Daniel Salinas grew up in Bogota, Columbia and now lives with his wife and family in Utah, USA. He teaches online at the Biblical Seminary in Medellín, Columbia, and also with the Asian Theological Seminary in Manila, Philippines. He is a Langham Scholar, having graduated in 2004 with a degree in historical theology, and is also a contributor to the Latin American Bible Commentary published by Langham.
The significance of local context
The Commentary is the first commentary of the whole Bible written by Latin Americans for Latin America. Daniel shares, “It’s the first time that we have a Bible commentary in one volume. There is no translation from English or German or other languages. It’s written and published in Spanish by mostly Latin Americans, a few missionaries, but Latin American based… that was a need that the church in Latin America had – to have a commentary that is not a translation.”
Daniel wrote the commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes, and also edited some of the final manuscripts. He shares, “ I did commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes, and I wrote an article on wisdom, and an article on the Sabbath… I helped with the final edition of some manuscripts that I was reviewing for publication.”
Many commentaries come from Europe or North America, where the context is different to Latin America. Having a commentary written in a local context has been a great blessing to the Church. Daniel explains, “It’s written by Latin Americans that understand the context, and most of the commentaries and the articles deal with questions that are not relevant in other cultures. We deal with those questions from our Latin American perspective and how we read the Bible in our own context, in dialogue with the rest of the world. So I think that’s something that is a contribution for the Latin American church.”
Equipping the Church
“I feel that the commentary will really help pastors or people who want to study the Bible more seriously, and especially with the application to their own culture. Latin America is not a unified culture by any means. You have a lot of differences between Mexico and Argentina or Colombia. All the countries are very different, but there are some trends, and some major issues that we inherited from the common Hispanic, or Spanish, heritage. The presence of the Spanish that unified most of us in some issues. And that diversity and cultural richness [is reflected] in the commentary.”
“You have authors from Brazil that speak Portuguese, and authors from all the countries and different ages, older ones, younger ones, women, men. So I think that reflects more the richness and the variety of the Latin American evangelical church. And the commentary brings that up and makes it better for the church.”
Hope for the future
There is still a need for more resources in Latin America, Daniel explains, “One of the needs that we have is for more books that will reach the people in the pew in Latin America. And I think the commentary is one of those, because it’s written from an academic perspective…I used to say that the biblical illiteracy in Latin America is really high. Not only because people have difficulties reading, but also because they are not reading. But I think that’s changing with the new generation, especially if we provide a lot of resources that are accessible, but also are written in a way that will encourage them to get involved.”
Daniel is grateful for Langham and the support that he’s received. He shares, “Thank you to those who donated to Langham to be able to sponsor us, as scholars. I really was privileged to receive the help to finish my PhD and I know my friends will say the same thing, so thank you for the support. Thank you also for the support to help with the biblical commentary, because it has been a blessing to the church in Latin America.”
Pray with us
- Thank God for Langham Partnership helping to meet the needs of the global church through the literature, preaching and scholarship programs.
- Thank God for Daniel and his giftings to serve the church in Latin America through his contribution to the Bible Commentary, and also as a teacher.
- Pray for more local theological resources to become available in Latin America, and for the next generations to engage with the literature.