What's in a Handshake? : Multi-Faith Practice as a Starting Point for Christian Migration Ethics
(2022) In Studies in Christian Ethics 35(3). p.561-583- Abstract
- This article assesses the tension between cosmopolitan and communitarian approaches to the ethics of migration by analysing how the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) has responded to the current so-called migration crisis in Europe. I argue that the statements of the EKD frame people on the move either as migrants or as Muslims. These frames come with competing ethical consequences. Whereas migrants are presented as passive victims in need of some form of support by Christians, Muslims are presented as active victimisers in need of some form of suppression by Christians. However, when the then chairman of the EKD shook hands with people on the move who were arriving at Munich station in the summer of 2015, the surplus of meaning... (More)
- This article assesses the tension between cosmopolitan and communitarian approaches to the ethics of migration by analysing how the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) has responded to the current so-called migration crisis in Europe. I argue that the statements of the EKD frame people on the move either as migrants or as Muslims. These frames come with competing ethical consequences. Whereas migrants are presented as passive victims in need of some form of support by Christians, Muslims are presented as active victimisers in need of some form of suppression by Christians. However, when the then chairman of the EKD shook hands with people on the move who were arriving at Munich station in the summer of 2015, the surplus of meaning communicated in this encounter demonstrated that these people cannot be reduced to their respective framing, thus resisting the construction of both the cosmopolitan migrant frame and the communitarian Muslim frame. Accordingly, I advocate for a re-conceptualisation of the theological ethics of migration which takes multi-faith practices, such as these handshakes, as a point of departure. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/16a7ea31-547c-4a26-839c-69da0f942ec9
- author
- Schmiedel, Ulrich LU
- publishing date
- 2022
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- keywords
- Communitarianism, cosmopolitanism, Islam, Islamophobia, migration, refugee crisis, touch
- in
- Studies in Christian Ethics
- volume
- 35
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 561 - 583
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85127740409
- ISSN
- 0953-9468
- DOI
- 10.1177/09539468221090401
- project
- Welcoming the Stranger: Resources for a European Multi-Faith Ethics of Migration
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 16a7ea31-547c-4a26-839c-69da0f942ec9
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-24 17:20:00
- date last changed
- 2024-03-27 13:02:33
@article{16a7ea31-547c-4a26-839c-69da0f942ec9,
abstract = {{This article assesses the tension between cosmopolitan and communitarian approaches to the ethics of migration by analysing how the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) has responded to the current so-called migration crisis in Europe. I argue that the statements of the EKD frame people on the move either as migrants or as Muslims. These frames come with competing ethical consequences. Whereas migrants are presented as passive victims in need of some form of support by Christians, Muslims are presented as active victimisers in need of some form of suppression by Christians. However, when the then chairman of the EKD shook hands with people on the move who were arriving at Munich station in the summer of 2015, the surplus of meaning communicated in this encounter demonstrated that these people cannot be reduced to their respective framing, thus resisting the construction of both the cosmopolitan migrant frame and the communitarian Muslim frame. Accordingly, I advocate for a re-conceptualisation of the theological ethics of migration which takes multi-faith practices, such as these handshakes, as a point of departure.}},
author = {{Schmiedel, Ulrich}},
issn = {{0953-9468}},
keywords = {{Communitarianism; cosmopolitanism; Islam; Islamophobia; migration; refugee crisis; touch}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{561--583}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Studies in Christian Ethics}},
title = {{What's in a Handshake? : Multi-Faith Practice as a Starting Point for Christian Migration Ethics}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09539468221090401}},
doi = {{10.1177/09539468221090401}},
volume = {{35}},
year = {{2022}},
}