WM760 Readings in Missions: Diaspora Studies

The last three decades have witnessed a rapid proliferation of African Christian communities, particularly in Europe and North American diaspora, thus resulting in the remapping of old religious landscapes. This migratory trend and development bring to the fore the crucial role, functions and import of religious symbolic systems in new geo-cultural contexts. The trans-national linkages between African-led churches in the countries of origin (Africa) and the "host" societies are assuming increasing importance for African immigrants. The links and networks that are established and maintained between these contexts are of immense religious, cultural, economic, political and social importance. This suggests how African Christianities can be understood within processes of religious transnationalism and African modernity. Based on extensive religious ethnography undertaken by the author among African Christian communities in Europe, the USA and Africa in the last 17 years, this book maps and describes the incipience and consolidation of new brands of African Christianities in diaspora. The book demonstrates how African Christianities are negotiating and assimilating notions of the global while maintaining their local identities.

The current waves of migration sweeping the Chinese world may seem like new phenomena, the outcome of modernization and industrialization. However, this concise and readable book convincingly shows that contemporary movements are just the most recent stage in a long history of migration, both within China and beyond its borders. Distinguished historian Diana Lary traces the continuous expansion and contraction of the Chinese state over more than four millennia. Periods of expansion, which involved huge movements of people, have been interspersed with periods of inward-turning stasis. Following a chronological framework, the author discusses the migrations themselves and the recurrent themes within them. We see migration as a broad spectrum of movement, from short-term and short-range to permanent and long-range, and as a powerful vehicle for the transfer of commodities, culture, religion, and political influence. The Confucian tradition treated migration as undesirable. It praised the delights of staying at home: "A thousand days at home are good, half a day away is hard." Lary argues that, despite this view, migration has been a key element in the evolution of Chinese society, one that the state disparages and encourages at the same time. Her book will be compelling for all readers who want to understand the context for the present internal and international migrations that have changed the face of China itself and its international relations.

Immigration is one of the most pressing issues on the national agenda. In this accessible book, an internationally recognized immigration expert helps readers think biblically about this divisive issue, offering accessible, nuanced, and sympathetic guidance for the church. As both a Guatemalan and an American, the author is able to empathize with both sides of the struggle and argues that each side has much to learn. This updated and revised edition reflects changes from the past five years, responds to criticisms of the first edition, and expands sections that have raised questions for readers. It includes a foreword by Samuel Rodr guez and an afterword by Ronald Sider. This timely, clear, and compassionate resource will benefit all Christians who are thinking through the immigration issue.

Issues of continuity, survival, and identity have generated apparently unending debates throughout the Jewish world for centuries. While similar issues arise in all Jewish communities, there are significant differences between them. This collection was designed to highlight differences as well as similarities by devoting a chapter to each of seven countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In four communities-those in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States-debates about continuity are mainly concerned with the loss of Jewish identity through assimilation. In Argentina and South Africa, the main issue is with physical survival in the face of chaotic social conditions. In France, although the situation is less dire, the community feels threatened by the rise of xenophobic political movements and the hostility of Arab groups. Apart from external factors, all the contributors review debates over the relative importance of religion and ethnic identity, and the contrasting positions taken by religious leaders and secularists. While the study offers no clear-cut answers, it does aim to broaden the debate by exposing national differences.

In The Cross-Cultural Process in christian History, Andrew F. Walls shows he has not lost the capacity to surprise readers with new insights into things they thought long settled. In essays that sparkle with wit and insight Walls reaches back to Eusebius of Edessa in the fourth century and down to the contemporary world. His seer's eyes reach from "Old Athens" and "New Jerusalem", to the vast continents of South America and Asia, to his beloved Africa. On the way he offers fresh understandings of Pentecostalism, African traditional religion, and the ironic ways in which the western missionary movement often accomplished things -- both for good and for ill -- that its agents never dreamed of.

Diaspora is an important concept in history, sociology, religious studies, ethnic studies, political science, and literary criticism, among other disciplines. Meanwhile, journalists, politicians, and cultural authorities use the term with increasing frequency when describing contemporaryglobal migration. But what does diaspora mean? Until recently, the term referred principally to the dispersal and exile of the Jews. However, over the course of the twentieth century, involuntary migrants from Armenia, Africa, and Ireland came to be seen as diasporic. Since the 1980s, diaspora hasproliferated to a remarkable extent-to the point where it risks losing its coherence. If diaspora is merely a synonym for "migration" or "ethnic group," why use the word at all?Kevin Kenny's Very Short Introduction to diaspora examines the origins of diaspora as a concept, its changing meanings over time, its current popularity, and its strengths and limitations as an explanatory device. Mediating between the multiple definitions currently in use, the book proposes aflexible approach to diaspora that can provide insights into the motives for migration; the networks through which migrants travel; the political, economic, and cultural connections they form among themselves, with their homelands, and with fellow diasporans in other locations around the world; theidea of return to a homeland, sometimes literally but more often metaphorically; and recent developments concerning refugees and globalization. The argument ranges broadly across time and space, using examples drawn mainly from Jewish, African, Irish, and Asian history. Diaspora emerges not as athing that can be measured but as a concept that helps people - migrants, scholars, and social commentators alike - to make sense of the experience of migration.

For many years, cross-cultural missions were directed to people in the countries of their birth, generally in Majority World areas. Foreigners present among or around the intended focus of ministry were not viewed as part of mission ministry.  Diaspora missions focus on these peoples, who are now actually and virtually in more accessible places. This book will help you understand the dynamics behind this accelerated movement of peoples from one region to another, biblical principles and precedents that guide ministry today, the application of social and communication studies, and actual cases of ministry to and with diaspora peoples.

