Student Life

The Hispanic House of Studies provides a number of ways to engage students with Spanish-speaking culture at Duke Divinity School.

Encuentro

Encuentro is a journey undertaken in the summer by Methodist students, faculty, staff, and pastors seeking to broaden relationships between the Divinity School and Mexico’s Methodist Church. It includes stops throughout Mexico, ranging from Mexico City, with an estimated population of 23 million, to tiny villages such as Huitzapula with no running water. The group focuses their time in places of worship, such as the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, as well as cultural sites such as the ancient pyramids at Teotihuacan.Throughout the trip, the group worships and shares stories and meals with Mexican hosts. They also find time to play games and tell Bible stories to children.

Press the play button above to hear Edgardo Colón-Emeric and Jeremy Troxler narrate a slide show of the August 2009 Encuentro.

You may also read about the 2008 Encuentro.

Caminantes

Caminantes is a group of fellow sojourners who seek to encounter Christ on the roads connecting Duke Divinity School to the world. The group meets every two weeks for spiritual formation from a Hispanic Methodist perspective. In these meetings participants have the opportunity to practice and hone skills for ministry among Latinos. Together the group reads the Bible in Spanish, discuses texts emerging from the Latino community, and learns how to praise and pray in the language of the barrio. In addition to these meetings, the caminantes have the opportunity to attend a spiritual retreat in the fall semester in preparation for an encounter with the Methodist church in Latin America during the spring semester.

2009-10 Caminantes encounter application

Field Education in Hispanic/Latino Ministry

Field Education provides an opportunity for students to discern their vocational identity through contextual learning. The placements vary from parish to non-profit. They can also include Spanish-speaking settings in N.C. such as:

1. Reconciliation UMC – Durham, N.C.
2. Cristo Vive/Glendale Heights UMC – Durham, N.C.
3. Bethlehem UMC/La Estrella – Bailey, N.C.
4. NC Conference Hispanic Ministries – Raleigh, N.C.
5. Lake Norman Hispanic Ministry – Huntersville, N.C.

Find out about the field education requirements at DDS.

International Field Education Internships

The Divinity School’s summer internships in International Field Education place theological education and pastoral training in the context of an increasingly interconnected global community.

The school has established summer field education placements in Spanish-speaking countries. These take place in Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, and Peru, and they are available for students at a variety of levels of Spanish-language ability. There is also a program in Brazil for those learning Portuguese.

Learn how to undertake international field education at DDS.

Manos Unidas

This group was formed in 2008 to support Hispanic/Latino students. Manos Unidas (United Hands) is welcome to all students interested in Hispanic/Latino ministries.

Its first luncheon was introduced by Edgardo Colón-Emeric and Cookie Santiago, director of the Hispanic Ministries in the N.C. Conference of the United Methodist Church, to an overflow audience.

The group hosts potluck gatherings throughout the school year.

What Hispanic/Latino Students Are Saying about Duke Divinity School

“As a Duke Divinity seminarian, I have come to recognize that maintaining a disciplined life of study is an integral part of becoming a faithful minister of the gospel. Seminary has also allowed me to identify my strengths and gifts as a bicultural person, and as a result I can more fully assist the church in embodying Jesus’ mestizo identity.”
— Erwin Adrian Lopez, D’10