{"id":15964,"date":"2018-01-18T16:15:10","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T00:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=15964"},"modified":"2018-01-18T16:15:52","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T00:15:52","slug":"15964-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/15964-2\/","title":{"rendered":"God is a global Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found it!\u00a0 An online resource to help explain Benedict Anderson\u2019s comprehensive text on nationalism.\u00a0 But I hesitate to click and hit enter.\u00a0 The website, titled \u201cThe Nationalism Project\u201d, sparked my interest but also gave me a sense of dread.\u00a0 What if this site was pro nationalism to an extreme of white supremacy?\u00a0 I precipitously entered the site and was excited to learn \u201cThe Nationalism Project\u00a0is one of the most widely used nationalism studies resources on the Internet and provides users with a clearinghouse of scholarly<\/u> nationalism information including: leading definitions of nationalism, book reviews, web links, subject bibliographies, a bibliography of more than 2,000 journal articles, and much more.\u201d[1]<\/sup><\/a> Bingo, I win!<\/p>\n

In our current political climate, we hear nationalism used as a negative, deprecating concept. According to the Christian Science Monitor article titled Trump’s nationalist vision: Does it promote or endanger peace?<\/em>\u2026\u201cWe heard the president praise a \u2018great reawakening of nations\u2019 \u2013 but that\u2019s a recipe for going back to dark days in history when it was each country for itself \u2013 and when that hard nationalism led to centuries of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

A simplistic summary of Benedict Anderson\u2019s text Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism<\/em> is this – <\/em>political nations are the creation of modern communication networks.\u00a0 Furthermore, a sense of history is essential for the concept of nationhood. In order to think of oneself as belonging to a nation, one must think of oneself as being related to others who share only the circumstance of living at the same time.\u00a0 Anderson idealistically believes that nationalism is a \u201cpositive force for integration and solidarity.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Unlike myself, he (Anderson) sees nationalism in a positive light, grounded in \u2018horizontal comradeship\u2019 (or a sense of fraternity shared by people who did not know each other and who shared the same notion of belonging to a nation despite the existence of inequalities and oppression between groups).[3]<\/a> Arnold suggests that despite inequalities and oppression, members of these \u201cimagined communities\u201d are even willing to die for the cause.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

