HOUSE FOR THE HOMELESS: A BIBLICAL – THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF REFUGEES

Abstract

The interpretation of the scriptures can become a political activity in the form of dialoguing with contextual challenges and reexamining the biblical tradition in the contextual realities of today. Otherwise, the inquiry on faith may lose its relevance, which can lead to providing answers to non-existing questions. Therefore it is fundamental for biblical theology to address difficult questions that are related to urgent demands. Meanwhile the movement of migration, refugees and their implications on politics, socio-cultural and economics appear to be a global challenge for many countries. The result of recent researches show promising out­comes regarding all the concerns related to violations of human rights and human dignity. Thus it is important to understand the juridical and social dimension of the subject matter in order to be able to examine its biblical foundation in the light of human rights focusing on the challenges of migration and the crises of refugees. As contextual analysis of the development of the concept, I attempt to evaluate the hermeneutical activities in order to propose a biblical theology based on the concern for refugees. Hence the terminologies like “pilgrims”, “foreigners”, and “justice” in the Old Testament and the New Testament are crucial for this study.