The Impact of Human Mobility on Theology of Migration

Dear Colleagues,

Since the latter part of the past century, theologians involved in the pastoral accompaniment of migrants have been rediscovering the value of the experiences and contexts of migration and their relatedness to faith. Gradually, migration begins to receive more and more attention in theological research. Currently, this is not just a topic among those in theology but rather a topic which, on its own, has the capability of articulating new reflections ensuing in a solid theological flow under the appellation: “Theology of Migration”. From various areas of the globe, researchers take on new fundamental notions, rediscovered in the life-worlds that have to do with human mobility.

Theology of Migration can be understood as the response to an experience of human mobility that has increased in these times of neoliberal globalization and, because of its contextual and thematic diversity, embraces a plurality of theological approaches. Within this budding field, we find theoretical and empirical interdisciplinary approaches that allow us to make correlations between faith, scripture, and traditions that emerge from the conditio humana of migrants. Academic research, in the meantime, identified as Theology of Migration, recognizes a variety of approaches to the migratory every-day, some pertaining to hospitality, the rights and dignity of migrants, others reflecting from their faith frameworks, their life, and the efforts to build on links of intercultural coexistence. All of these reflections are carried out from different theological disciplines in such a way that theology of migration is not the privilege of one discipline in particular, but rather a shared preoccupation by various theological disciplines. How does migration impact the theology that it is named after? Is it possible to speak of a transformative effect of its dialogue with migrants? What innovations are necessary to improve the dialogue with migrants, who are, in fact, its main interlocutors?

With Theology of Migration as our focal point, the purpose of this Special Issue is to deepen scholarly understanding of the ways that migration affects how we understand and do theology. To accomplish this, I invite researchers to offer their contributions from the various fields of theology. I welcome contributions which, from different scopes and Christian traditions, investigate, above all, the particular characteristics of Theology of Migration, the dialogue with other theologies, with new methodological articulations, topics such as human rights, exclusion, populism, and implications from the decoloniality perspectives, interculturality, and transnationalism.

Dr. Jorge E. Castillo Guerra
Guest Editor

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• migration
• diaspora
• human rights
• human dignity
• theological research methods
• decoloniality
• interculturality
• transnationalism
• identity
• spirituality
• mission