In today’s conversation I got to make a new friend and have a wonderful conversation about an important cultural the theological issue - immigration. Karen Gonzalez is a writer, speaker, and immigrant advocate who emigrated from Guatemala as a child. She attended Fuller Theological Seminary, where she studied theology and missiology. For the last 15 years, Karen has been a non-profit professional, currently working for an organization that serves asylum seekers. She wrote a book about her own immigration and story and the many immigrants found in the Bible in The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong (Herald Press, 2019). Her new book is Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in our Christian Response to Immigration (scheduled to be released on October 18, 2022, from Brazos Press).
I was privileged to get to read an advanced copy of the book and found it to be so helpful in clarifying our language related to immigration, understanding the realities of the many populations on the move in the world, reflect biblically on the subject, and think imaginatively about our Christian response. It is a very helpful and readable book, and a thoughtful conversation.