A Heart for God and a Passion for People

Amanda Calderón, MDiv ’23, and former associate pastor at the Sanctuary of North Brunswick in New Jersey grew up working in the church at a very young age. Starting as one of the kids who collects communion cups after service, she was teaching her own Sunday school class by age 14 at the First Hispanic Christian Church Disciples of Christ (now called IEDJ Filadelfia).

“I felt God’s call in my life and affirmation that I can and am equipped to do this,” she says.

Initially drawn to Princeton Theological Seminary for its progressive nature and academic rigor, Calderón appreciates its diversity of thought. In particular, a class she took with Dr. Raimundo Barreto about Latinx theologians, Gloria Anzaldua and Rubem Alves, was the first class she has taken that she says, “encouraged other forms of thinking.”

During her time at Princeton Seminary, Calderón also served as the editor of Journeys, a newsletter at the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI). She shares, “Working at HTI helped erase my misconception that Latinx Theologians don’t exist. We do exist and there are many of us.”

As a woman of color, Calderón was profoundly changed by her experience during the January 2023 two-week travel course to Brazil, “Towards Understanding Other Cultures,” which combined visits to cultural, religious, and natural sites, along with lectures and meetings in host institutions. One visit that stands out involved the Vozes Maria Collective and Igreja Batista do Bultrins, which serves as a safe space and resource center for abused women.

“All the workers and those who do pastoral care there are women of color and have the authority to do with the program as they see fit,” she says. “To see these women making decisions for the church without having to run it by men was very empowering.”

The Brazil trip also imprinted on her the idea that theologizing loses its importance “if our hermenéutics are still serving to silence people of color.”

“In the Latinx church, many if not most biblical interpretations are used as reasoning for why women can serve but cannot hold leadership roles in the church,” Calderón explains. “One of the group leaders in Brazil told us ‘academia is important, but once it stops me from speaking to and from the margins it has lost its worth’. I believe the importance of our knowledge is found when we use it for the liberation and restoration of those whom mainstream churches have falsely deemed unworthy or unredeemable.”

Calderón’s passion for empowering women, particularly women of color, within the church also inspired her to write a sermon focused on the story of Lot’s wife, which emphasized that we all “are much more than what others have said about us.”

“I’ve only heard Lot’s wife’s story in a way that condemns her and I’ve been struck by how people judge her decision to look back, yet don’t even know her name,” Calderón says. “I wanted to use this text to create a space for grace and complexity. I’m also working to curate a devotional for women of color, relying heavily on women in the Bible, but in a way that affirms the divine authority God has given us.”

After graduating, Calderón plans to go into parish ministry and continue her passion to help the disenfranchised through nonprofit social justice work with marginalized communities.

“I want to work towards the liberation of Latinas and help them discover their own voices, as I’ve been able to discover mine.”