From exile, Grow man

Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible, by M. Daniel Carroll R., 2008.

Taking the title into account, this would be a pretty hefty subject matter to tackle and one that the author would have to divest the political rhetoric from in order to get the meat of the subject.  Coming in at 143 pages, the book (by admission of its author) is just a primer for people that are relatively new to the subject or who are finally jaded by the politics of the subject enough to find another perspective on it that is neither Republican nor Democrat.  That is one aspect of the book that the author does well on, seeing the validity of the arguments on both sides of the political mainstream while stripping them of their emotional and prejudiced tones and showing their true complexities.  Instead of just critiquing arguments, the author lays them out there to be heard only.  He indirectly critiques both sides of the argument by using the Old and New Testament and exploring the principles that are in the Bible for how we are supposed to relate to sojourners, immigrants, etc. and, also, showing the obligations the sojourners and immigrants have in relating to the new culture. 

The thing I do like about this short little book is that the author is truly attempting to derive Biblical principles for how Christians should act on, think about, and work towards an immigration policy.  He is very clear that, biblically-speaking, there is no room for mistreatment or taking advantage of the Latino/Latina immigrants.  To not show hospitality towards sojourners is to be disobedient in the eyes of God.  However, the author, also, deals with the attitude of the immigrant/sojourner in that they should be hospitable to the people and customs of the new culture.  Both sides must give in order for immigration to be a positive attribute for those coming and those already here.  He gets into some technical aspects of Old Testament Hebrew, at times, but none of it is incomprehensible.  Overall he does a good job of looking at the main movements and themes of the Bible that would be helpful for Christian to thoughtfully consider the issue of immigration in a modern world. 

However, even though it is just meant to be a primer, the overall effect still seems unsatisfactory.  I liked what was there, but it ultimately felt like it needed more meat to the arguments.  The theological and biblical chapters definitely needed more heft to them.  This is not to say that he failed, but he could have easily have given another hundred pages to expand some of his arguments and exegesis.  I think, in the end, the reader would have benefited from more explanation.  There were also some strange theological explanations that I am still working over in my head.  When I first read them, I thought he was wrong in his theology, but with his following explanation, I started to think that maybe he was just wording it differently than most do.  However, I am still not sure that is the case.  I don’t want to combat that stuff until I am completely sure that he is off on his theology.  So if you want to know details of that area, then let me know and I will explain it to you!  The book overall does give a nice jumping-off point for Christians to consider the complexities of immigration and how the Bible speaks to those broader and more specific elements of the issue.