What We Do
As an Institute we work towards…
Inheriting
…embracing our inherited protestant tradition through our research, writing and lectures, demonstrating the intellectual and lifeful vibrance of the biblical worldview.
Informing
…informing the church of the relevance and comprehensiveness of the gospel through events, conferences, translation and publication of print and web resources.
Inspiring
…inspiring God’s people to explore the depths of God’s Word and its diverse applications for the reformation and renewal of church and culture.
Our Drive
The protestant reformation of the 16th century was brought about by the recovery of the goodness, beauty, and liberty of the gospel as the church sought to reform itself conforming to God’s word. The gospel is the good news of God’s restorative work in creation through his Son Jesus Christ, beginning with the human heart and overflowing into every cultural and creational aspect. This comprehensive gospel has had a profound influence on the development of Western society, beginning with the protestant reformers who worked to apply God’s word to everyday life. However, as of recently, this biblical gospel has been truncated from a comprehensive worldview to nothing more than a privatized spirituality, relegating God’s redemptive power to the private life of the individual and nothing more.
In the case of Ibero-America, the region never experienced the fully bloomed protestant reformation of the 16th century. The embers of the reformation were censored, martyred or exiled from Spanish territories while Roman Catholicism was championed as the only permissible religion. The result was the propagation of Rome’s false gospel, principally of works-plus-grace, and hence culture never experienced the fruits of a distinctly Christian worldview brought about by the exposition and application of the biblical gospel. Given the scholastic dualism of Roman Catholicism, which regards some things as sacred (grace) and others as neutral (nature), and that grace perfects nature, the majority of the Ibero-American people have fallen prey to religious syncretism, including much of the protestant church today.
For both Western and Ibero-American churches, the mission to advance the kingdom of God has been hampered due to a misunderstanding of the gospel. On the one hand, the gospel has been limited in its scope and nature, and on the other, the gospel has been polluted by religious syncretism. As long as this prevails, neither the Western nor the Ibero-American people and their culture will experience the renewal and transformation that the true gospel brings as it is proclaimed and applied.
In response to this reality, the Cántaro Institute seeks to contribute towards the ecclesiastical effort to reform the church according to the word of God by educating the church at various levels, from the basics of the gospel as it applies to the individual, to the cosmic scope of the gospel as it applies to society and creation, all while drawing from our rich protestant heritage. At the root of the reformational movement, which led to the recovery of biblical truth, is the principle of Sola Scriptura. The Cántaro Institute seeks to carry this principle forward along with the other four Solas: Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria.
Behind the Name
The word cántaro means “pitcher” in Spanish. It was featured as part of the cover image for Cipriano de Valera’s Spanish Bible translation published in 1602, the Biblia del Cántaro, a revision of Casiodoro de Reina’s first Spanish translation of 1569, the Biblia del Oso. The cover’s imagery is derived from 1 Corinthians 3:6-8, in which two men tend to a tree symbolizing the life of the Christian; the one plants the tree on a firm foundation, meant to be the word of God, while the other waters it with the cántaro, the inscripturated word of life, but the growth of the person is exclusively the work of God.
The centrality of the Bible to all living and thinking is emphasized with the placement of the text from Isaiah 40:8 under the image, “the word of our God will last forever.” The Cántaro Institute pays tribute to the biblical vision and spirit of Reina, Valera and the reformers.