Product Description
This volume takes its title from the first-century Christian catechism called the Didache: ""Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills . . . gathered together and became one, so let Your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth."" For Christians today, these words remain relevant in an era of massive human movements (voluntary and coerced), hybrid identities, and wide-ranging cultural interactions. How do modern Christians live as both a ""scattered"" and ""gathered"" people? How do they live out the tension between ecclesial universality (catholicity) and particularity (distinctive ways of being church in a given culture and context)? Do Christians today constitute a ""diaspora,"" a people dispersed across borders and cultures that nonetheless maintains a sense of commonality and mission? Scattered and Gathered: Catholics in Diaspora explores these questions through the work of fourteen scholars in different fields and from different corners of the world. Whether through reflections on Zimbabweans in Britain, Levantines in North America, or the remote island people of Chiloe now living in other parts of Chile, they guide readers along the winding road of insights and challenges facing many of today's Christians. ""Exciting and fascinating, this collection maps the complex global footprint of Christianity in an era of mass movement propelled by constantly evolving religious, political, social, and cultural dynamics, interactions, and tensions. This book is a treasure trove of theological and ethical resources for reimagining and understanding the global phenomenon of migration and diaspora for faith, community, and devotion in the twenty-first century."" --Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, SJ, Hekima University College Jesuit School of Theology, Nairobi ""Michael Budde has assembled an extraordinary group of contributors in this superb work of cutting-edge practical, theological, and missiological reflection. The essays significantly move the conversation forward about how migration and growing intercultural encounters are transforming religion and the churches perhaps more than ever before in human history. The writers are not only accomplished in migration studies, theology, and social research, but also in the practices