Feet play a crucial role in migration, and experiences of death and hopes for new life are etched into migrants’ soles. In the face of complex and fraught ethical debates that have largely been deontological and teleological in tone, this article employs feet and footwashing as heuristic devices to suggest the need for receiving communities to develop a multi-textured virtue-based response alongside these. Cultivation of a habitus rooted in attention to bodies, service, power subversion, mutuality and confession could lead to (...) new life both for those in migration and those long settled. (shrink)

Asylum is a contentious public and political issue and people seeking asylum are often targets of fear and hostility. This article presents an ethical challenge to churches aiming to support asylum seekers in the UK. Through an exploration of two contrasting strands in the biblical tradition relating to the ‘stranger’—one rooted in an ‘ecology of fear’ and another rooted in an ‘ecology of faith’—it argues that as well as practising positive encounters with newcomers, Christians need to understand and engage with (...) public hostility. (shrink)

Detention, a pillar of the contemporary US immigration system, has detrimental effects on those who are incarcerated, their families, and their communities. Following a discussion of immigration detention and the ways in which faith-connected groups are responding, this essay draws on twenty in-depth interviews to explore the links between these ethical practices and the Christian mystical tradition. In particular, it brings the voices of activists responding to immigration detention into conversation with the three stages of the mystical journey articulated by (...) Dorothee Soelle—being amazed, letting go, and resisting. The essay argues that mysticism and action for social justice are intimately interwoven, and it suggests that recognition of this could enrich Christian discussion and praxis surrounding immigration. (shrink)