This seminar will address the challenges to the churches which come with the chronic humanitarian situation facing refugees. Alison Phipps, Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies (Creativity Culture and Faith), University of Glasgow, and Co-Convener of Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet) This seminar will address the challenges to the churches and people of faith which come with the chronic humanitarian situation facing refugees. At a time when, according to the Head of Migration for the Council of Europe, ‘the people are leading and political leaders are following’ this seminar will present offer a narrative of the refugee ‘crisis’ of the last 15 years, the responses in Scotland at grassroots community levels, the new situation since September 2015 and its implications. It will weave together academic, poetic and personal accounts of the ways in which theological issues have surfaced in the symbols and narratives which accompany refugee presence and refugee hospitality. It will also present the work of the AHRC Large Grant under the Translating Cultures theme which is working with refugees in 11 countries worldwide and investigating what happens when the body and body politic are under such pain and pressure that our language(s) fail. This article was published on 2024-03-19
