Theopolitical Authorization: Óscar Romero, Far-Right Christianity, and a Contest for the Soul of the Americas
Kevin Coleman
University of Toronto
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Time: 3 - 5:30pm
Location: Boisi Center, 24 Quincy Road, Conference Room
Co-sponsored with The Institute for the Liberal Arts, The Jesuit Institute, and the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Office
This talk examines the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero and the subsequent contestation over his legacy as manifestations of a transnational theological and political struggle in and beyond Cold War El Salvador. Drawing on previously unexamined beatification documents, particularly the Positio Super Martyrio, Coleman will reconstruct how conservative forces constructed theological justifications that portrayed Romero as a communist dupe rather than as an authentic religious authority. He will introduce the concept of theopolitical doppelgängers to explain the mirroring through which Christian nationalists created permission structures for violence.
Kevin Coleman is an associate professor of history at the University of Toronto. A historian of capitalism, photography, and political conflict in modern Latin America, he is the author of A Camera in the Garden of Eden (2016) and co-editor of Capitalism and the Camera (2021) and Coups d’état in Cold War Latin America (2025). He wrote and directed Stolen Photo (Señal Colombia, 2024), a documentary exploring the 1928 massacre of banana workers in Colombia. His research has been awarded prizes from the American Historical Association and supported by the ACLS/Mellon Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
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Hannah Allam wrote an article for The Washington Post titled “Pro-Trump Christian Extremists use Scripture to Justify Violent Goals,” which discusses how Christian Nationalists use scripture to justify violence against their political enemies to reclaim the “soul” of America. This extreme branch of Christian nationalists believes that America’s Christian identity is under attack, which calls for a revolution to put the faithful back in charge of the country. They paint the democratic party and other political rivals as demons, using biblically charged language to justify retribution. A militant faction of Christian nationalist Trump supporters believes that Christians must engage in an armed battle over the “soul of America,” citing Bible verses that permit the use of violence. Such groups commonly use Matthew 18:6 (which calls for lethal punishment for anyone who harms the young) to threaten groups like teachers, librarians, and abortion providers who promote ideas that the Christian nationalists believe oppose Christian teaching. They frame the current situation in America as a fight against those on God’s side and those working for the devil. However, the scripture they rely on to justify this call to violence is literalist and taken out of context, used to falsely claim that violence is a biblically justified response to threats to faith or country. In reality, these calls to violence are mere political tools and are far from the peaceful example of Jesus. The strength of this group will depend on Christians’ ability to fight off such rhetoric by countering these distorted biblical justifications for violence. At his lecture, Kevin Coleman will discuss how conservative forces in El Salvador constructed theological justifications that portrayed Óscar Romero as a communist dupe rather than as an authentic religious authority. He will introduce the concept of theopolitical doppelgängers to explain the mirroring through which Christian nationalists have created permission structures for violence.