Into exile: theological perspectives on hearing the voices of Black queer Pentecostal men seeking asylum in the UK

ABSTRACT

This paper presents fieldwork data extracted from a wider doctoral research project. The voices of five Black, gay Pentecostal men from countries in the Caribbean and Africa who are seeking asylum in the UK are heard and reflected upon theologically. The study contributes to ongoing practical theological conversation about the nature and practice of knowing the ‘other’. Three perspectives are used to interpret the men's experience of rejection, sometimes extreme violence and flight into exile; multiplicity of identity; multiple overwhelmings; and exile itself in relation to the author's reflexivity and the lived spirituality of the interviewees. The article concludes by placing their voices in dialogue with Christ's crucifixion and resurrection calling for, following Girard, an end to their scapegoating.

KEYWORDS:

• asylum
• black
• queer theology
• multiple identities
• multiple overwhelmings
• exile

Notes

1 All names of interviewees have been changed for anonymity.