Special Course: Stranger No More
July 1 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
An event every week that begins at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, repeating until July 8, 2025
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A Special Course instructed by Dr. Safwat Marzouk: Stranger No More
Dates: June 3 – July 8, Tuesdays from 7-9pm via Zoom.
Dr. Safwat Marzouk is an associate professor of Old Testament. As a Christian Egyptian and migrant to the U.S., he interprets the Bible in ways that are interreligiously and interculturally sensitive seeking God’s shalom and justice for the vulnerable and the marginalized. Dr. Marzouk is author of Egypt as a Monster in the Book of Ezekiel and Intercultural Church: A Biblical Vision in an Age of Migration.
Course Description:
The experience of forced migration, being on the move, seeking refuge or asylum, displacement, and living in diaspora is a fundamental part of the human story. Throughout history and in many parts of the world, humans, individuals, or communities, because of wars, natural disasters, economic crises, have crossed domestic or national boundaries seeking safety and a better life. Given the recent waves of forced migration and internal displacement, and given the intensification of xenophobia in political discourse, the church, and communities of faith, are confronted with vital questions about their witness in these critical times. In this course, students will study closely diverse texts from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament that have been shaped by the realities of migration, exodus, conquest, exile, and diaspora. As they engage these texts in their historical and literary contexts, students will reflect on how these texts wrestled with welcoming the stranger and how host and migrant communities negotiated cross-cultural relations. As future faith leaders in a polarized world, students will reflect on how to discern a faithful response to the issue of migration in light of the diverse biblical perspectives on the issue. Students will articulate a theological perspective that takes seriously the culture of fear of the other, that nurtures empathy towards the stranger, and that leads the church and the society to move beyond the politics of assimilation and segregation so that migrant and host communities experience God’s shalom.
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary
Registration closes on May 29, 2025. Late registration ends on June 6, 2025.
If you are UPSem faculty or staff or are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes.
