Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Being, belonging, and borders : Scandinavian creation theology as political theology

Gerle, Elisabeth LU (2021) In Dialog 60(1). p.35-44
Abstract

Desire for life and protecting lives has come to the fore during the pandemic. Borders have been closed to stop the spread of Covid-19. The virus does not respect borders, yet physical distance is crucial. Three things have become clear. One is the level of uncertainty about which measures are most efficient. The other is that the neo-liberal philosophy with “just in time” deliveries on a global market has made everyone vulnerable and invited national protectionism rather than collaboration. A third insight is that the lack of borders between wild and tame animals and human beings is connected to the emergence of the virus itself, where rain forests are exploited for short sighted profit. In the midst of this, a cry for Being, for Life,... (More)

Desire for life and protecting lives has come to the fore during the pandemic. Borders have been closed to stop the spread of Covid-19. The virus does not respect borders, yet physical distance is crucial. Three things have become clear. One is the level of uncertainty about which measures are most efficient. The other is that the neo-liberal philosophy with “just in time” deliveries on a global market has made everyone vulnerable and invited national protectionism rather than collaboration. A third insight is that the lack of borders between wild and tame animals and human beings is connected to the emergence of the virus itself, where rain forests are exploited for short sighted profit. In the midst of this, a cry for Being, for Life, and Human Flourishing, can be heard as an underlying drumbeat. In relation to this I ponder Being in relation to Belonging and to Borders. I first describe a political landscape where neo-nationalist, and neo-atheist, claims for belonging, have emerged all over the world, and hence emphasized strong borders between different people, but not for capital. Secondly, I draw on resources from Scandinavian Creation Theology, especially Grundtvig, Aulén, and Wingren to paint a planetary vision with porous borders, beyond patriarchy, populism, and protectionism. In the long run there is no opting out of the planetary vulnerability. I launch the term eschatological creation theology for a creation theology that allows creation to be inspired by the Kin-dom to come with righteousness and life in abundance.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Dialog
volume
60
issue
1
pages
35 - 44
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85101217611
ISSN
0012-2033
DOI
10.1111/dial.12640
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6e0cd73d-fc47-4f5d-924b-a8a701e9d161
date added to LUP
2021-03-10 14:19:05
date last changed
2022-04-27 00:43:20
@article{6e0cd73d-fc47-4f5d-924b-a8a701e9d161,
  abstract     = {{<p>Desire for life and protecting lives has come to the fore during the pandemic. Borders have been closed to stop the spread of Covid-19. The virus does not respect borders, yet physical distance is crucial. Three things have become clear. One is the level of uncertainty about which measures are most efficient. The other is that the neo-liberal philosophy with “just in time” deliveries on a global market has made everyone vulnerable and invited national protectionism rather than collaboration. A third insight is that the lack of borders between wild and tame animals and human beings is connected to the emergence of the virus itself, where rain forests are exploited for short sighted profit. In the midst of this, a cry for Being, for Life, and Human Flourishing, can be heard as an underlying drumbeat. In relation to this I ponder Being in relation to Belonging and to Borders. I first describe a political landscape where neo-nationalist, and neo-atheist, claims for belonging, have emerged all over the world, and hence emphasized strong borders between different people, but not for capital. Secondly, I draw on resources from Scandinavian Creation Theology, especially Grundtvig, Aulén, and Wingren to paint a planetary vision with porous borders, beyond patriarchy, populism, and protectionism. In the long run there is no opting out of the planetary vulnerability. I launch the term eschatological creation theology for a creation theology that allows creation to be inspired by the Kin-dom to come with righteousness and life in abundance.</p>}},
  author       = {{Gerle, Elisabeth}},
  issn         = {{0012-2033}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{35--44}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Dialog}},
  title        = {{Being, belonging, and borders : Scandinavian creation theology as political theology}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/dial.12640}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/dial.12640}},
  volume       = {{60}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}