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No study has yet examined the tradition of sanctuary as the starting point for rethinking the church in an age of global displacement. Church as Sanctuary, argues that if church sanctuary is going to be legible as a pillar of ecclesial existence in modernity, then we need a theology of sanctuary that reconstitutes this rich tradition anew, placing it at the service of a displaced world. By its very nature, church sanctuary is and has always served as a creative ecclesial and sacramental response to persons whose life is threatened by generalized or state violence, and in our contemporary society the church’s rejection of its own tradition places at risk other forms of sanctuary that exist in symbolic relation to the church’s historical practice.
“This book brings hope for understanding the church as a site of refuge, healing, holiness, and salvation grounded in the best theological and ministerial traditions of church as sanctuary, a relevant response to today’s times.”
–Maria Pilar Aquino, professor emerita of theology and religious studies, University of San Diego
“Provides rich theological insights to today’s church life and faith-based organizing through the lenses of civil initiative rooted in nonviolence where truth and liberation are searched for in a community that converts to communion via sanctuary.”
–Yara Gonzalez-Justiano, assistant professor, Vanderbilt University
Leo Guardado is assistant professor, the department of theology, Fordham University. The Salvadoran Civil War forced Guardado and his mother to migrate to Los Angeles, CA, where he grew up from the age of nine.
