Borders, Christian Social Ethics, and the Legacy of Laudato si’

“There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide…” (LS 52)

Abstract

The topic of international borders intersects with the moral vision of the encyclical Laudato si’ (LS) in three ways: as challenge, as revelation of some key oversights, and as opportunity for application and refinement. As an exercise in Christian social ethics (CSE), this essay surveys these forms of intersection between international borders and the moral vision of Laudato si’ (LS) via a fourfold taxonomy for representing borders – experiential (3.1), systemic (3.2), metaphorical (3.3), and methodological (3.4) – which is ordered from concrete to abstract. On this basis, it becomes possible to pinpoint each type of borders-LS intersection at distinct levels: borders-as-challenge (levels 1 – 2), borders-as-revelation-of-oversights (levels 2 – 3), and borders-as-opportunity (levels 3 – 4). This undertaking generates strategies for engaging the moral vision of LS together with borders; it also raises promising implications for borders as integral to the methodology of CSE itself.