RAQUEL AND ALFONSO MARTÍNEZ-FONTS ENDOWED ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
Héctor M. Varela Rios, PhD
Héctor M. Varela Rios, PhD, is the Raquel and Alfonso Martínez-Fonts Endowed Assistant Professor in Latin American Studies. His work is primarily in Latinx theology; constructive theologies; religions and materiality/material culture; and theories of religion. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez. Dr. Varela Rios obtained his MA in Religion at the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico and MA in Divinity from the University of Chicago. He continued his studies at the University of Chicago where he earned his PhD in Theology.
Dr. Varela Rios’s work is published in numerous in scholarly articles, including “Sancochando Theological Anthropology: One Puerto Rican Heavy Soup as Heuristic” in Perspectivas: Journal of the Hispanic Theological Initiative (2018) and "Using Latinx Theology's Lo Cotidiano to Decolonialize Oller's El Velorio" in the Journal for Religion, Film and Media (2021). His other publications include “‘Depicting Heavenly Reality’: Non-Textual Objects as Inscriptions of Belief” in the Journal of Religious & Theological Information (2022) and “Thing” in the Critical Theory for Political Theology: Keywords, Political Theology Network (2022). Dr. Varela Rios is also the author of the essay “In Defense of Latinx: A Theological Microintervention” in the book Why Can’t We Wait: Racism and the Church (2022).
Dr. Varela Rios has presented his research at multiple conferences in the U.S. and abroad. Most recently, he discussed “In Defense of ‘Latinx’: Linguistic Mestizaje/Mulatez as a Theological Microintervention” at the College Theology Society Conference online in June 2022 and “No holiness like decolonial holiness: an ecclesiological conversation of REHACE and its responses to catastrophe and social justice” at the Ecclesiological Investigations Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico in June 2022.
About the Raquel and Alfonso Martínez-Fonts Endowed Assistant Professor in Latin American Studies
Established in 2023, the Raquel and Alfonso Martínez-Fonts Endowed Assistant Professor in Latin American Studies in the Villanova University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences aims to advance and enrich the study of Latin American cultures, histories and societies. The prestigious position recognizes an outstanding scholar in Latin American Studies who upholds Villanova’s commitment to fostering a global perspective through interdisciplinary curriculum and strengthens the University’s international reputation.
The endowed position honors Villanova alumnus Alfonso Martínez-Fonts, Jr. ’71 CLAS, his wife Raquel, and the Martínez-Fonts family name.