147. Ignacio Garcia on Eduardo Baldaras: Father of LDS Church Translation

In this episode, we interview Dr. Ignacio Garcia about 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

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

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

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

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”