Theological Mediation of the Current Alterity in Western Naturalisation Policy, Immigration Control and Global Diaspora

This paper explores how theological exegesis of Genesis 20 vs. 1-18 texts, and the book of Ruth can be applied in the context of mediating the harsh western citizenship and naturalisation policy, immigration rules and the global diaspora, bearing in mind the key prospects of theological reflection and how they find expressions in addressing problems within the complex human society. The primacy of Biblical texts and narratives as a tool for interrogating and addressing issues of concern within the diverse human, political, economic and socio-cultural contexts is incontrovertible. The overriding intention of hermeneutics in relation to theological pedagogy and dialectics has in fact been to determine how the reading and interpretation of literary works in general and Biblical texts and narratives in particular, have shaped and transformed patterns and outcomes of human behaviours. This is in terms of actions and responsibility – how human beings understand their world, the diversities and dimensions of their experiences, how they express interpersonal, intertribal, interreligious, interregional and international relationships, and how they are able to resolve conflicts and crises that are part and parcel of their experiences and interactions. Thus, it is believed that theological framing of ideas, and logical postulations especially in synthesising knowledge and transforming critical understanding of concepts, paradigms and theories from a synergy of interdisciplinary discourse can be useful in addressing global ethnographic alterity. Indeed, interdisciplinary discourses that couple environmental sciences, theology and law have established a long presence as an academic discourse. However, the increasing manifestations of alterity in immigration and naturalisation policies within the western world raises key question in relation to how to bring to bear the cultural, political, legal, environmental and moral significance of the meanings that are being derived from the texts and narratives that make up the Bible.