Displacement of peoples around the world continues to impact governmental policies and contest national identities. At the micro level, displacement's impact on the religious lives of those affected by displacement is a growing field of study and worthy of consideration as a form of self-theologizing and religious renewal. Theologizing Place in Displacement looks at the process of theologizing about place among displaced Orthodox Christian believers in the Republic of Georgia and outlines three key areas where a local theology takes shape around key Orthodox theological themes.
“Elliott writes with compassion and heart-rending empathy as he
tells the story of displaced persons within the faraway regions of
the Republic of Georgia. His work is very useful for (among others)
Western Christians ministering among refugees and other displaced
persons in the Eastern Christian world. We need to remember not
only that displacement is a much more severe problem to someone
with an Eastern mindset than it might be to a Westerner, but also
that Eastern Christendom provides means of coping with displacement
that we Westerners would never think of, means from which we too
might need to learn.”
—Donald Fairbairn, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
“Elliott’s Theologizing Place in Displacement details the
dislocation of some 270,000 Georgians made refugees by armed
conflicts in Abkhazia (1992-93) and South Ossetia (2008).
Paradoxically, the author tells a tale of bridges involuntarily
burned by building bridges across disciplines. This study is
especially successful in utilizing insights and methodologies drawn
from ethnography and theology to relate the role of faith to aiding
displaced Orthodox believers as they cope with wrenching loss. Here
global implications abound.”
—Mark R. Elliott, Editor Emeritus, East-West Church Report,
Asbury University
“Elliott writes with compassion and heart-rending empathy as he
tells the story of displaced persons within the faraway regions of
the Republic of Georgia. His work is very useful for (among others)
Western Christians ministering among refugees and other displaced
persons in the Eastern Christian world. We need to remember not
only that displacement is a much more severe problem to someone
with an Eastern mindset than it might be to a Westerner, but also
that Eastern Christendom provides means of coping with displacement
that we Westerners would never think of, means from which we too
might need to learn.”
—Donald Fairbairn, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
“Elliott’s Theologizing Place in Displacement details the
dislocation of some 270,000 Georgians made refugees by armed
conflicts in Abkhazia (1992-93) and South Ossetia (2008).
Paradoxically, the author tells a tale of bridges involuntarily
burned by building bridges across disciplines. This study is
especially successful in utilizing insights and methodologies drawn
from ethnography and theology to relate the role of faith to aiding
displaced Orthodox believers as they cope with wrenching loss. Here
global implications abound.”
—Mark R. Elliott, Editor Emeritus, East-West Church Report,
Asbury University
Curtis W. Elliott is a part-time instructor of cross-cultural
leadership at Toccoa Falls College and a social and theological
researcher in partnership with the Salvation Army and Trevecca
Nazarene University.