This book is intended to fill in a gap in the study of modern ethno-national diasporas. Thus, against the background of current trends - globalization, democratization, the weakening of the nation-state and massive transstate migration, it examines the politics of historical, modern and incipient ethno-national diasporas. It argues that unlike the widely accepted view, ethno-national diasporism and diasporas do not constitute a recent phenomenon. Rather, this is a perennial phenomenon whose roots were in antiquity. Some of the existing diasporas were created in antiquity, some during the Middle Ages and some are modern. An essential aspect of this phenomenon is the endless cultural-social-economic and especially political struggle of these dispersed ethnic groups that permanently reside in host countries away from their homelands to maintain their distinctive identities and connections with their homelands and other dispersed groups of the same nation. While describing and analyzing the diaspora phenomenon, the book sheds light on theoretical questions pertaining to current ethnicity and politics.

Coined in the third century B.C., the term diaspora has evolved into a buzzword used to describe the migrations of groups as diverse as ethnic populations, religious communities, and even engineers working abroad. This concise book provides a critical introduction to the concept of diaspora, bringing a fresh, synthetic perspective to virtually all aspects of this topic. Stéphane Dufoix incorporates a wealth of case studies--about the Jewish, Armenian, African, Chinese, Greek, and Indian experiences-- to illustrate key concepts, give a clear overview on current thinking, and reassess the value of the term for us today.

Diaspora, considered as a context for insights into Jewish identity, brings together a lively, interdisciplinary group of scholars in this innovative volume. Readers needn't expect, however, to find easy agreement on what those insights are. The concept "diaspora" itself has proved controversial; galut, the traditional Hebrew expression for the Jews' perennial condition, is better translated as "exile." The very distinction between diaspora and exile, although difficult to analyze, is important enough to form the basis of several essays in this fine collection. "Identity" is an even more elusive concept. The contributors to Diasporas and Exiles explore Jewish identity--or, more accurately, Jewish identities--from the mutually illuminating perspectives of anthropology, art history, comparative literature, cultural studies, German history, philosophy, political theory, and sociology. These contributors bring exciting new emphases to Jewish and cultural studies, as well as the emerging field of diaspora studies. Diasporas and Exiles mirrors the richness of experience and the attendant virtual impossibility of definition that constitute the challenge of understanding Jewish identity.

This volume deals with the lived experiences and expressions of Christians in diverse communities across the globe. Christian communities do not live in a vacuum but in complex, diverse social-cultural contexts; within wider communities of different faith and social realities. Power, identity and community are key issues in considering Christian communities in contemporary contexts. Also important is the nature and texture of mission; while a reflection on ‘context’ is a priority in working to improve peoples and communities. The interrelated themes: poverty, suffering and marginalized communities; globalization and the reproduction of hierarchies; Christianity and socio-political action; identity, gender and power; the interface of migration, diaspora and ethnicity; and HIV/AIDS, church and mission, were explored by academics, researchers, church leaders, religious non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, as well as policy makers. Such a multidimensional perspective was necessary for critical thinking about how missions is articulated and practiced in contemporary contexts and also towards charting new directions for engagement in Christian Mission in the 21st century.

Considering the two distinct Polish immigrant groups after World War II - the Polish-American descendants of pre-war ecomomic migrants and polish refugees fleeing communism - this study explores the uneasy challenge to reconcile concepts of responsibility toward their homeland.

No longer does world Christianity converge in the Euro-American West--there has been a dramatic shift to the Global South, providing the occasion for a fresh consideration of the future of evangelical theology. Drawing on the day of Pentecost narrative, Amos Yong puts forward a bold proposal for a pentecostal-evangelical theology informed by the particular experiences and perspectives of Asian Americans. The outpouring of Christ's Spirit upon all flesh means that the evangelical church has to attend to the multiplicity of voices and contexts that shape the global theological conversation. Evangelical theology, Yong argues, is necessarily contextual theology, though in a way that does not sacrifice the gospel's universality. The Future of Evangelical Theology is a programmatic vision for theology that pays attention to the realities of gender, race, migration, economics, justice and politics. What emerges is a theology situated within a pentecostal Asian American context that bears on the future of the whole church.

In a perceptive and arresting analysis, Robin Cohen introduces his distinctive approach to the study of the world¿s diasporas. This book investigates the changing meanings of the concept and the contemporary diasporic condition, including case studies of Jewish, Armenian, African, Chinese, British, Indian, Lebanese and Caribbean people. The first edition of this book had a major impact on diaspora studies and was the foundational text in an emerging research and teaching field. This second edition extends and clarifies Robin Cohen¿s argument, addresses some critiques and outlines new perspectives for the study of diasporas. It has also been made more student-friendly with illustrations, guided readings and suggested essay questions.

The movement of people from their homelands is increasing exponentially. Such waves of both immigration and migration triggered by various factors have created new opportunities for the church and its mission. This volume explores such global diasporas from both ecclesiological and missiological perspectives. Its various case studies invite reconsideration of the missionary and evangelistic task of the church in response to contemporary global dynamics. The image of the dandelion on the front cover symbolizes diverse people groups dispersed around the globe, even as the Christian imagination views such dispersal as being carried by the winds of the Holy Spirit.

A cross-disciplinary overview of the new historical and anthropological research on South Asian migrants worldwide

Hinduism outside the Indian subcontinent represents a contrasting and scattered community. From Britain to the Caribbean, diasporic Hindus have substantially reformed their beliefs and practices in accordance with their historical and social circumstances. In this theoretically innovative analysis Steven Vertovec examines: * the historical construction of the category 'Hinduism in India' * the formation of a distinctive Caribbean Hindu culture during the nineteenth century * the role of youth groups in forging new identities during Trinidad's Hindu Renaissance * the reproduction of regionally based identities and frictions in Britain's Hindu communities * the differences in temple use across the diaspora. This book provides a rich and fascinating view of the Hindu diaspora in the past, present and its possible futures.

