From Here and There: Speaking about Religion with Adolescents with a Migration Experience to Europe

Whilst there is an interest in the political aspects of immigration, this book focuses on the experiences of young people who have migrated to or within Europe through the lens of religion. Young people (ages 15-24) arriving in countries across Europe try to navigate a new culture in which their own religious identity may or may not be welcome. The experiences of youth in the space between three phenomena: lived religion, adolescent spiritual development, and migration theology, are explored. Taking cues from these youth, theories of adolescent spiritual development are brought into conversation with migration. None of these processes are predictably fixed, but shift like a shoreline as each experience is shaped by its own history, human interaction, current culture, family background, migration experience, and resettlement circumstances. These influences are sometimes independent and sometimes intertwined, sometimes gentle and sometimes relentless, creating conditions in which religious development takes place. Beginning from observations of lived religious experiences of youth, this book lays out a research-based model for strategies that young people use to navigate the conditions of migration and religious identity. Whether interested in the experiences of youth who have migrated, the interaction of the phenomena of spiritual development with the phenomena of migration, or the pastoral insights of accompanying the spiritual formation of youth who daily must balance multiple cultural contexts, a variety of readers will find this book not only insightful but useful.