Prisoners of Hope focuses on ecclesiological and practical theological responses to migration, asylum-seeking, and refugee integration and assimilation. It considers the relationship between the church and the nation-state relative to political asylum by questioning the various responses of Christians who advocate for refugees and asylum-seekers in their spheres of influence. Prisoners of Hope features how the Church might begin to appraise and address the various socio-political strategies employed by nation-states, which situate migrants in a form of “quasi-political” status as they move from one place to another. It holds key benefits for exploring the philosophical and theological intersections of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Giorgio Agamben, and Seyla Benhabib and those attempting to ask about treatment of the refugees and asylum-seekers. Prisoners of Hope will be of particular interest to those attempting scholarly research in the areas of theology, religion, and migration studies as it investigates the phenomenological experiences of refugees going “in” and “out” of detention as well as arguments relating to porous borders within sovereign national entities. Initially, the book engages definitions of migration, moving onto concepts of State of Exception and Homo Sacer, and analysing arguments regarding porous borders and cosmopolitanism. Of specific benefit for Christian theology is the second half of the book, which examines the importance of vicarious witnessing, prayer, voicing inclusion, worshipping communities, and the inclusion of the “other.” Overall, Prisoners of Hope is a pertinent addition to those discussing concepts of national sovereignty, migrant assimilation, asylum-seeking, hospitality, and the juxtapositioning of the foreigner within the often, intricate dialogues associated with political entry.
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION 1. DISCERNING MIGRATION THROUGH LITERATURE 2. NAMING THE PHENOMENA 3. VOICING MIGRANT INCLUSION 4. ADVOCATING NEW WORSHIP COMMUNITIES Bibliography Index.
About the Author :
Nathan McConnell is a Minister in the Church of Scotland. He holds a PhD from the University of Aberdeen and has taught at Palm Beach Atlantic University and Trinity International University.
Review :
“A timely intervention in a topic of burning ethical importance that will only grow in relevance in our lifetimes. A humane and theological call for the church to be a voice—and hands—of welcome to the dispossessed and vulnerable.”
- Dr. Brian Brock, Professor of Moral and Practical Theology; University of Aberdeen
“Prisoners of Hope takes the reader deep into one of the ‘ground zeros’ of the contemporary migrant crisis: the island of Malta. Beyond the headlines, the book attends to the voices of refugees caught in a seemingly endless and inescapable maze of detention regimes, bureaucracy, and dead ends. Dr. McConnell’s unflinching protest against the migrant’s entrapment in such a ‘state of exception’ is an important contribution to moral theology and the analysis of contemporary European migration policy.”
- Dr. Christopher Brittain, Dean of Divinity and Margaret E. Fleck Chair in Anglican Studies, Trinity College, University of Toronto
Nathan McConnell’s Prisoners of Hope deftly brings together engagement with migration studies, theology, and his own experience in Malta to help the church learn what it means to be hospitable and a place of inclusion to those migrants who have been otherwise socially and politically excluded. Drawing on the works of Giorgio Agamben, Seyla Benhabib, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the book will prove of interest to students of migration, political philosophy, and Christian ethics.
- Dr. Michael Laffin, Independent Scholar
