Voices of Marginality: Exile and Return in Second Isaiah 40-55 and the Mexican Immigrant Experience (American University Studies VII: Theology and Religion)

Voices of Marginality is theoretically grounded in the theology of the diaspora, which according to Fernando F. Segovia has been forged in the migratory experience of American Hispanics. This theological perspective views Judean exiles (587 B.C.E.) and contemporary Mexican migrants as part of a recurring diasporic human experience. The present analysis «reads across» from the exile and return envisioned in the poetry of Second Isaiah (40-55) to the corridos (ballads) about Mexican immigration to the United States. More specifically, the diasporic categories of exile and return in Second Isaiah inform our reading of exile and return in the Mexican immigrant corridos. Conversely, the rhetorical ability of these corridos to transmit a collective Mexican identity for immigrants in the United States provides a compelling lens for understanding the images of exile and return in Second Isaiah. Ultimately, both literary productions reflect voices of marginality.

The Author: Gregory Lee Cuéllar is Adjunct Professor of Old Testament at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University and Resident Fellow at B. H. Carroll Theological Institute in Dallas, Texas. He received his Ph.D. in biblical interpretation from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, his Master of Divinity with Biblical languages from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, and his B.A. from Texas A&M-Kingsville. Dr. Cuéllar is a three-time grant fellow of the Hispanic Theological Initiative and has presented at numerous academic conferences in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He is the author of Passages in the New World: Books and Manuscripts from Colonial Mexico 1556-1820 (2006).