Considerations about the Theological Meaning of Migration in the Book of Acts | Amsterdam University Press Journals Online
2004
Volume 30, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0960-2720
  • E-ISSN: 2666-9730

Abstract

Abstract

Through the migration movements at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the significance of global migration has become a mainstream topic in discourses of almost every Christian denomination. How migration and related phenomena are approached by Christian churches and mission movements, is influenced by their theological interpretations of these issues. Beyond sociological and mission-strategical considerations, it is, therefore, necessary to reflect on a theological perspective on migration and diaspora-life. The article argues that a function of Stephen's speech in Acts 7 is to provide the followers of Christ with a new hermeneutics for their experiences of displacement and life in culturally diverse societies. It elaborates the theological consequences for the self-understanding of the early Christian community as a transcultural community and its emerging ecclesiology in the Book of Acts. Some concluding practical considerations sketch out how the theological meaning of migration which is laid out in Acts relates to missiological issues in multicultural contexts.

Aufgrund der Migrationsbewegungen zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts wird die Bedeutung der globalen Migration heute in so gut wie allen christlichen Denominationen diskutiert. Wie christliche Kirchen und Missionsbewegungen mit Migration und damit verwandten Phänomenen umgehen, hängt auch von ihrer theologischen Perspektive auf diese Themen ab. Darum ist es notwendig, über soziologische und missionsstrategische Überlegungen hinaus auch theologische Deutungen von Migration und Diaspora-Existenz zu reflektieren. Dieser Artikel vertritt die These, dass eine Funktion der Stephanusrede in Apostelgeschichte 7 darin besteht, den Nachfolgern Jesu Christi eine neue hermeneutische Perspektive für Erfahrungen von Vertreibung und einem Leben in kulturell pluralen Kontexten zu vermitteln. Es werden die theologischen Konsequenzen für das Selbstverständnis der ersten christlichen Gemeinden als transkulturelle Gemeinschaften sowie für ihre heranwachsende Ekklesiologie in der Apostelgeschichte herausgearbeitet. Einige abschließende Bemerkungen skizzieren, wie die in der Apostelgeschichte angelegte theologische Bedeutung von Migration auf aktuelle missiologische Fragestellungen in multikulturellen Kontexten bezogen werden kann.

Avec les mouvements migratoires du début du XXIe siècle, le sens à donner à ce phénomène de migration globale est devenu un thème dominant dans les débats d’à peu près toutes les dénominations. La manière dont les Églises et les missions chrétiennes abordent la migration et tout ce qui l’accompagne dépend de leur interprétation théologique de ces réalités. Au-delà des considérations touchant à la sociologie et à la stratégie missionnaire, il est donc nécessaire de réfléchir à une perspective théologique de la migration et de l’exil. L’article soutient qu’une fonction du discours d’Étienne en Actes 7 est de fournir aux disciples de Christ une nouvelle façon de lire leur expérience de déplacement et de vie dans des sociétés aux cultures diverses. Il développe les conséquences théologiques: la façon dont la communauté chrétienne primitive s’est vue en tant que communauté transculturelle et dont s’est dégagée son ecclésiologie dans le livre des Actes. Pour conclure, il propose quelques conclusions pratiques esquissant le lien existant entre l’interprétation théologique de la migration telle que décrite en Actes et les questions de la mission dans des contextes multiculturels.

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