The failure of current immigration policies in the United States has resulted in dire consequences: a significant increase in border deaths, a proliferation of smuggling networks, prolonged family separation, inhumane raids, a patchwork of local ordinances criminalizing activities of immigrants and those who harbor them, and the creation of an underclass -- none of which are appropriate or just outcomes for those holding Christian commitments. Kinship Across Borders analyzes contemporary US immigration in the context of fundamental Christian beliefs about the human person, sin, family life, and global solidarity. Kristin Heyer expertly demonstrates how current US immigration policies reflect harmful neoliberal economic priorities, and why immigration cannot be reduced to security or legal issues alone. Rather, she explains that immigration involves a broad array of economic issues, trade policies, concerns of cultural tolerance and criminal justice, and, at root, an understanding of the human person. In Kinship Across Borders, Heyer has developed a Christian immigration ethic -- grounded in scriptural, anthropological, and social teachings and rooted in the experiences of undocumented migrants -- that calls society to promote concrete practices and policies reflecting justice and solidarity.

On the same day that reporter Jeffrey Kaye visited the Tondo hospital in northwest Manila, members of an employees association wearing hospital uniforms rallied in the outside courtyard demanding pay raises. The nurses at the hospital took home about $261 a month, while in the United States, nurses earn, on average, more than fifteen times that rate of pay. No wonder so many of them leave the Philippines. Between 2000 and 2007, nearly 78,000 qualified nurses left the Philippines to work abroad, but there's more to it than the pull of better wages: each year the Philippine president hands out Bagong Bayani (""modern-day heroes"") awards to the country's ""outstanding and exemplary"" migrant workers. Migrant labor accounts for the Philippines' second largest source of export revenue--after electronics--and they ship out nurses like another country might export textiles. In 2008, the Philippines was one of the top ranking destination countries for remittances, alongside India ($45 billion), China ($34.5 billion), and Mexico ($26.2 billion). Nurses in the Philippines, farmers in Senegal, Dominican factory workers in rural Pennsylvania, even Indian software engineers working in California--all are pieces of a larger system Kaye calls ""coyote capitalism."" Coyote capitalism is the idea--practiced by many businesses and governments--that people, like other natural resources, are supplies to be shifted around to meet demand.  Workers are pushed out, pulled in, and put on the line without consideration of the consequences for economies, communities, or individuals. With a fresh take on a controversial topic, Moving Millions: Knocks down myth after myth about why immigrants come to America and what role they play in the economy Challenges the view that immigrants themselves motivate immigration, rather than the policies of businesses and governments in both rich and poor nations Finds surprising connections between globalization, economic growth and the convoluted immigration debates taking place in America and other industrialized countries Jeffrey Kaye is a freelance journalist and special correspondent for the PBS NewsHour for whom he has reported since 1984, covering immigration, housing, health care, urban politics, and other issues What does it all add up to? America's approach to importing workers looks from the outside like a patchwork of unnecessary laws and regulations, but the machinery of immigration is actually part of a larger, global system that satisfies the needs of businesses and governments, often at the expense of workers in every nation. Drawing on Jeffrey Kaye's travels to places including Mexico, the U.K., the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, Poland, and Senegal, this book, a healthy alternative to the obsession with migrants' legal status, exposes the dark side of globalization and the complicity of businesses and governments to benefit from the migration of millions of workers.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

For many contemporary Jews, Israel no longer serves as the Promised Land, the center of the Jewish universe and the place of final destination. In New Jews, Caryn Aviv and David Shneer provocatively argue that there is a new generation of Jews who don't consider themselves to be eternally wandering, forever outsiders within their communities and seeking to one day find their homeland. Instead, these New Jews are at home, whether it be in Buenos Aires, San Francisco or Berlin, and are rooted within communities of their own choosing. Aviv and Shneer argue that Jews have come to the end of their diaspora; wandering no more, today's Jews are settled. In this wide-ranging book, the authors take us around the world, to Moscow, Jerusalem, New York and Los Angeles, among other places, and find vibrant, dynamic Jewish communities where Jewish identity is increasingly flexible and inclusive. New Jews offers a compelling portrait of Jewish life today.

A book of Mr. Neugeboren's inimitable, irreplaceable, unforgettable short stories is always an occasion for cheering. Here are people caught in the coils of history and simultaneously captured in the freeze-frame of memory. Their stories are among this fine writer's best achievements: humorous even when the characters are in extremity, moving and tender, made of flexible, lucid language that honors the reader as well as the people on the page. This News is great news.

Stachura provides an important, original analysis of the Polish community in the United Kingdom, adding up to a provocative interpretation of the Pole's position in British society. The chapters add to our understanding of the significant Polish military effort alongside the Allies in defeating Nazi Germany, while the appalling price the Poles paid at the end of the war at the Yalta Conference is accentuated. This crass and wholly unjustified betrayal of the cause of a free Poland by the Allies resulted directly in the formation of a large Polish community in Britain.

Religious procession is a significant dimension of religion in South Asia. Processions are central not only in Hinduism, but also Islam, Christianity, Jainism and Sikhism, which have large procession rituals. The last years have seen an increase in processions and ritualizations of space both in South Asia and in the South Asian Diaspora. Processions are religious display events and the increase in processions are functions of religious pluralism and competition about public space as well as economic prosperity and a revival of religious identities. Processions often bring together religion and politics since they are about public space, domination and contestation. Written by leading specialists on religious processions and ritualization of public space in South Asia and in the Diaspora, this volume presents current research on the interpretations of the role of processions, the recent increase in processions and changes in the procession traditions. South Asian Religions on Display will appeal to students and scholars of Asian studies, anthropology, religion and political science. s. South Asian Religions on Display will appeal to students and scholars of Asian studies, anthropology, religion and political science.

