Ignacio Garcia on Eduardo Balderas: Father of LDS Church Translation

In this episode, we welcome Dr. Ignacio Garcia to discuss his book Eduardo Balderas: Father of Church Translation, 1907-1989. Translating LDS Scripture, Hymns, manuals, magazines, general conferences, and even the Temple ceremonies into Spanish – Eduardo remains one of the most important LDS figures of the twentieth century, all with hardly any broad recognition today. Dr. Garcia takes us through much of the context that Eduardo was born into and takes us through some of the important highlights of his life. Every Latino/a LDS has been impacted in one way, shape or form by the religious career of one who spent his life translating the message of LDS restoration for the Spanish-speaking. The words traducido por Eduardo Balderas, read and heard by so many Latino/a LDS, continues to have impact today in the largest non-white population of LDS membership. 

Book: Eduardo Balderas: Father of Church Translation, 1907-1989 

Other work by Dr. Garcia: 

• “Thoughts on Latino Mormons, Their Afterlife, and the Need for a New Historical Paradigm for Saints of Color” 
• Hector P. Garcia: In Relentless Pursuit of Justice  
• Chicano While Mormon: Activism, War, and Keeping the Faith 
• White But Not Equal: Mexican Americans, Jury Discrimination and the Supreme Court 
• When Mexicans Could Play Ball: Basketball, Race, and Identity in San Antonio, 1928-1945 

Other resources: 

• “O My Father” (LDS Hymn; also here) 
• See also the talk by Celia Balderas

Mormons in Mexico by F. Lamond Tullis, esp. chapter 6: "The Third Convention"; two highlights:

• "Most Mexican Mormons felt that a complete loss of association with the church was a heavy price to pay for a Mexican mission president. The church was important to them; they did not want to lose it. They wanted to go along with the church in all respects - but not under Harold Pratt's leadership. For many it became a question of exercising their right - as the Mormon faith teaches - to personal revelation. If God felt their cause was just and approved of their position, they would opt for the Third Convention. Rebellion against the church was acceptable, they reasoned, as long as it did not entail rebellion against God. When the count was in, nearly a third of the Mexican Mormons, deciding that God was with them and the Third Convention, cast their lot with the rebellious group." (p. 146)

• "Within weeks Margarito Bautista challenged the convention's leadership on a number of doctrinal points...He advocated the reestablishment of polygamy and the United Order...The tension soon became unmanageable, and the convention expelled Margarito. Bitter and scornful, Bautista left the Third Convention to its 'darkness' and went to Ozumba, Mexico, where he set up his own colony, the 'New Jerusalem.' While Bautista's group was not totally isolated (he kept in touch with other Mormon fundamentalist and apostate groups), they were largely rejected by Conventionists and non-Conventionists alike. In the beginning, Bautista had provided impetus for concerns most considered justifiable. Now the memory of his contribution was replaced with a troublemaker's image." (p.147)

Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness by W. Paul Reeve 

A Documentary History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico, 1875-1946 by Fernando R. Gomez

The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, and Utopian Founder, 1878-1961 by Elisa Eastwood Pulido 

We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe/ Recuerdo, Celebracion, y Esperanza: Latinos in Utah by Armando Solorzano  

Sea La Luz: The Making of Mexican Protestantism in the American Southwest, 1829-1900 by Juan Francisco Martinez 

Hispanic Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists in Texas by Paul Barton 

Latino Pentecostal Identity, Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society by Arlene M. Sanchez Walsh 

• A sample of Archbishop Fulton Sheen: “The True Meaning of Christmas”