On Monday, March 17, 2014, theologian Justin Ashworth of Duke University will be visiting Ashland and giving a public lecture, "The Location of Peoplehood: A Theological Contribution to Immigration Debates" at 7 p.m. in the Ridenour Room, Dauch College of Business and Economics.
Ashland Religion News sent some questions to Justin asking him more about his work on theology and immigration.
Theology and immigration are connected in a number of ways. At
the most basic level, most migrants from Latin America (my primary focus) have
some religious convictions, most often Christian; theologians ought to care
about these convictions and their influence on migrants and those with whom
they have contact. Moreover, many theologians understand their task as the
attempt to speak coherently (or “logically,” from logos in Greek) about
God (theos in Greek) and all things in relation to God. Theologians
should not neglect this important aspect of human and Christian life. From
another perspective, some argue that theologians should focus especially on how
to understand individual and social wounds in relation to God. Immigration
debates in America are so lively, I think, in part because so many wounds (and
the possibility of further wounds) are exposed: questions of race, gender and
class, obedience to the law, the deaths of migrants attempting to cross the
border, cultural identity, national security and a number of others. Theologians
do well to ask what type of healing God is bringing to these wounds and how
churches and others of good will can respond to, and be part of, that healing.