What is it about?
Scripture describes the reality that Israel, and later the Church, can be scattered and living as a minority among larger and stronger powers yet still be an agent of peace. The Church has often found herself in the position of a ‘moral minority,’ displaced from the center of the surrounding society, yet to intentionally live as an exile community of faithful disciples, with little or no political and societal power in a narrow sense, is paradoxically to become a means of bringing peace to a Fallen world.
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Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
Why is it important?
A shared practice of Christian diaspora, lived out in obedience to God’s sending, is a form of communal Christian peacemaking. The communal, obedient practice of diaspora peacemaking can be discerned in the Bible, in a covenant theology, and in the threefold ministry of the Church.
Perspectives
Researching and writing this paper gave me a chance to learn and think deeply about ways that the Church can be a creative minority in the world today, bringing the gift of peace to the world. This was for me a timely and reassuring reminder of the unique contributions of Christian faith, when so often, Christianity and religion in general are seen by many as causing violence.
Dr Marc Tumeinski
Anna Maria College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Sent Into Exile: The Divine Call to Practice Diaspora, The Heythrop Journal, February 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/heyj.12498.
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