This book explores the experience of religious communities that have migrated from South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) to live in Britain, Canada, and the United States, three countries sharing a common language (English) and an interwoven history. The work introduces the migration history of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs along with the cultural nuances of these traditions. The contributors discuss the various communities experiences that grow out of or are related to religion. The book shows how traditions are reformed or reinvented and how they are passed on, both through the family and through institutions. Issues related to public policy and minority status are also addressed. While the main focus is on the Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities, specific sections also cover South Asian Christians, the Zoroastrian diaspora, and new religious movements in the West led by South Asians. The book strikes a balance between stories and statistics in order to emphasize the narrative of the immigrants experience.

Between 1900 and the 1970s, twenty million southerners migrated north and west. Weaving together for the first time the histories of these black and white migrants, James Gregory traces their paths and experiences in a comprehensive new study that demonstrates how this regional diaspora reshaped America by "southernizing" communities and transforming important cultural and political institutions. Challenging the image of the migrants as helpless and poor, Gregory shows how both black and white southerners used their new surroundings to become agents of change. Combining personal stories with cultural, political, and demographic analysis, he argues that the migrants helped create both the modern civil rights movement and modern conservatism. They spurred changes in American religion, notably modern evangelical Protestantism, and in popular culture, including the development of blues, jazz, and country music. In a sweeping account that pioneers new understandings of the impact of mass migrations, Gregory recasts the history of twentieth-century America. He demonstrates that the southern diaspora was crucial to transformations in the relationship between American regions, in the politics of race and class, and in the roles of religion, the media, and culture.

More than ever, North America is being flooded by people from all around the world, many of them here illegally. How should the church respond to these sojourners among us?In Strangers Next Door professor of evangelism and church planting J. D. Payne introduces the phenomenon of migrations of peoples to Western nations and explores how the church should respond in light of the mission of God. As we understand and embrace the fact that the least-reached people groups now reside in (and continue to migrate to) Western countries, churches have unprecedented opportunites to freely share the gospel with them.This book includes practical guidelines for doing crosscultural missions and developing a global strategy of mission. It also highlights examples of churches and organizations attempting to reach, partner with, and send migrants to minister to their people. Discover how you can reach out to the strangers next door by welcoming them into God's family.

Immigration is one of the most complicated issues of our time. Voices on all sides argue strongly for action and change. Christians find themselves torn between the desire to uphold laws and the call to minister to the vulnerable.In this book World Relief staffers Matthew Soerens and Jenny Hwang move beyond the rhetoric to offer a Christian response to immigration. They put a human face on the issue and tell stories of immigrants' experiences in and out of the system. With careful historical understanding and thoughtful policy analysis, they debunk myths and misconceptions about immigration and show the limitations of the current immigration system. Ultimately they point toward immigration reform that is compassionate, sensible and just, as they offer concrete ways for you and your church to welcome and minister to your immigrant neighbors.

A landmark volume, The Africana Bible gathers multicultural and interdisciplinary perspectives on every book in the Hebrew Bible. It opens a critical window onto the world of interpretation on the African continent and in the multiple diasporas of African peoples, including the African-American experience, with attention to Africana histories, literatures, cultures, and backgrounds for understanding biblical literature. The Africana Bible features a critical commentary on every book of the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha that are authoritative for many in African and African-diasporan communities worldwide. It highlights issues of concern to the global Black community (such as globalization and the colonial legacy) and the distinctive norms of interpretation in African and African Diasporan settings.

In the world today, migration makes up the greatest movement of people surpassing any other previous period in human history. In the last few decades, it has turned into a structural reality of contemporary society which according to some records now involves around 200,000,000 individuals. Moreover, the direction and composition of migrant movements have radically changed during the past fifty years. While until the late 1950s, international migration chiefly involved movement from the highly developed and economically and politically powerful nations to areas in the non-Western world, migrant movement since the 1960s has been predominantly from areas with weak economic and political systems to the centres of global dominance and advanced industrial growth. The new migration flows are characterised by dynamic back-and-forth movements. Bridges are maintained between the old country and the new. African immigrants constitute a vibrant sector in this movement. Indeed, the significance of African immigrants in the US has been highlighted by the election of President Barack Obama who is half Kenyan and half US-American by descent. However, with over 1,000,000 migrants a year and 299,000 asylum applications in 2006 alone, Europe is the primary destination for migrants worldwide.
Since immigrants frequently react to the alienation and confusion that result from their uprootedness in religious terms, studies on migration experiences and of the processes of adaptation of religious communities to new environments are important issues. This volume is the first of its kind which represents research results both from North America and Europe. One contribution compares the experiences of Muslim and Christian immigrant groups, but in general the book is confined to the study of transnational dynamics in African Christianity. It includes a broad denominational spectrum from (Oriental) Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, to Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. While the contributors from Africa, North America and Europe represent a wide range of disciplines and methodological approaches, together they engage in an interdisciplinary exchange on the significant role of African Christians in the West in one volume; therefore the editors hope is that the book will stimulate comparative analyses and the creation of research networks.

