Page - 89 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

Using Latinx Theology’s Lo Cotidiano | 89www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 87–106 But first, why approach a painting theologically? The articulation of Western Christian theology and art together has had a tortuous history. From Tertullian through medieval, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation thinkers to Paul Tillich, through centuries of doctrinal nuances and outright schisms, theologians have debated the proper place and usage of pictorial works of art in Christian belief and practice. Yet the Roman Catholic Church, in the Council of Trent (1545–1563) for example, has construed art as an or- thodox vehicle for God’s agency and salutary for Christian life in general.4 As “God-talk”, theology is also a medium for divine meaningful action. Thus, discourse is of the essence in both theology and art, and both “speak” about being human in ways not easily explained but no less essential to faith and full life. Catholic theologian Karl Rahner says it well: Everything which comes to expression in art is a particular actualization of that human transcendence through which a person, as a spiritual and free being, is oriented to the fullness of all reality. Only because the human per- son is a being who by his very nature pushes beyond every given boundary, a being for whom every end is a new beginning, a being who encounters the unfathomable mystery of things, only because and insofar as the human person is a transcendent being can there be both art and theology in their real senses. Both art and theology are rooted in man’s transcendent nature.5 In this article, I will use Latinx theology as the general framework of my analysis. Among its analytical categories, I will concentrate on lo cotidiano and its decolonializing force upon El Velorio qua a meaningful vehicle for the divine. Lo cotidiano refers to “the day-to-day reality in which [Latinxs] lived-experience is enmeshed”.6 This lived-experience, a key element of the meaning that understanding is formed through experience. I also embrace material reli- gion’s historical (i. e., diachronic, contextual) and emic (i. e., insider) perspective. I mean “normative” in the sense of “mainstream” but also as opposed to “positive”. As will be seen, Oller makes a normative statement about this lo cotidiano funerary ritual through El Velorio, yet presumes much (and mostly mistakenly) about its content and intent due to his rationalizing colonialized mindset. 4 E. g., Catholic Church 1545/1848. 5 Rahner 1982, 29. I do not presuppose maleness, masculinity, or heteronormativity of hu- manity or of God. Indeed, I consider such presupposition offensive. However, all quotes are kept as originally published. 6 Isasi-Díaz 2002, 6. “Latinx” mostly refers to people of Mexican, Central and South Amer- ican, and Hispanic Caribbean ancestry living in the United States and its territories. The