Border-Crossing Being: A Theological Reflection on the Imago Dei in an Age of Migration

Abstract

This article offers a theological reflection on the imago Dei in light of the lived experiences of migrants and then reconstructs theological anthropology in an age of migration. This article critically examines the groundbreaking works of Peter C. Phan and Daniel G. Goody in the intersection of migration and theology. Their theological understanding of God, specifically the imago Dei, centers on the incarnation as a gratuitous self-giving event that crosses over the ontological border between the divine and humanity. This article affirms the theological originality of perceiving the imago Dei as border-crossing. However, this article points out the inadequacy and even potential harmfulness of the theological understanding of the imago Dei grounded in divine self-giving love. This theological account fails to register the lived experiences of migrants, specifically forced migrants who move across borders in order to live a better life. Their ultimate motivation for border-crossing is not self-giving love, but deep hunger for freedom, dignity, and justice that have been absent in their daily lives. This article utilizes this epistemic value embedded in the lived experiences of migrants and reconceptualizes the imago Dei grounded in the divine desire for human flourishing. As a bearer of the imago Dei, humanity is also a border-crossing being, rooted in a desire for human flourishing, moving across the dividing walls of alienation and dehumanization in order to achieve human flourishing in securing basic conditions for human dignity, practicing social friendship, and building a culture of encounter.