wit, the book recounts an array of childhood experiences that many Latinos and non-Latinos, from a "traditional" background can relate to.  One chapter in particular was titled, "Nuyorican Spanish", the story of her Puerto Rican born parents speaking to her strictly in English, for fear she would not  grasp the language.  This is the experience of many second generation Hispanics who in their quest to re-learn the Spanish language, wrestle through "Spanglish."   There was also a story about her pilgrimage to Puerto Rico, titled "Island of Coffee and Milk", where she traveled and found herself bored and uninspired, only to return later and appreciate her heritage all the more. Though from a Puerto Rican perspective, Karen Valentin relates stories about other Latino experiences she is familiar with, touching on themes like immigration and the negative affects of legalism on our Christian identity.

The Flavor of Our Faith is an inspiring intersection between Hispanic faith and culture. I felt a sense of fellowship and familiarity with the experiences as they were re-told. It’s one of those books I envision people of any culture huddling around, as they reminisce over their mix of cultural and religious experiences, while finding a sense of comfort with the turn of each page. 

19 Comments

  1. I love the title of the book and it would be great to have an Emergent type event around that title I think since from my perspective Latinos have a flava and need to start experiencing it more in the way they “do” ministry.

  2. There is definitely “un sabor” Latino/a, to various ministries. Having grown up in Hispanic churches I took that for granted until I moved away to grad school and had to drive for a half hour to enjoy “pernil y arroz con gandules. There is un “calor Hispano que se encuentra en el pueblo Latino” that becomes punctuated by its absence in certain contexts. This particularity, along with its idiosyncratic contributions needs to be written more about.

  3. There is definitely “un sabor” Latino/a, to various ministries. Having grown up in Hispanic churches I took that for granted until I moved away to grad school and had to drive for a half hour to enjoy “pernil y arroz con gandules. There is un “calor Hispano que se encuentra en el pueblo Latino” that becomes punctuated by its absence in certain contexts. This particularity, along with its idiosyncratic contributions needs to be written more about.

  4. Yeah,
    Sounds good Liz.
    Jose, I appreciated the book also. Although it was light it was deep and refreshing. I think this is a book that could be used right out of the box for teaching about the scope of our identity. The chapter titles can serve as the foundation for further thought and discussion.
    =-=

  5. Perdoname mi gente, for not being by the phone today (Thurs) to chat with you all about this “flava” “sabor” we want to expose in the emergent conversations. But el sabor de el Espiritu Santo was all over our Bible Study tonight y you know…just couldn’t walk out on that…but vamos hablar pronto…my next visit to NYC in Jan? Si?

  6. Thanks for the call back Liz, we know that you are involved in ministry. I raised the discussions we had at LLC and the group is very excited. Let us talk and we can coordinate a meeeting in conjunction with your January visit. I also want to bring Rudy in on this. Let’s talk soon.
    David

  7. Hola Dave, Liz, Luis, i’ve been away at Indy and could not find a wireless connection til now…anything i can do to help…contact the author? etc., this is something that can definetely happen. got some ideas from the ccda conference as well dave, that we might want to bring back to the group.

  8. Jose,
    This sounds rich, we will have to tease this out to see what this would look like. We can begin by having a tele-conference, followed by a meeting when Liz gets to NY in January. LLC is also having a retreat, we can plan some of this during this time tentatively scheduled for January 13th–15th. Jose, let’s talk tonight. Are you still coming to tomorrow’s Leadership Summit?
    Devo

  9. my ears were burning…
    any chance we can host this author during the week of Jan 2-6? I’ll be in the City during the week…

  10. i meant “during THAT week”
    jan 2-6

  11. Rudy,
    I have to run this by Jose who I believe has contact with the author. I will have to get back to you.
    David

  12. i’ll try and make the contact today. Rudy, regardless of whether we can “swing” this event by that date, it would be nice if you could get together with Dave and LLC around the time you’ll be here.

  13. Absolutely,
    There is a lot we have to talk about!
    David

  14. Karen Valentin

    Hi All!
    This is Karen, the author of the Flavor of Our Faith. I found your site while researching reviews about the book and am just thrilled by the review and comments by all of you. Feel free to contact me @ karinaval1@aol.com
    I would certainly be interested in being a part of your event – just let me in on the details. Thank you,
    Karen

  15. Hi Karen,
    I’ll be shooting an email your way to speak with you in further detail about what we have in mind. We’re glad you dropped a comment.

  16. Karen,
    We are very excited about this possibility, perhaps we can get together soon to discuss these possibilities for January.
    David

  17. I just spoke with Jose and we’re going to continue talks about a possible signing in January. In the meantime, I’m having a signing at The American Bible Society for their part in Lincoln Center’s Winter’e Eve celebration.
    In addition to reading and a Q and A, I’ll be signing as well. I hope you can make it! I would love to meet you all. Again, it’s this Monday and I’ll be starting about 7:30.
    God Bless!
    Karen

  18. Karen,
    Let’s talk, we have a lot of ideas.
    David

  19. Absolutely, just give me a call. Jose has my #.
    Can’t wait to hear the ideas!
    Karen

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