René Padilla

Carlos René Padilla (12 October 1932 27 April 2021

Career

His education and experiences with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship underscored Padilla's evangelical foundations and the priority he placed on the historical-critical approach to hermeneutics. However, in 1959, Padilla was appointed a traveling secretary in Latin America for International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. In his work with universities throughout Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, Padilla was faced with a tense sociopolitical context. Students were immersed in Marxist writings and grappled with the possibility of revolution. This was the context which produced not only Catholic liberation theology, but also challenged Padilla to develop a new evangelical social theology which he later termed "integral mission."

Padilla brought his ideas to the global stage at the Lausanne Conference of 1974. This had a significant effect on the nature of global evangelicalism and the growing priority of evangelicals in both evangelism and social activism.

Padilla received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Wheaton College in 1992.

Works