Refuge Reimagined

The global crisis of forced displacement is growing every year. At the same time, Western Christians' sympathy toward refugees is increasingly overshadowed by concerns about personal and national security, economics, and culture. We urgently need a perspective that understands both Scripture and current political realities and that can be applied at the levels of the church, the nation, and the globe.

Mark R. Glanville and Luke Glanville reflect on their new book Refuge Reimagined offering a new approach to compassion for displaced people: a biblical ethic of kinship. God's people, they argue, are consistently called to extend kinship—a mutual responsibility and solidarity—to those who are marginalized and without a home. Drawing on their respective expertise in Old Testament studies and international relations, the two brothers engage a range of disciplines to demonstrate how this ethic is consistently conveyed throughout the Bible and can be practically embodied today.

Glanville and Glanville apply the kinship ethic to issues such as the current mission of the church, national identity and sovereignty, and possibilities for a cooperative global response to the refugee crisis. Challenging the fear-based ethic that often motivates Christian approaches, they envision a more generous, creative, and hopeful way forward.

Mark R. Glanville (PhD, Bristol University) is associate professor of pastoral theology at Regent College, Vancouver, and an Old Testament scholar. Mark’s research explores the topic of kinship in the Old Testament, focusing on how scripture calls God’s people to enfold vulnerable people as kindred, especially displaced people seeking a place to belong. He is the author of Adopting the Stranger as Kindred in Deuteronomy (2018) and Freed to Be God's Family: The Book of Exodus (2021).

Luke Glanville (PhD, University of Queensland) is associate professor of international relations at Australian National University. Luke’s research focuses on international political theory, the history of international political thought, responsibility to protect, and refugee protection. He is the author of Sovereignty and the Responsibility to Protect: A New History (2014) and Sharing Responsibility: The History and Future of Protection from Atrocities(2021).

With host Ebony Birchall a lawyer who specialises in large-scale public interest litigation. She has acted in landmark legal matters such as the Manus Island class action and the Immigration Data Breach representative complaint and is currently working on investigations concerning government accountability. She researches political philosophy, human rights and the impact of politics and culture on ethics. She is on the People Seeking Asylum team for Common Grace and is a fundraising co-ordinator for the Katoke Trust for Overseas Aid.

This event is PEACEtalks: a quarterly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) starting at 7pm hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks.