. David J. Bosch, A Spirituality of the Road (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1979), 13.
. “A Kolbe Times Interview with Mary Jo Leddy,” Kolbe Times (11 September 2016), http://www.kolbetimes.com/a-kolbe-times-interview-with-mary-jo-leddy/.
1
. United Nations Information Service (UNIS), “It Takes Courage to Be a Refugee United Nations Commemorates World Refugee Day on 20 June,” 2005, http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2005/unisinf84.html.
. The names of individuals and some of the details of their stories have been changed so they cannot be identified and put at risk.
. Adrian Edwards, “Global Forced Displacement Hits Record High,” UNHCR, 20 June 2016, http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2016/6/5763b65a4/global-forced-displacement-hits-record-high.html.
. UNHCR, Global Trends – Forced Displacement in 2015 (Geneva: United Nations, 2015), 8.
. Christopher Wright, “An Old Testament Perspective,” paper presented at the Stott-Bedaiko Forum “The Refugee Crisis: Our Common Human Condition,” Oxford University, 2016, 1.
. Daniel G. Groody, Crossing the Divide: Foundations of a Theology of Migration and Refugees, Monograph 15 (Oxford: Crowther Centre Monographs, 2010), 6–7.
. Wright, “Old Testament Perspective,” 2.
. Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 113, 115.
. Jenny McGill, Religious Identity and Cultural Negotiation: Toward a Theology of Christian Identity in Migration (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2016), 204–205.
. Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God (London: SCM, 1974), 3.
. McGill, Religious Identity, 199.
. Ibid.
2
. Quoted in David Winter, Rachel Brown, Stephanie Goins, and Clare Mason, Trauma, Survival and Resilience in War Zones: The Psychological Impact of War in Sierra Leone and Beyond (London: Routledge, 2016), 133.
. The names of individuals and some of the details of their stories have been changed so they cannot be identified and put at risk.
. UNHCR, “Figures at a Glance: Global Trends 2015,” http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html. Gathering displacement statistics is problematic with many shortcomings in methodology. It is widely believed that actual numbers of displaced are higher than the reported figures.
. Ibid.
. Ibid.
. Lydia DePillis, Kulwant Saluja, and Denise Lu. “A Visual Guide to 75 Years of Major Refugee Crises Around the World,” The Washington Post, 21 December 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/historical-migrant-crisis/.
. Ibid.
. UNHCR, The Rights of Non-Citizens (Geneva: United Nations, 2006), 5.
. Article I, Refugee Convention, “Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees” (Geneva: UNHCR 1951).
. On the very rare occasion people may be deemed refugees before they have left their own country.
. Annex, No. 2. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement” (New York: United Nations, 1998).
. Amendment 15 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.” United Nations, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” United Nations (New York, NY, 1948), http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf.
. The UNHCR claims the figure of ten million global stateless, although researchers estimate a higher population of fifteen million stateless individuals. One reason for the lesser figure is that “UNHCR’s statistical reporting on statelessness excludes stateless persons who also fall within the protection mandates of other UN Agencies (at present, only the UN Relief and Works Agency – UNRWA), and those who also come under other UNHCR protection mandates (such as refugees, IDPs or asylum seekers).” Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, The World’s Stateless (Oisterwijk, The Netherlands: Wolf Legal Publishers, 2014), 7, 35.
. UNHCR, “Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons,” 1954, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/stateless.pdf, 3.
. Brad K. Blitz, Forced Migration Policy Briefing 3: Statelessness, Protection and Equality (Oxford: Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford, 2009), 7.
. Laura van Waas, Nationality Matters: Statelessness under International Law. Dissertation (Tilburg: University of Tilburg, 2008), 20.
. Blitz, Forced Migration Policy Briefing, 1. Some examples are Dominicans of Haitian descent; children of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong who are not granted citizenship in Hong Kong nor by the mother’s home country; Palestinians in Lebanon; many descendants of Arab nomads in Kuwait; and Bhutanese refugees in Nepal who have neither Nepali nor Bhutanese citizenship.
. United Nations General Assembly, “International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW). Resolution 45/158 of 18 December 1990” (New York: United Nations, 1990).
. UNHCR, Rights of Non-Citizens, 5–6.
3
. Nicholas Wolterstorff, Justice: Rights and Wrongs (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008), 115.
. UNHCR. “Awad’s Story, South Sudan,” UNHCR Stories, http://stories.unhcr.org/awad-2-p131.html.
. Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study of Ethics and Politics (New York: Scribner, 1932).
. Others who have written extensively about institutionalized evil (sin) include Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1992) and Walter Rauschenbusch, A Theology for the Social Gospel (New York: MacMillan, 1917).
. The first five books of the Old Testament.
. Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1965), 68.
. Arthur F. Glasser, Charles E. Van Engen, Dean S. Gilliland, Shawn B. Redford, and Paul Hiebert, Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God’s Mission in the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 117.
. There is considerable debate about when the various laws and codes were written and by whom. For a more detailed discussion on the dating of the various books and sections, see Harold V. Bennett, Injustice Made Legal: Deuteronomic Law and the Plight of Widows, Strangers and Orphans in Ancient Israel (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 6–21. Also see Douglas A. Knight, Law, Power, and Justice in Ancient Israel (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2011), 261.
. Glasser et al, Announcing the Kingdom, 117.
. Lev 19:10; 23:22; Num 35:15; Deut 24:19–21.
. Wright, “Old Testament Perspective,” 3–4.
. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 74.
. Ibid., 75.
. Jonathan Burnside, The Status and Welfare of Immigrants: The Place of the Foreigner in Biblical Law and Its Relevance to Contemporary Society (Cambridge: Jubilee Centre, 2001), 13–14, quoted by Wright, “Old Testament Perspective,” 4.
. Wright, “Old Testament Perspective,” 4.
. Glasser et al, Announcing the Kingdom, 87–88.
. Norbert Lohfink, “Poverty in the Laws of the Ancient Near East and the Bible,” Theological Studies 52, no. 1 (1991): 34.
. J. David Pleins, The Social Visions of the Hebrew Bible: A Theological Introduction (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 40–42.
. Lohfink, “Poverty in the Laws,” 34.
. Rupen Das, Compassion and the Mission of God: Revealing the Hidden Kingdom (Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2016), 49–54; 58–62.
. Chris Wright explains that they could partake of the Passover (if circumcised, Exod 12:45–49). They were included in the joy and holiday of the annual feasts (Deut 16:11, 14). They were to observe the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29). They were to be present at occasions of covenant renewal and the reading of the law (Deut 29:10–13; 31:12). Wright, “Old Testament Perspective,” 5.
. Ibid., 5–7.
. Ibid., 7.
. God warned the Israelites numerous times. “This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place” (Jer 22:3). “See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood” (Ezek 22:6–9). “The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.” (Ezek 22:29). “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty” (Mal 3:5).
. Timothy S. Laniak, Finding the Lost Images of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 48.
4
. Walter Brueggemann, “How the Early Church Practiced Charity,” The Christian Century (June 2003): 30.
. Names and some details have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals mentioned so they may not be put at risk.
. When Jesus spoke about the poor, he was referring to the majority who were oppressed because of the greed and injustice of a small, wealthy, and powerful elite. When he taught and preached, many of his listeners were the chronically poor and those living in extreme poverty on the fringes of society, while some from the wealthy and elite sections of society listened in. He used parables about being exploited that they could relate to (Matt 18:21–35). He spoke about a God who cared enough to feed the birds of the air and clothe the flowers of the field because these people were worried about their next meal and probably did not have a spare set of clothes or enough warm clothing for the winter (Matt 6:25–34). Jesus fed them as they listened to him teach because they did not have enough food with them (Matt 14:13–21).
. Philip A. Harland, “The Economy of First-Century Palestine: State of the Scholarly Discussion,” in Handbook of Early Christianity: Social Science Approaches, ed. Anthony J. Blasi, Jean Duhaime, and Philip-Andre Turcotte (Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press, 2002), 515.
. Das, Compassion and the Mission of God, 63–68.
. Cited in Ernest Gellner, Muslim Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), x.
. Margaret Atkins and Robin Osborne, Poverty in the Roman World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 5.
. Ibid., 6.
. Peter Heather, “Refugees and the Roman Empire” (2015), https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/refugees-and-roman-empire.
. Peter Brown, Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire, The Menahem Stern Jerusalem Lectures (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2002), 8.
. Ibid., 8–9.
. Adolf von Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, trans. James Moffatt (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1962).
. Samuel Escobar, “New Testament Theological Basis” (Oxford, 2016), 3. An unpublished paper presented at the Stott-Bedaiko Forum entitled “The Refugee Crisis: Our Common Human Condition.”
. Ibid., 3–5.
. Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983), 51–52.
. It was usually the poor who were involved in stealing as a means of surviving.
. Ibid., 213.
. Bruce Longenecker, Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and the Greco-Roman World (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010), 287.
5
. Walter Brueggemann, The Land: Place as Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2002), 4.
. The names and some of the details have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals so they may not be put at risk.
. Brueggemann, Land, 2.
. Ibid., 187. Dictionary.com defines anomie as “a state or condition of individuals or society characterized by a breakdown or absence of social norms and values, as in the case of uprooted people.” Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; also: personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals.”
. Das, Compassion and the Mission of God.
. Simone Weil, The Need for Roots (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1952), 43.
. Gary Burge, Jesus and the Land: The New Testament Challenge to “Holy Land” Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), ix.
. Craig G. Bartholomew, Where Mortals Dwell: A Christian View of Place for Today (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011), Kindle Location 174.
. Ibid., Kindle Location 698.
. We can see this naming plainly in the New Testament. The identities of Paul of Tarsus and Joseph of Arimathea indicated not only their hometown, but also identify who they are in terms of their family, social standing, and culture. Even the Son of God is referred to as Jesus of Nazareth. After identifying that Jesus was from Nazareth, Nathaniel responds to Philip, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46).
. McGill, Religious Identity, 193.
. John Inge, A Christian Theology of Place (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003), 46.
. Ibid., 47.
. Brueggemann, Land, 2.
. Ibid., 4.
. Bartholomew, Where Mortals Dwell, Kindle Location 296.
. Ibid., Kindle Location 698.
. Brueggemann, Land, 4. Emphasis in original.
. Ibid., 6.
. Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism (Cleveland, OH: World Publishing, 1958), 267.
. Adam Lucente and Zouhir Al-Shimale, “Holding on to Aleppo: Meeting Those Refusing to Leave,” The New Arab (9 September 2016), https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2016/9/9/holding-on-to-aleppo-meeting-those-refusing-to-leave.
. Das, Compassion and the Mission of God, 57.
. J. K. Riches quoted in Bartholomew, Where Mortals Dwell, Kindle Location 2061.
. Burge, Jesus and the Land, 99.
. Brueggemann, Land, 15–16.
. Ibid., 16.
. Inge, Christian Theology of Place, 37. Emphasis in original.
. Martin Accad, “‘The World Is Yours!’ A Brief Reflection on Citizenship and Stewardship,” The Institute of Middle East Studies (30 July 2015), https://imeslebanon.wordpress.com/2015/07/30/the-world-is-yours-a-brief-reflection-on-citizenship-and-stewardship/.
. McGill, Religious Identity, 196.
. Ibid., 197.
. Inge, Christian Theology of Place, 141.
. McGill, Religious Identity, 195.
6
. Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1996), 100.
. A sort of inn along the trade routes of the ancient world where caravans would stop for the night.
. There was also an accepted understanding that guests would not take advantage of, abuse, or threaten their host and would not put their host into any kind of danger.
. Pathos and apatheia are Greek words. Heschel’s discussion on the pathos of God is from The Prophets (New York: Harper & Row, 1962).
. Moltmann, Crucified God, 270.
. Laniak, Finding the Lost Images, 48.
. Kazoh Kitamori, Theology of the Pain of God (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1965), 22.
. D. Preman Niles, From East and West: Rethinking Christian Mission (St Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2004), 79.
. Ibid.
. Lohfink, “Poverty in the Laws,” 41–42.
. Ibid., 40–42.
. Most dictionaries define hospitality as welcoming and providing for a guest.
. Das, Compassion and the Mission of God, 49–54.
. Frank C. Fensham, “Widows, Orphans, and the Poor in Ancient Near Eastern Legal and Wisdom Literature,” in Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East, ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn (New York: New York University Press, 2000), 183–84.
. Deut 15:9 “Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: ‘The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,’ so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.” Deut 24:15, “Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.”
. Lohfink, “Poverty in the Laws,” 46, citing Klaus Koch, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. G. Botterweck and H. Ringgren (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974), 3: 309–320, esp. 315–16.
. Kosuke Koyama, “‘Extended Hospitality to Strangers’: A Missiology of Theologica Crucis,” International Review of Mission 82, no. 327 (1993): 285.
. Ibid., 284.
. Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, 72.
. Ibid., 67
. Ibid., 74
. Ibid., 100
. Ibid., 219
. Quoted in Ernest Gellner, Muslim Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), x.
. Fida Mohammad, “Ibn Khaldun’s Theory of Social Change: A Comparison between Hegel, Marx and Durkheim,” The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 15, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 36–37.
. Bruce J. Malina, “Collectivism in Mediterranean Culture,” in Understanding the Social World of the New Testament, eds. Richard E. DeMaris and Dietmar Neufeld (London: Routledge, 2010), 21–23.
. Groody, Crossing the Divide, 9, quoting Roger Zetter, “Labeling Refugees: The Forming and Transforming of Bureaucratic Identity,” Journal of Refugee Studies 4 (1991): 40.
. Gen 1:26–27; 5:1–3; 9:6; 1 Cor 11:7; Jas 3:9.
. Ibid., 11.
. Ibid., 15, quoting Karl Barth, The Doctrine of Reconciliation, trans. G. W. Bromiley, eds. G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrence (New York, NY: Continuum, 2004), 157–210.
. Groody, Crossing the Divide, 15.
. Ibid., 19–20. Gustavo Gutiérrez writes, “The condition of the poor, because it is so deeply tied to inhumanity, is a radical challenge to human and Christian conscience. No one – no matter their geographical or social location, their culture or religion – can pretend that they are not gripped by it. To perceive the condition of the poor, it is necessary to see poverty in all its depth and breadth. It is a challenge that extends beyond the social field, becoming a demand to think about how we proclaim the Gospel in our day, and how we might present the themes of the Christian message in new ways. . . . The Christian is a witness to the resurrection, the definitive victory over all forms of death.” Gustavo Gutiérrez, “Memory and Prophecy,” in The Option for the Poor in Christian Theology, ed. Daniel G. Groody (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007), 28.
. Groody, Crossing the Divide, 21.
. Ibid., 26–27.
. Ibid., 31.
. Ibid., 32.
7
. Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016), 109.
. The names and some of the details of the story have been changed so the individuals cannot be identified and put at risk.
. D. Woodberry and R. Shubin, “Why I Chose Jesus,” Mission Frontiers (March 2001): 15, http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/muslims-tell...-why-i-chose-jesus2001.
. Rupen Das’ ongoing research on the poor and refugees and what attracts them to Christ and the Gospel. This should be published in the near future.
. In Africa, Latin America, and Asia most refugees are taken care of in refugee camps that have been established by the UN, national governments, or other international agencies. The opportunities for local churches to be involved are largely limited.
. We are grateful to Cesar Sotomayor and David Bunce for providing this case study.
. The Dublin Agreement is between the member countries of the European Union and determines where a refugee can apply for asylum, depending on where they entered the European Union.
. We are grateful to Thomas Klammt for providing this case study.
. This case study is drawn from the unpublished PhD thesis of Elie Haddad, the president of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) in Beirut, Lebanon.
. We are grateful to Loralyn Lind for providing this case study.
. DIRT was comprised of two or three members from each of the three church refugee teams. They happened to include a doctor, a lawyer, a retired school principal, a retired police sergeant, and a pastor.
. We are grateful to Paul Carline for providing this case study.
. KAL is known locally as Dar El Awlad.
. Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, The World’s Stateless (Oisterwijk, The Netherlands: Wolf Legal Publishers, 2014), 107.
. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, “Where We Work,” (1 July 2014), www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/lebanon.
. A major exception to this is the World Council of Churches (WCC), which has specifically highlighted statelessness in recent years by issuing position statements, conducting trainings, and developing Bible devotions centered on the global crisis. These can be accessed on the WCC website. “WCC Strengthens Call to End Statelessness” (2016), https://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/wcc-strengthens-call-to-end-statelessness.
. Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, “Understanding Statelessness in the Syria Refugee Context” (2016), http://www.institutesi.org/ourwork/displacement.php.
. UNHCR, “#IBELONG” (2016), http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/.
. Naomi Shihab Nye, “Naomi Shihab Nye Quotes,” Brainy Quote, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/naomishiha530949.html.
. Laniak, Finding the Lost Images, 48.
. Mother Teresa is supposed to have said every time she pulled a beggar from the gutter that she saw Jesus Christ. “They are Jesus. Everyone is Jesus in a distressing disguise.” Suffering.net, http://www.suffering.net/servmo-t.htm.
. Mother Teresa, In My Own Words, compiled by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado (Linguori, MO: Linguori Publications, 1996), 108.
. “A Kolbe Times Interview with Mary Jo Leddy,” Kolbe Times (11 September 2016), http://www.kolbetimes.com/a-kolbe-times-interview-with-mary-jo-leddy/.