HTI Alumni
Grace Vargas
Assistant Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University
Field of Study: Church History
Dr. Grace Vargas is currently an Assistant Professor Latinx Religious Traditions at Texas Christian University. She received her PhD from Southern Methodist University. Dr. Vargas also has a BA from Rutgers University and a MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. She defended her dissertation in 2020 which was titled, “lo Que Predicábamos No Era Americanismo”: Protestantism and Cross-Cultural Religious Encounter in the Shadow of Empire, a Twentieth Century Cuban Case Position.
Inspired by Rubem Alves, Dr. Vargas sees the task of history as one of recovery and sacramental dissemination. Her work centers on the history of Christianity in Latin America, particularly the Protestant Church. Employing critical and postcolonial methodologies, she examines previously unheard voices from history, allowing for new histories to emerge. These new histories witness the significant and unique ways in which the Latin American Church and its progeny, the Latine Church in the United States, have historically contributed to the story of the global Christian movement. Dr. Vargas’ vocational journey toward teaching and ministry in the church and the academy was ignited when she struggled to find herself and her community in the dominant Christian historical accounts.