Structures of Grace: Catholic Organizations Serving the Global Common Good. By Kevin Ahern. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2015, 224 pages, $35.00 (paper)

A review of Kevin Ahern\u27s book, Structures of Grace: Catholic Organizations Serving the Global Common Good

The Rational Agent or the Relational Agent: Moving from Freedom to Justice in Migration Systems Ethics

Most accounts of immigration ethics implicitly rely upon neoclassical migration theory, which understands migration as the result of poverty and unemployment in sending countries. This paper argues that neoclassical migration theory assumes an account of the human person as solely an autonomous rational agent which then leads to ethics of migration which overemphasize freedom and self-determination. This tendency to assume that migration works as neoclassical migration theory describes is shared by political philosophers, such as Joseph Carens, Michael Walzer, and David Miller. This paper argues that all three philosophers incorrectly frame migration as a contest between the freedom of the migrant and the communal self-determination of the political community. Migration systems theory is presented as a theory that draws upon a relationally embedded understanding of autonomy in order to begin to develop a migration systems ethics. This paper concludes by arguing that the central ethical category for an ethics of migration is not freedom or self-determination, but justice-in-relation

Justice Not Benevolence: Catholic Social Thought, Migration Theory, and the Rights of Migrants

Although there are many migration theories that purport to explain why people migrate, many theologies and ethics of migration rely on neoclassical migration theory, which views migration solely as the result of poverty and unemployment in sending countries. This paper reviews various migration theories in order to argue that Catholic social teaching on migration has primarily relied on neoclassical theories of migration. This over-reliance on neoclassical migration theory has led to flawed policy recommendations and ethical analyses. Christian ethics must respond to the reality of migration as described by migration systems theory, which suggests that migration systems are actually initiated by the policies of receiving countries, primarily colonial and organized guest worker recruitment. The ethical principles required to respond to migration are not only benevolence and hospitality. Christian ethics must begin by seeing migration as a problem of exploitative relationships between citizens and migrants

Migrants and Citizens: Justice and Responsibility in the Ethics of Immigration

What responsibilities do citizens have to migrants and potential migrants? What responsibilities do migrants themselves have? What is the basis of those responsibilities? In this book Tisha Rajendra reframes the confused and often heated debate surrounding immigration and develops a Christian ethic that can address these neglected questions. Rajendra begins by illuminating the flawed narratives about migrants that are often used in political debates on the subject. She goes on to propose a new definition of justice that is based on responsibility to relationships, drawing on the concrete experience of migrants, ethical theory, migration theory, and the relational ethics of the Bible. Professors, students, and others committed to formulating a solid ethical approach to questions surrounding immigration will benefit greatly from Rajendra\u27s timely presentation of a constructive way forward.https://ecommons.luc.edu/facultybooks/1126/thumbnail.jp

The Rights of the Stranger: Justice, Responsibility and the Ethics of Migration

Thesis advisor: David HollenbachTransnational migration presents a problem for universal human rights. Because migrants do not have full citizenship in their countries of residence, they are left out of the distribution of social goods within a nation-state. Contemporary theories of justice largely remain trapped in the framework of the "bounded society," which members enter by birth and leave by death. The dissertation argues that the protection of universal human rights depends on turning particular relationships of exploitation into relationships of co-responsibility. The dissertation draws on two sources of Christian ethics, the Bible and Catholic social teaching on migration in order to maintain both the importance of the unity of the human family, the universality of human rights, and the importance of the political community. The work of three political philosophers suggests that in order to respond to transnational migration, an ethics of migration must maintain both the universality of human rights and the moral significance of the political community, but must discard the ideal of the bounded society. The resources of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament indicate that care for the stranger must be foundational to a Christian ethics of migration. Catholic social teaching on migration maintains both the universality of human rights and the right of the state to control its borders, but ultimately fails to address whether and in what circumstances the state should prioritize its citizens over migrants and potential migrants. The dissertation uses Jon Sobrino's reflections on Christian solidarity in order to address this lacuna in Catholic social teaching on migration. It argues that the political community must protect the human rights of migrants because, in most cases, migrants are in relationships with citizens.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Theology