Social Exclusion as Spiritual Inclusion: Collective Identity-Making and Urban Theology in Faith-Based Food Assistance in Finland
Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2020–2021, this paper investigates how people experiencing poverty and social exclusion process their collective in-group/ out-group identity as the urban ‘others’ in faith-based food assistance in Finland. By building on the concept of collective identity...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
Journal of empirical theology
Year: 2023, Volume: 36, Issue: 1, Pages: 99-112 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Finland
/ Poverty
/ Exclusion
/ Group identity
/ Faith
/ History 2020-2021
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| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality CH Christianity and Society KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBE Northern Europe; Scandinavia NCC Social ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
Urban Theology
B Narrative B Collective identity B lived theology |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2020–2021, this paper investigates how people experiencing poverty and social exclusion process their collective in-group/ out-group identity as the urban ‘others’ in faith-based food assistance in Finland. By building on the concept of collective identity and employing narrative construction, the analysis shows that not only does perceived social exclusion function as a stigmatizing self-category and symbolic boundary maker but also as a resource for resistance, especially in the theological accounts of the informants. When looking through the lenses of urban theology, the informants do not just tell a story about themselves, but they do theology as well. All in all, the others may be excluded from society and yet included in Spirit. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-9256 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of empirical theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20231142 |
