OL: The Bible and Immigration

Catalog description

TAUGHT BY SFTS. The Scriptures of ancient Israel and early Christianity depict a variety of immigration movements, including exiles, forced migrations, conscriptions, refugee conditions, captivities, and enslavements. This course will examine the social and historical conditions of these migrants and their movements, as well as biblical renderings and interpretations of their condition, with special interest in how immigrant experience formed communal identity and served as a primary metaphor for religious and cultural self-understanding. We will also investigate the role of religious communities in current immigration situations, to see how inclusion of immigrants leads to religious vitality.