Samuel Silva Gotay
Samuel Silva Gotay (born August 14, 1935, in Ponce, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican sociologist of religion who studies Puerto Rico and Latin America. Raised in a Protestant tradition, he became active in ecumenical work as a student. He earned degrees from the University of Puerto Rico, Yale University, and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He is a retired Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.
Early in his career he explored the social dimension of Christianity and participated in social justice movements. After two years as a professor at UPR, he studied theology and sociology of religion at Yale, served as the student pastor at UPR, and directed the Higher Education Office of the Council of Churches in Puerto Rico. In 1967 he was the executive director of the Foundation of Community Development, leading Volunteers in Service to Puerto Rico (VESPRA). He then became associate dean of students at UPR, responsible for cultural and student affairs.
A few years later he returned to Mexico to pursue a doctoral degree in Latin American studies, writing his dissertation on the origins of Liberation Theology. Back in Puerto Rico, he taught in several departments at the University of Puerto Rico and at the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean in San Juan. His research focuses on using Liberation Theology to understand the history and sociology of religion in Puerto Rico, and he has published extensively in this field.
He was named Coordinator for the Caribbean of CEHILA (Commission for the History of the Church in Latin America), a project by Latino American historians related to Liberation Theology, to produce a 12-volume history of the Church from a Latin American perspective with a focus on social justice. He is married to Jovita Caraballo, and they have three children and eight grandchildren.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 21:05 (CET).