The fascinating story of the rise of Asian Americans as a politically and socially influential racial group This groundbreaking book is about the transformation of Asian Americans from a few small, disconnected, and largely invisible ethnic groups into a self-identified racial group that is influencing every aspect of American society. It explores the junctures that shocked Asian Americans into motion and shaped a new consciousness, including the murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, by two white autoworkers who believed he was Japanese; the apartheid-like working conditions of Filipinos in the Alaska canneries; the boycott of Korean American greengrocers in Brooklyn; the Los Angeles riots; and the casting of non-Asians in the Broadway musical Miss Saigon. The book also examines the rampant stereotypes of Asian Americans. Helen Zia, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, was born in the 1950s when there were only 150,000 Chinese Americans in the entire country, and she writes as a personal witness to the dramatic changes involving Asian Americans. Written for both Asian Americans--the fastest-growing population in the United States--and non-Asians,Asian American Dreams argues that America can no longer afford to ignore these emergent, vital, and singular American people.

Western countries have been the premiere choice of destinations for South Asians immigrants over the last five decades. This trend is escalating in the 21st century. Many have made amazing personal upward socio-economic strides in a relatively brief time. These admirable gains have not been without emotional pain or deep wounds to South Asian individuals, families and communities.
Here is both research-based diagnosis and insightful prescription by a team of seasoned scholar-practitioners of South Asian background thriving in the West. This is an invaluable resource for social workers, professional counselors, pastors, psychologists, lay counselors, educators, cross-cultural counselors and the like to bring healing to the South Asian soul.
Caring for the South Asian Soul is an invaluable resource for any care giver working with South Asians in the West but it is much more. A new paradigm for Christian counseling worldwide is emerging that is more culturally informed, theologically grounded, holistic, and missional, and as a result, more truly Biblical. This book—written by a team of fourteen well-trained and seasoned scholar-practitioners—is a wonderful practical application of this fresh perspective. It provides a model I hope others will follow. Bradford M. Smith, PhD, President, Care and Counsel International and Chair of Lausanne Care and Counsel as Mission Interest Group
Living as South Asian immigrants in the Western world has become an agonizing experience for many. Constant pressures of work, family responsibilities and cultural adjustments drastically affect marriage relationships, communication patterns and threaten long-cherished family values. The South Asian soul is bleeding and calls for urgent care. This book is superbly written by expert South Asian practitioner-scholars to provide an emergency response. Martin Alphonse PhD, Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies, Multnomah University, Portland (USA)
About the Editors:
Thomas Kulanjiyil, PsyD., PhD, serves on the core leadership of Parivar International. He is a counselor, educator and researcher in culturally appropriate care to the Indian American community. He teaches at College of DuPage and Wheaton College. He lives in the Western suburb of Chicago with his two adult children.
Rev. Dr. T.V. Thomas, born in Malaysia of Indian parents, is a widely-travelled evangelist, educator and expositor of the Word. He directs the Centre for Evangelism & World Mission based in Regina, Canada where he lives with his wife, Mary and three young adult children

Catalyst for change : the diaspora contribution / T.V. Thomas -- The case for the diaspora / Ram Gidoomal -- Paul's engagement with culture / Vinay Samuel -- The transforming community / Denison Jayasooria -- The South Asian diaspora : regional situations -- Coming together : reports of the 2002 and 2003 consultations.

CAN THE HINDUS IN INDIA BE REACHED THROUGH DIASPORA HINDUS? The Hindu Diaspora, numbering about 50 million, is scattered from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Fiji in the east to Guyana, Surinam, the United States and Canada in the west. Hindus numbering about 850 million live in India. However, militant organizations make mission work impossible there and one way to reach them is through their clan and caste fellows in the Diaspora. In Christ and the Hindu Diaspora, author Paul Pathickal discusses the process of Hindu migration, the salient features of Diaspora Hinduism and ways to witness to Diaspora Hindus. By reaching Diaspora Hindus, the author believes their caste and clan fellows in India can be reached for Christ. Diaspora Hinduism is different from Hinduism in India. The old pantheistic thought cannot survive in the new lands. The new generation of young educated Hindus cannot accept the Karma doctrine and caste divisions. Secular humanism cannot fulfill the age old yearning of the Hindu for truth and value. Only the religion established by Jesus Christ, the true avatar, who came down from heaven not to annihilate a few wicked men, but to save mankind from their sins, will be able to satisfy the inner yearning of the Hindu for truth and meaning in life.

This book shows patterns of assimilation and integration that are common among immigrant groups and provides tools of cultural research to get out in the city, talk to people, build relationships, gain entrance into these communities, find leaders, and plant healthy churches. These tools are important because they can be carried to any city and put into practice. In some regard, it is impossible to tell somebody how to do ethnic ministry. The only legitimate answer is, "It depends." This book helps you know what it depends on and how to work effectively in that situation. After reading this book, we hope you feel equipped to walk out your door, look at your neighborhood, and say, "I have the theology, tools, heart, and motivation to understand who is here and how I can begin to reach them with the gospel and work towards the goal of church planting."

This successful intercultural communication text provides a comprehensive overview of important theory and research in intercultural communication. Communicating with Strangers looks at the basic processes of intercultural communication and ties those processes to the practical task of creating understanding between people of different cultures, backgrounds and communication patterns.

