Life In Transit Theological And Ethical Contributions On Migration

Migration is an issue that is under discussion worldwide and affects South Africa, the United States of America and Germany in a distinctive way. This book reflects academically on this significant and topical subject of migration from the often neglected perspective of the fields of theology and Christian ethics. While the majority of contributions are from the South African context, there are also chapters reflecting on the topic from the other two aforementioned contexts. While numerous publications have recently appeared on the subject, reflection from theology and Christian ethics are often lacking. As such, this scholarly publication wants to add ethical value to the local and global conversations on the theme from a theological perspective. The book reflects on migration from the perspectives originated in the disciplines of biblical studies (the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament), systematic theology, ecumenical studies, Christian ethics, practical theology, and missiology. It presents new and innovative inquiries primarily from a qualitative methodological viewpoint. The book unveils new themes for deliberation and provides novel interpretations and insights into existing research.

Migration is an issue that is under discussion worldwide and affects South Africa, the United States of America and Germany in a distinctive way. This book reflects academically on this significant and topical subject of migration from the often neglected perspective of the fields of theology and Christian ethics. While the majority of contributions are from the South African context, there are also chapters reflecting on the topic from the other two aforementioned contexts. While numerous publications have recently appeared on the subject, reflection from theology and Christian ethics are often lacking. As such, this scholarly publication wants to add ethical value to the local and global conversations on the theme from a theological perspective. The book reflects on migration from the perspectives originated in the disciplines of biblical studies (the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament), systematic theology, ecumenical studies, Christian ethics, practical theology, and missiology. It presents new and innovative inquiries primarily from a qualitative methodological viewpoint. The book unveils new themes for deliberation and provides novel interpretations and insights into existing research.

Post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) realities are challenging leaders in all spheres of society in many ways. From the onset of the pandemic, leaders on every level were challenged to provide appropriate guidance in the face of new and adverse realities. From the micro level of local congregations to the macro level of national governments, leaders were required to provide the type of leadership that would not only address immediate obstacles but simultaneously be visionary in the face of uncertainties that became the hallmark of post-COVID-19 society. In this book, the authors reflect on leadership in a post-COVID-19 society from bibliological, practical, theological, missiological and ethical perspectives. Although the authors have the global village in mind, the focus leans towards the African context. The book aims to contribute meaningfully to a much-needed and re-imagined vision of leaders which fits post-COVID-19 societies.

How did it all begin? How do we even start to engage the differences between creation narratives in the Christian Bible and modern scientific theory? The authors of this book explore hermeneutic approaches and developments in biblical studies to set the scene for a religious approach. This approach is open to the possibility that a literalist approach to Scripture is, in fact, the most unjustifiable reading of the Bible. This may profoundly affect how we view God, the cosmos, and even ourselves. To be able to read the Bible from the perspective of an open present and future paves the way for suppressed uncertainties to be liberated. This paves the way for humankind to freely question all things without being enslaved by imposed religious dogma. This is not to say that religion has served its purpose, but it is far from it. With the rise of technological advancements come other social and anthropological problems, not to mention the challenge we face on a global scale with climate change, et cetera. Just as we dare to peek over the edge of a future without religion, the authors bring us back to the fundamental teachings of faith traditions, Christianity in particular. They remind us that the solutions to these challenges are to be found in us becoming ‘better humans’. Becoming ‘better humans’ brings us back into the arena of faith traditions. When technology may lead to social disconnection and narcissism, religion calls for love of self and neighbour. Where greed-inspired advancements threaten the future of our planet, religion teaches us to be in relationship with our environment and to be custodians of it.

In an age of global migration, what is the fundamental theological framework with which Christian theologians and church leaders are to engage its challenges and problems? In this volume, Ilsup Ahn attempts to answer this question by presenting a Trinitarian theology of migration.

This volume explores religious discourses and practices of hospitality in the context of migration. It articulates the implied ambivalences and even contradictions as well as the potential to contribute to a more just world through social interconnection with others. The book features contributors from diverse national, denominational, cultural, and racial backgrounds. Their essays reveal a dichotomy of hospitality between guest and host, while tackling the meaning of home or the loss of it, interrogating both the peril and promise of the relationship between religion, chiefly Christianity, and hospitality, and focusing on the role of migrants' vulnerability and agency, by drawing from empirical, theological, sociological and anthropological insights emerged from postcolonial migration contexts. With contributions by Andrea Bieler, Jione Havea, Claudia Hoffmann, HyeRan Kim-Cragg, Claudia Jahnel, Isolde Karle, Buhle Mpofu, Armin Nassehi, Ilona Nord, Henrietta Nyamnjoh, Regina Polak, Ludger Pries, Thomas Reynolds, Harsha Walia, Jula Well, and Birgit Weyel. [Religion und Migration] Dieser Band beschäftigt sich mit religiösen Diskursen und religiöser Praxis, die Gastfreundschaft im Kontext von Migration thematisieren. Dabei werden sowohl Potenziale identifiziert, die in Richtung größerer Gerechtigkeit und sozialer Verbundenheit weisen, als auch Ambivalenzen und Widersprüche. Das Buch präsentiert Beiträge, die verschiedene nationale, konfessionelle, kulturelle und ethnische Kontexte reflektieren. Dabei kommen die problematischen sowie die verheißungsvollen Dimensionen der Dichotomie von Gast- und Gastgebersein in den Blick, die der Fokus auf Gastfreundschaft insbesondere im Christentum impliziert. Die Frage nach dem Zusammenhang von Verletzbarkeit und Handlungsmacht von Migrantinnen und Migranten wird aus empirischer, theologischer, soziologischer sowie anthropologischer Perspektive beleuchtet.

What does it mean to provide justice for undocumented workers who have been living among us without proper legal documentation? How can we do justice to the undocumented migrants who have been doing the low-skilled, low-paid jobs unwanted by citizens? Why should we even try to do justice for people who violate the laws of the society? Religious Ethics and Migration: Doing Justice to Undocumented Workers addresses these questions from a distinctive religious ethical perspective: the Christian theology of forgiveness and radical hospitality. In answering these questions, the author employs in-depth interdisciplinary dialogues with other relevant disciplines such as immigration history, global economics, political science, legal philosophy, and social theory. He argues that the political appropriation of a Christian theology of forgiveness and the radical hospitality modeled after it are the most practical and justifiable solutions to the current immigration crisis in North America. Critical and interdisciplinary in its approach, this book offers a unique, comprehensive, and balanced perspective regarding the urgent immigration crisis.