THE FILIPINO DEVOTION TO THE SANTO NIÑO

FROM FOLK CHRISTIANITY TO POST-COLONIAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

Authors

  • Helen C Romero St Paul University Iloilo, Philippines

Keywords:

Colonialism, Franciscan Theology of Incarnation, Immigration, Post-colonial Theology, Santo Niño

Abstract

The story of the image of the Santo Niño in the Philippines serves as the focal point of the story of the Filipino people. This paper maps the evolving image of the Santo Niño gleaned from the colonial history of the people. From this colonial experience, the paper weaves in the Filipinos’ quest for new identities when they regained their freedom and leave the country to better their economic lives. Here, their identities are renegotiated as immigrants of the United States of America, their former colonizer. All throughout the paper, the question is probed: “How has the image of the Santo Niño continually defined and shaped the Filipino way of seeing and knowing Jesus? “The Santo Niño grew into a man, crucified. The post-colonial theology that is constructed comes from this image of Jesus who bears the wounds of human injustices but resists the temptation to inflict the same pains on both the oppressors and the oppressed. The history of the people is retold in the Santo Niño, the Incarnate God.

Author Biography

Helen C Romero, St Paul University Iloilo, Philippines

Helen C. Romero is a faculty member of St Paul University Iloilo and also handles the University’s external and international relations. As a product of Paulinian education herself, her Catholic faith informs most of her professional engagement and scholarly work. She has worked in not-for-profit organizations both in Asia and the United States of America. She holds a master’s degree in Public Communication from Fordham University in New York City and master’s degrees in Theological Studies (MTS) and Ministry in a Multicultural Church (MAMC) at the Franciscan School of Theology-Graduate Theological Union (FST-GTU), Berkeley, California. She is currently a doctoral student in theology at the St. Vincent School of Theology in Quezon City, Philippines. Email: lentroy@yahoo.com

References

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Jeffrey M. Burns, Ellen Skerrett and Joseph M. White, ed. Keeping Faith: European and Asian Cath-olic Immigrants, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000.

Jocano, Folk Christianity: A Preliminary Study of Conversion and Patterning of Christian Experience in the Philippines, Quezon City: Trinity College, 1981.

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Robert J.C. Young, Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction, UK and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Rosa C.P. Tenazas, The Santo Niño of Cebu, Cebu City: University of San Carlos Publications, 1965.

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Published

2016-12-31

How to Cite

Romero, H. C. (2016). THE FILIPINO DEVOTION TO THE SANTO NIÑO: FROM FOLK CHRISTIANITY TO POST-COLONIAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. Asian Horizons, 10(04), 808–823. Retrieved from https://dvkjournals.in/index.php/ah/article/view/2167