The 21st Century is marked by mass migration. Massive population movements of the last century have radically challenged our study and practice of ""mission fields."" Where the church once rallied to go out into ""the regions beyond,"" Christian missions is currently required to respond and adapt to ""missions around."" This volume analyses the development of missions to the migrants and develops an understanding of the contemporary church's opportunities and responsibility vis-a- vis Diaspora Missiology: ""a missiological framework for understanding and participating in God's redemptive mission among peoples living outside their places of origin."" As a wholistic missiologist and original Lausanner (active participant since 1974), I warmly welcome and highly recommend this comprehensive study on a globally relevant topic as both foundational and directional. This timely volume is a missio Dei viatorum at its best, focused on diaspora from a full-fledged biblical perspective while taking into account the migrant phenomena in their global diversity. Peter Kuzmic, PhD, Dr.Theol. Distinguished Professor of World Mission and European Studies, Gordon-Conwell TS, USA Founding Director of Evangelical Theological Seminary, Osijek, Croatia After being born as the son of immigrants who left Asia to pursue the ""American Dream,"" I later returned to Asia to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in the land of my father's former enemies, the Japanese. It is my joy to wholeheartedly commend to you this Global Diaspora Missiology Compendium that so powerfully describes the East to West and West to East dynamics of my own family history. This volume puts out a clarion call to the global church about a critically important mission need and strategy. In the most simple and direct fashion I can say to you that you cannot understand the full picture of global mission without understanding Diaspora Missiology. MichaelY. Oh, Ph.D., Lausanne Movement Executive Director/CEO The publication of Scattered and Gathered:A Global Compendium of Diaspora Missiology is a significant milestone. The high quality of the international conversation captured in the book makes it a veritable tour de force. A great resource for students and researchers of Christian mission and world Christianity. Tite Tienou, Research Professor, Theology of Mission, Chair of Global Theology and World Christianity and Dean Emeritus, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois Sadiri Joy Tira is the Lausanne Movement's Senior Associate for Diasporas. Sadiri serves as Vice President for Diaspora Missions for Advancing Indigenous Missions (AIM) as well as Diaspora Missiology Specialist at the Jaffray Centre for Global Initiatives at Ambrose University and Seminary (AUS), Calgary, AB, Canada. Tetsunao Yamamori is Senior Fellow of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture of the University of Southern California. He is also President Emeritus of Food for the Hungry International, and was International Director of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 2004-2006, remaining active as its Senior Advisor. He has written and edited two-dozen books

This special issue explores the devastated terrain where the peculiar form of East Asian colonial modernity and militarism intersects with gender and sexuality. The contributors suggest that in building the modern nation-state, through the inversion of public and domestic space, Japan created a state-administered system of licensed prostitution within itself and its colonies. The "Comfort Women" system that drafted over 200,000 Asian women into sexual slavery for the Japanese military during the Pacific War, is a testimony of the racial and gender contradictions of the Japanese Empire. While the essays in the issue attempt to untangle this grotesque history--repressed and misrepresented in the name of nationalism in both Japan and its former colonies--they also question the nationalistic inclination of the movement that aims to reaudit this history. Extending its interrogation to the Cold War power dynamics and contingent economic development that have contributed to the silencing of the colonial past in East Asia, these essays also examine "the Tokyo Trials" and the discourses of postwar compensation and apology. They not only reveal the capitalistic incentives behind the nominalism of compensation but also unmask the Janus face of humanism, which claims to be universal while excluding Asian women from the category of humanity. This exceptional collection includes artwork by two Korean comfort women, Tok-kyong Kang and Sun-dok Kim, as well as pieces by Japanese artists and Korean American artists. Other features include a narrative composed of several interviews with comfort women and a conversation between the Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe of Japan and South Korean dissident poet Chi-ha Kim. Contributors. Chungmoo Choi, Chin Sung Chung, Norma Field, Yuki Fujime, Tok-kyong Kang, Chi-ha Kim, Hyun Sook Kim, Daisil Kim-Gibson, Jin Kyung Lee, Sasha Y. Lee, Yong Soon Min, Kenzaburo Oe, Kerry Ross, Yoshiko Shimada, Youn Ok Song, Won Soon Park, Kyung sik Suh, Taeko Tomiyama, Melissa Wender, Hyanah Yang

In postcolonial theory we have now reached a new stage in the succession of key concepts. After the celebrations of hybridity in the work of Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak, it is now the concept of diaspora that has sparked animated debates among postcolonial critics. This collection intervenes in the current discussion about the 'new' diaspora by placing the rise of diaspora within the politics of multiculturalism and its supercession by a politics of difference and cultural-rights theory. The essays present recent developments in Jewish negotiations of diasporic tradition and experience, discussing the reinterpretation of concepts of the 'old' diaspora in late twentieth- century British and American Jewish literature. The second part of the volume comprises theoretical and critical essays on the South Asian diaspora and on multicultural settings between Australia, Africa, the Caribbean and North America. The South Asian and Caribbean diasporas are compared to the Jewish prototype and contrasted with the Turkish diaspora in Germany. All essays deal with literary reflections on, and thematizations of, the diasporic predicament.

Combining images of ceremonial art with fascinating images from the history of Judaism, this book celebrates the migration of Jews throughout the world, focusing the the educational, religious, and cultural achievements of Jews living in Diaspora.

A spectre is haunting Europe-the spectre of Communism. All the Powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the Opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?Two things result from this fact.I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European Powers to be itself a Power.II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Communism with a Manifesto of the party itself.

In a remote mountain village in Portugal, an entire Jewish community avoided persecution by keeping their faith and rituals secret, generation after generation, for over 500 years. In Fragile Branches, James Ross explains that while isolated Jewish communities like this one are part of the tree of Jewish life, they have retained and reshaped rituals and traditions that have been lost elsewhere. These fragile branches of the Jewish culture, cut off from mainstream Judaism, exist on every continent and in nearly every country of the world, from the Amazon rainforest to the hills of northeastern India, to the central highlands of Uganda. As modern Jews struggle to revive or reconstruct their traditions, these communities, six of which Ross visits and introduces to us here, can serve as reminders of the diversity and richness of Jewish life.

A collection of essays from the Iguassu Missiological Consultation addressing the globalization of Christian mission.

