Dear Friends,
This week, please intercede with us for Dr. Gerardo Corpeño, a Salvadoran who lives and teaches in Guatemala.
Once the heart of the Maya civilization, Guatemala is the most populated Central American country with 17 million residents (50% Catholic, 37% Protestant, and 11% irreligious). Following centuries of Spanish rule, Guatemala gained independence in 1821. Decades of political and economic instability under US-backed dictators culminated in a bloody civil war and genocidal massacres against ethnic Mayans from 1960 to 1996. In recent years, hundreds of thousands have fled prevailing violence, poverty, and political repression in Guatemala. Recent crop failures due to droughts and hurricanes mean that 25% of Guatemalans face food insecurity. Nearly one million Guatemalan children, including every other child under five, suffer from chronic malnutrition. Pray with us for the Lord to lift up the lowly in Guatemala and to fill the hungry with good things, in remembrance of His mercy.
Originally from El Salvador, Gerardo currently serves as Professor of Systematic and Latin American Theology at Seminario Teológico Centroamericano (SETECA), where he had taught for eleven years before pursuing a PhD in Theology from Wheaton College (Illinois, USA). Located in Guatemala City, SETECA is one of Latin America’s largest seminaries and is also a client of ScholarLeaders‘ Vital SustainAbility Initiative.
This spring, Gerardo successfully defended his dissertation, “Reconciliation and Liberation from Latin American Perspective in Dialogue with Miroslav Volf and Jon Sobrino.” His research focuses on the implications of Christ’s cross for reconciliation in violent societies. Read Gerardo’s Global InSights essay: How Can the Church Address Conflict between the Powerful and the Marginalized? (Sept. 2021).
Gerardo and his wife Debora, a Guatemalan, have two children, sixteen-year-old Xaris and ten-year-old Samuel.
Gerardo shares the following message:
First, I praise God for helping me to successfully defend my dissertation.
Second, I praise God for ScholarLeaders’ support and fellowship through all these years at Wheaton.
I ask your prayers as we have returned to Guatemala and SETECA in early March. Pray for all the details related to our transition, settling in, etc.
Pray for our adaptation, especially for our kids.
My teaching duties started this month in April.
Thank you, and God bless you!
Gerardo Corpeño