Searching for Belongingness: A Social Rhetorical Reading on Migration in the Bible

The Bible was written by, for, and about strangers, migrants, and refugees. It is the book of a humanity in constant motion, migrating from place to place until they rest in God. Currently, migration has become an increasingly complex and pressing phenomenon. For this reason, I would like to present some insights on migrations and migrants as they appear in the Bible, through the lenses of the social-rhetoric analysis and apply their principles to today’s reality. I will explore the different concepts and meaning of being a stranger, a sojourner, or a foreigner in the Jewish Scriptures. Then, I will revisit the contrasting concepts of being an alien or a citizen in the world of the Christian scriptures and how Christ’s Good News revolutionized the traditional concepts of “belonging” establishing a new reality called the reign of God.