Document from the year 2017 in the subject Theology - Practical Theology, language: English, abstract: In the face of globalisation, one of the challenges for Christians ministering to asylum seekers and refugees in the United Kingdom is the question of integrating Christian asylum seekers and refugees into the Christian community. British churches and para-church organisations that are involved in refugee ministry have to decide whether they want to support the formation of independent refugee churches or the integration of refugees and asylum seekers into local indigenous churches. This thesis examines these options from a missiological perspective. Two social research projects form the heart of this study. One compares the life and ministry of two mature minority ethnic churches, the other investigates the integration process at a British church that has been involved in refugee ministry for almost a decade. Contrary to the widespread view that the establishment of homogeneous churches is crucial for the mission of the church in postmodern British society, the findings of this research suggest that the integration of asylum seekers and refugees into indigenous British churches is the better option. They further demonstrate that it is not the mono-ethnic refugee church but the multi-ethnic church which makes the greater contribution to the integration of Christian asylum seekers and refugees and to the missio Dei in Britain. In a multi-ethnic church, asylum seekers and refugees serve as role models to British Christians and especially as effective agents of mission. These research findings also show that the integration of asylum seekers and refugees is promoted through the congregation within the congregation model and an incarnational approach to mission. However, they equally indicate that various stumbling blocks can hinder the integration process. These include a low ecclesiology, a lack of awareness of globalisation, and a reac- tive leadership style and

This book documents the current global refugee crisis and examines the interrelated factors of immigration enforcement, international human rights law, political violence, and refugee protection. There are two disparate components to the global refugee crisis: first, there are about 46 million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), most of whom are struggling to survive in the poorest and most violent countries in the world, and second, our interpretation of international human rights law allows this state of affairs to worsen. Refugee protection has been a longstanding policy that ostensibly protects victims of human rights violations from other countries. In actuality, protection is largely negated by systematic efforts by industrialized states to reduce the number of refugees arriving at the borders. This book provides a comprehensive examination of this worldwide problem and rejects the idea that the majority of asylum seekers abuse the system to gain entrance into the country. * Provides the latest empirical data covering the last 30 years, analyzing the human rights practices of the states that produce the majority of the world's asylum seekers * Includes a chapter of over 40 biographies of distinguished refugees from all over the world. * Contains primary source documents of international treaties and protocols related to refugees, as well as data figures revealing statistical trends of asylum seekers and displaced persons

On the highways and byways of every continent, hundreds of millions of immigrants are constantly on the move. Because of growing inequalities of wealth caused by unregulated economic globalization, political and ethnic conflicts, environmental degradation, instant communication, and viable means of transportation, more and more people are migrating than ever before. Crossing international borders, whether compelled or voluntarily, is a major characteristic of our present epoch. No countries or regions are immune from this reality. Facing the growing scope, complexity and impact of the current worldwide phenomenon, God's People on the Move seeks to develop appropriate biblical and missiological responses to the issue of human migration and dislocation. The book is divided into two major sections. Part one, Biblical Perspectives on Migration and Mission, contains six essays that focus on various biblical themes or texts that deal with migration and mission. Part two, Contemporary Issues of Migration and Mission, contains six essays that address different immigration issues around the world. The contributors to this volume are women and men from different ethnic backgrounds, working and living on five continents. The internationality of the contributors gives this volume a unique global perspective on migration and mission.

This volume presents the most comprehensive collection of research on Hmong culture and life in Asia yet to be published. It compliments the abundant material on the Hmong diaspora by focusing instead on the Hmong in their Asian homeland. The contributors are scholars from a number of different backgrounds with a deep knowledge of Hmong society and culture, including several Hmong. The first group of essays addresses the fabric of Hmong culture by considering issues of history, language, and identity among the Hmong/Miao from Laos to China. The second part introduces the challenges faced by the Hmong in contemporary Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.

Jews have always resembled the peoples among whom they live, whether in Africa, Asia, or Europe. Why should American Jews be an exception? In a land where racial and ethnic boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred, the American Jewish community is also shifting. In Every Tongue is both a groundbreaking look at the changing faces of the Jewish people and an examination of the timelessness of those changes. Ranging from distinct communities of African American Jews and adopted children of color in white Jewish families to the growing number of religious seekers of all races who hope to find a home in Judaism, In Every Tongue explores the origins, traditions, challenges, and joys of diverse Jews in America.This book explodes the myth of a single authentic Judaism and shines a bright light on the thousands of ethnically and racially diverse Jews in the United States who live full and rich Jewish lives. It is impossible to read In Every Tongue without coming away with a deeper respect for and a broader understanding of the Jewish people today. In a time when Jewish community leaders decry the shrinking of the Jewish population, In Every Tongue imagines a vibrant and daring future for the Jewish people: becoming who they have always been.

Israelis form a unique case in the field of diaspora studies. When the State of Israel was founded in 1948 it was seen as the longed-for end to the wandering and oppression which had characterized the Jewish diaspora over the centuries. For various reasons, however, one percent of the Israeli population chooses to live abroad despite the condemnation of those who see emigration as a threat to the ideological, demographic, and moral viability of Israel itself. In this fascinating study, based on extensive field work in the major Israeli communities of New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Sydney, Steven J. Gold looks at emigrants? reasons for leaving -- existing links abroad, political and economic dissatisfaction at home, the lure of world-class career opportunities and cultural environments in global cities, and in the case of the Sephardim (or Israelis of non-European origin) often a feeling of being treated as second-class citizens. He also examines the tensions, compromises, and satisfactions involved in their relations with Israelis who have not left and with the Jewish and non-Jewish communities in the countries in which they settle. In the final chapter, Gold talks to Israeli men and women who after years as emigrants have made the decision to return. The end result is a major contribution not just to the study of the Israeli diaspora but also to our wider understanding of migration and transnational identity.