I will admit\u2026I am struggling with Anderson\u2019s positive rhetoric on nationalism. \u201cIn a globalized world that is struggling to grapple with migration, climate change, economic integration, refugees and displaced populations just to name a few, this debate on nationalism and the notion of \u2018imagined communities\u2019 remains relevant today 32 years after its publication.\u201d[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Personally, I embrace globalization rather than reject it.\u00a0 We may believe the debate of the 21st<\/sup> century is liberal vs. conservative (left vs. right).\u00a0 Not so according to Dr. Jim Eckman.\u00a0 He claims the most significant debate of our society is globalism vs. nationalism.\u00a0 \u201cSince the end of World War II, global integration and technological progress have fueled a new world order centered on free trade, open borders and interdependent economies.\u00a0 Goods, capital and people should be able to move freely across borders, which is actually the meaning of globalization.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 I can safely say the economics of goods and capital in globalization are outside my realm of knowledge. However, the idea that people can move freely across borders is a direct correlation to my research on refugee resettlement. To complicate matters further, nationalists are frequently linked to Christianity. \u201cHistorians agree the roots of American Christian nationalism\u2014including flavors that do insist on white supremacy\u2014stretch back decades. Today\u2019s right-wing preachers are hardly the first group to insist on a \u201cChristian\u201d America, or to heap praise on a \u201cstrongman\u201d leader.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Greg Ip of the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u00a0argues that the intense backlash against immigration (and globalism) is \u201ccultural, not fundamentally economic.\u201d The voters for Brexit and for Trump \u201cwere bothered less by competition from immigrants than by their perceived effect on the country\u2019s linguistic, religious and cultural norms.\u201d\u00a0 He goes on to say \u201cThis is perhaps the most troubling aspect of this new nationalism\u2014its penchant for xenophobia and for ethnic and religious exclusion.\u201d And herein lies the rub to me \u2013 a sect of Christians embrace nationalism (or in my interpretation elitism and isolation) and yet Biblically we are called to love and accept people of all nations.\u00a0 This nationalist penchant for ethnic and religious exclusion is the impetus of Pope Francis\u2019 strong directives when discussing refugees:\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I say I am Christian, but do these things, I\u2019m a hypocrite.\u201d[8]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 If the response of the American church to non-Christian refugees is one of fear, misplaced suspicion, and hostility, we will effectively reinforce their negative understanding of Christianity, while being unfaithful to the biblical commands to love our neighbor, to which we are bound regardless of their faith.[9]<\/sup><\/a> The Bible goes even further in its teachings of helping others:\u00a0 “Never mistreat a foreigner living in your land.\u00a0Foreigners living among you will be like your own people. Love them as you love yourself, because you were foreigners living in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Leviticus 19:33-34, GW.\u00a0 Even in the Old Testament, the Bible clearly sets forth a directive for Christians to love and accept \u201cforeigners\u201d. \u00a0According to Baker\u2019s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, a foreigner is defined as:\u00a0 \u201cperson from a different racial, ethnic, and linguistic group as in contrast to a “native” and the term foreigner is used to translate a Hebrew word that generally means an “outsider” from a different race, tribe, or family\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So where do we go from here?\u00a0 If each church across the United States committed to loving and providing for refugees, lives would be transformed.\u00a0 \u201cIf they (churches) are living communities of the living God, then they are in constant contact with the wider world, both the great mass of the unevangelized as well as others who profess faith in Jesus Christ. No church is immune to the effects of this interchange, and it is faithless to suppose that in every case the result is tainting, compromise, or loss. Churches over time learn and improve, they also forget and fail. Sometimes the impetus is external and sometimes it is internal.\u00a0 It can be the result of social change, spiritual awakening, or intellectual exploration.\u201d[10]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Church, it\u2019s time for revival!\u00a0 It\u2019s time to commit to social justice and to truly be Christ\u2019s hands and feet in the world.\u00a0 Churches need to take risks, make themselves vulnerable and look for possibilities to serve and improve systems.\u00a0 There are local, national, and international opportunities.\u00a0 We are a global world.\u00a0 We are a global church.\u00a0 God is a global Lord.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> http:\/\/www.nationalismproject.org\/about.htm<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/asiacentre.co.th\/event\/debating-imagined-communities-a-tribute-to-benedict-anderson\/<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> https:\/\/asiacentre.co.th\/event\/debating-imagined-communities-a-tribute-to-benedict-anderson\/<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> https:\/\/asiacentre.co.th\/event\/debating-imagined-communities-a-tribute-to-benedict-anderson\/<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> https:\/\/asiacentre.co.th\/event\/debating-imagined-communities-a-tribute-to-benedict-anderson\/<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> https:\/\/graceuniversity.edu\/iip\/2017\/01\/globalism-vs-nationalism-the-ideological-struggle-of-the-21st-century\/<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> https:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/history-christian-nationalism-e3303b46c3bc\/<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> http:\/\/www.uscatholic.org\/articles\/201702\/when-fear-wins-christianity-loses-30918<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> https:\/\/www.worldrelief.org\/press-releases\/2016\/3\/2\/the-global-refugee-crisis<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Wilson, Sarah Hinlicky. “Six ways ecumenical progress is possible.”\u00a0Concordia Journal<\/em>\u00a039, no.4, pg. 327<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found it!\u00a0 An online resource to help explain Benedict Anderson\u2019s comprehensive text on nationalism.\u00a0 But I hesitate to click and hit enter.\u00a0 The website, titled \u201cThe Nationalism Project\u201d, sparked my interest but also gave me a sense of dread.\u00a0 What if this site was pro nationalism to an extreme of white supremacy?\u00a0 I precipitously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[583],"class_list":["post-15964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anderson","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15966,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15964\/revisions\/15966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}