Intro: Hello and Bienvenidos (welcome) to Contextualize This, a Podcast that attempts to provide a diversified and contextualized perspective on today’s relevant topics. I am your host, Norlan Hernández. 

This is EPISODE 0 titled Introducing Contextualize This. In Today’s episode we will talk about: 

• The motivation behind the creation of this\ podcast

• Introduction to the Host

• And why you should subscribe!

Let’s get started

Motivation

Why another podcast, you might be asking? Don’t we already have enough already? While that may be true, I think there is still a need for the contextualization of ideas and concepts. Ideas such as leadership, theology, spirituality, culture, and so on. There is still a need to make things fit into our culture. Into out context. That right there is the process of contextualization. In short Contextualization is the process of making things relevant.  Too often the dominant culture determines the path forward without stopping to think about different perspectives have you ever watched a very interesting lecture or watched a TedTalk that presented great ideas? And think to yourself “how would this fit in my context? My church? My neighborhood? My family? My society? 

I’ve asked that so many times. Allow me to give you a personal example of what I mean by contextualization.  I have often asked myself what does it mean to be Christian? Furthermore, I have asked What does it mean to be a Christian that is Latino? These questions have taken me on a journey toward understanding my ethnic and cultural identity as it relates to my Christian faith. 

So I have asked myself questions regarding what factors contributed to my understanding of my ethnic and cultural identity and faith. As you would imagine, the answer was multilayered. Here re a few factors that I wanted to highlight. First, familia. Family has been a critical component in my understanding of my ethnic and cultural identity. Growing up in Nicaragua with my siblings, my parents, my extended family. Seeing them - all of that contributed to my understanding of my ethnic and cultural identity. Similarly, geography. I lived in Nicaragua for a few years. I went to school there. 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. From middle school through high school, every summer I would spend it in Nicaragua. That definitely helped me cement my understanding of my ethnic and cultural identity. 

Thirdly, I think you will resonate with this. Food! Food as been such a tangible way for me to engage and interact with my culture. It has definitely solidified my understanding of my ethnic and cultural identity. If eel Nicaraguense when I each the Nacatamales and chancho con yuca. Lastly, I want to highlight what we see on social media, or films, news and tv shows. Often times, Latinos are portrayed in a certain way. Maybe as lazy, or dangerous, or uneducated. None of which resonated with me. But all of which I wanted to help rewrite the narrative for. 

I also ask questions concerning the factors that might have informed my understanding of my faith. And yes, the answer was multilayered. And Yes, some of the same things that came out in the previous questions came out in this one. So, familia was one of those things. Family. More specifically, I think of my mom and how she inculcated my faith. I understood what it meant to have a prayer life because I saw her on her knees every night. I understood what it was to have a relationship with God because she put it on display during the high and lows we went through as a family. Secondly, geography once again came up. More specifically I am thinking about language and traditions that are found within these specific geographical locations. While I was in Nicaragua - the traditions that were at play there. Here in L.A., the traditions and language that are at play here. Thirdly, the culture within the faith. I come from a pentecostal background. Worship style, preaching style, and an understanding of relationship - all of that contributed to my understanding of my faith. Additionally, I can think of the dominant culture. Especially living here in L.A.. I think about what it means to acknowledge the dominant culture and ask the question: what have we taken from the dominant culture and what have we embedded within our individual culture. So I think about technology and the use of social media. I also think about worship and music styles and music genres. I think about language in the context of L.A. Are we going to do all of this in Spanish, or English, or Spanglish or bilingual? 

Okay, so far I’ve sprinkled some things about myself. But I want to do this more formally. 

Introducing the Host

Mi nombre is Norlan Hernandez. My family is from Nicaragua. Both of my parents were both in Matagalpa. A beautiful city in the northern part of the city. I am the third boy out of four. Yes. my mom had a wonderful time raining all four boys! As for Christianity, my background is a pentecostal background. I’ve been married for 6 wonderful years to my beautiful wife - Isabel Hernandez. Here is a fun fact - my wife’s last name was Hernandez before marrying me. So she didn’t’ have to change her last name! Now, we have a beautiful 3-year old daughter. Aella Mia Hernandez. We named her Aella after an amazonian worrier in Greek Mythology who was only defeated by one man - Hercules. Metaphorically speaking, we wanted o make sure our daughter had strong man and would only be defeated by one man. As far as my education, I started off at Cerritos Community College where I spent a few years. I then transferred over to Cal State LA where I earned my degree in Liberal Studies. While I was completing my undergrad, I was also attending a small Spanish-speaking bible school. When I finished both of these, I enrolled in seminary at Fuller Theological Seminary. This is where I obtained a master of arts in theology, which set a strong foundation for an understanding of my faith. And now, i find myself pursuing a Ph.D. in intercultural studies at Cook School of intercultural studies. My dissertation topic will be on the intersection of Latino identity and Christian faith. All within the context of Nicaragua. 

As far as my professional journey. I have worked every job under the sun. Anywhere from fast food to retail and banking to helping the family with construction and helping my dad in the mechanic shop. I also was doing my own thing with graphic design to my last two positions. One in the corporate world, where I was an operations training manager for a global company. And now, I am a director at a Christian university where I am one of the few Latino leaders on campus. 

It is from this experience that I come to you and I bring you this podcast. If the conversations about theology, and leadership, and culture, and technology and so much more, interest you, and if you are interested in being exposed to different perspectives and seeing examples of how to contextualize these ideas and concepts. I encourage you to subscribe. 

That being said, Thanks for listening to Contextualize This with Norlan Hernandez. If you like the show and want to know more or wish to connect with me, check out my page - NorlanHernandez.com. I also encourage you to write a review, this is your way of helping make this podcast better. 

Join us next time when we talk about the impact culture has on our faith.