Since the 1970s, the Latin American Jewish Diaspora has been recognized as a unique phenomenon in diasporic studies, due to the development of new ways of thinking about internationalism and globalization. Important works of the 1980s and 1990s established the critical role of Jews in Latin America. This collection moves the field forward by providing an interdisciplinary and comparative view of Jewish experiences through history, literature, painting, anthropology, poetry, sociology, and politics.

As a 'divine conspiracy' for Missio Dei, the global phenomenon of people on the move has shown itself to be invaluable. In 2004 two significant documents concerning Diaspora were introduced, one by the Filipino International Network and the other by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. These have created awareness of the importance of people on the move for Christian mission. Since then, Korean Diaspora has conducted similar research among Korean missions, resulting in this book. It is unique as the first volume researching Korean missions in Diasporic contexts, appraising and evaluating these missions with practical illustrations, and drawing on a wide diversity of researchers.

Malayalis are everywhere! Malayalam can be heard on the streets of Abu Dhabi, Frankfurt, Houston, Singapore and Nairobi. Onam is celebrated in many lands and Malayalam liturgies are chanted every Sunday in churches in every continent. Families keep track of many time zones where their relatives are dispersed. Malayalam newspapers, movies and television serials are part of the daily diet for overseas Malayalis. Fish and spices are exported from Kerala to stores in Johannesburg, London, New York and Sydney.

The Migration Reader introduces the key articles and documents that analyze the complex phenomenon of transnational migration and the challenges it poses for contemporary societies, states, and international relations. Enhanced by the editors' commentary, the selections identify concepts and trends in international migration, review the historical origins of contemporary migration and refugee regimes, consider immigration politics and policies, and explore migration in a global context. The result is an intellectual window through which students can better understand the changes occurring in the international environment and in state-society relations within both affluent and less-developed countries.

Rapid urbanization and globalization processes worldwide have changed the landscape of our times. In Asia and Africa the number of urban dwellers increases by an average of one million per week, according to the United Nations. More than half of the globe s seven billion human beings now live in cities. These realities have far reaching implications for mission in urban contexts at the start of the third millennium. Reaching the City: Reflections on Urban Mission for the Twenty-first Century seeks to address the missiological challenges associated with this new world order. Each author in this collection respectfully builds upon the significant contributions of seminal writers such as Ray Bakke, Jacques Ellul, Basil of Caesarea and others, while making new and creative proposals for urban mission in our world today. Beginning with the bigger picture of the global challenges of urbanization, and moving through theological, historical, and educational perspectives, this volume concludes with a rich bevy of case studies engaging these new realities of both North American and international cities to encourage a missional thrust to reach these communities."

biographies of 10 illustrating the dispersal of the Jewish people

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for NonfictionWhen three-month-old Lia Lee Arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion from which neither she nor her parents nor her doctors would ever recover. Lia's parents, Foua and Nao Kao, were part of a large Hmong community in Merced, refugees from the CIA-run "Quiet War" in Laos. The Hmong, traditionally a close-knit and fiercely people, have been less amenable to assimilation than most immigrants, adhering steadfastly to the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors. Lia's pediatricians, Neil Ernst and his wife, Peggy Philip, cleaved just as strongly to another tradition: that of Western medicine. When Lia Lee Entered the American medical system, diagnosed as an epileptic, her story became a tragic case history of cultural miscommunication.Parents and doctors both wanted the best for Lia, but their ideas about the causes of her illness and its treatment could hardly have been more different. The Hmong see illness aand healing as spiritual matters linked to virtually everything in the universe, while medical community marks a division between body and soul, and concerns itself almost exclusively with the former. Lia's doctors ascribed her seizures to the misfiring of her cerebral neurons; her parents called her illness, qaug dab peg - the spirit catches you and you fall down - and ascribed it to the wandering of her soul. The doctors prescribed anticonvulsants; her parents preferred animal sacrifices.

The modern world is full of diasporas. African Americans, and Muslims and Hindus in Europe, are some of the best known among them. The concept of 'diaspora' has spread rapidly in academic writing and the popular press. But what is a diaspora ? Derived from Jewish tradition, the word is now often applied to any minority which has migrated from its place of origin. Increasingly, the criterion used by journalists and academics for identifying such minorities is ethnic identity rather than religious allegiance. The present volume explores the ways in which the term 'diaspora' has been applied in past and present to various religious communities in different contexts. It considers under what circumstances people may be classified as living in a diaspora, and the consequences this has for their position in society. Specific chapters study Africans in modern Europe, Jews in ancient Egypt, Syrians throughout the Roman empire, Hindus in Britain and Muslims in the Netherlands today, and other so-called diaspora communities.

The Asian church has begun to respond and reach out to migrants. However, this concern for the other is patchy and lacks robust theological foundations. This work uses otherness and liminality as lenses to examine the scripture in order to understand God's heart for migrants and the responsibility of His people towards them. It ends with some pointers towards concrete action by the church.

Stories of survivors of sex-trafficking. Sex trafficking. We hear about it on the nightly news and in special interest stories from around the world, but it occurs daily in communities all around us. Every year, thousands of young women are forced into sexual exploitation. Most are under the age of 18. The damage this causes to their emotions and souls is immeasurable. But they are not without hope. The White Umbrella tells stories of survivors as well as those who came alongside to help them to recovery. It describes the pain and the strength of these young women and those who held the "white umbrella" of protection and purity over them on the road to restoration. This book offers principles and guidance to anyone with a heart for these hurting young women and a desire to help. It is an ideal resource for individuals or organizations seeking to learn what they can do to assist these victims in becoming whole again.