Place, Movement, and Community (ISBL in Buenos Aires)

I will be traveling to my first International SBL this summer in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  It will also be my first time in South America.  It will be a nice cooling off period (it is winter down there in July) after I walk the Camino in Spain this summer.  Here is my abstract:

Place, Movement, and Community: A Critical Reading of Hebrews 11

Borrowing insights from spatial theorists, such as Henri Lefebvre and Edward Soja, and anthropologists of movement (whether pilgrimage, emigration, or dislocated populations), this paper will explore the relationship between the building of the heavenly city by God and the use of movement among the past faithful in Hebrews 11, drawing attention to how this combination of space and movement rhetorically creates an imagined community in the face of adversity.  This paper will further investigate how these related elements of space/place and movement extend throughout the fabric of the homily.