Strangers and Fellow Citizens: Perspectives on Immigration and Society
The article sets out a critical assessment of recent public reactions in Germany upon taking in large numbers of refugees since 2015, which have been swaying between moralisation and resentment. In this situation, public theology should ask how hospitality is linked to the perceived identity of a so...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage
2021
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In: |
Studies in Christian ethics
Year: 2021, Volume: 34, Issue: 1, Pages: 56-75 |
RelBib Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics KBB German language area TK Recent history VA Philosophy ZB Sociology |
Further subjects: | B
the unconditional
B Church B Integration B Proximity B Migration B Belonging B the political B Bernhard Waldenfels B Fear B Stranger B Michael Walzer B member B Georg Simmel B guest |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
Summary: | The article sets out a critical assessment of recent public reactions in Germany upon taking in large numbers of refugees since 2015, which have been swaying between moralisation and resentment. In this situation, public theology should ask how hospitality is linked to the perceived identity of a society and to its perception of who belongs, and what role Christianity might play in these debates. Drawing on a phenomenological perspective within contemporary German philosophy (Bernhard Waldenfels), and contrasting this perspective with historical and contemporary voices on migration within political philosophy (Georg Simmel, Michael Walzer), the article explores what the concepts of stranger, member and guest imply for the relation of ‘us’ to ‘the other’. From this, I derive a suggestion as to how Christian theology could contribute to a change in the self-perception of society, centred around the seemingly paradoxical concept of ‘belonging in not-belonging’. |
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ISSN: | 0953-9468 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0953946820910750 |