Who Are Our People? Toward a Christian Witness against Borders
Christian arguments for state borders are grounded in the preferential option for one's people, that is, the conviction that the needs of co-citizens must be given priority over those of foreigners. Theologians often find support for this conviction in the doctrines of human finitude and divine...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2018]
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| In: |
Modern theology
Year: 2018, Volume: 34, Issue: 4, Pages: 495-518 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Catholic church
/ Ecclesiology
/ Church membership
/ People of God
/ Immigration
/ Violence
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| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics KBQ North America KDB Roman Catholic Church NBN Ecclesiology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Christian arguments for state borders are grounded in the preferential option for one's people, that is, the conviction that the needs of co-citizens must be given priority over those of foreigners. Theologians often find support for this conviction in the doctrines of human finitude and divine providence: limited resources make it impossible to love all people equally, so we must choose where to start; since God has providentially placed near-neighbors (citizens) in our paths, we honor God's design by keeping in mind their proximate needs in our moral deliberations. I argue that there are several flaws in such defenses of borders. First, they overlook the violence inherent in actually-existing border practices; second, they misidentify fellow citizens as our people, thereby underwriting the church's captivity to state violence. I argue that a sounder theological view of borders requires Christians to adopt a preferential option for God's people. The church catholic is a borderless people committed to bodily solidarity and sharing with the vulnerable. Inasmuch as the church is a people already gathered in anticipation of the final joining of all things in Jesus Christ, ecclesial borderlessness serves as the horizon for all peoples. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-0025 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Modern theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/moth.12409 |