The political theologies of climate change-induced migration

This article aims to understand the political theologies at stake in the discourses and practices of climate change-induced migration. The argument proceeds from the idea that climate change-induced migration is an example of the absolute. It then traces how the absolute finds expression in two versions of the discourse on climate change and migration: the sovereigntist and liberal variations. The principal argument is that when we reduce the debate on climate change and migration to a set of competing secular claims, we risk overlooking the theological dimensions of the debate. Consequently, we risk posing the wrong questions about what is at stake in the phenomenon. The article argues in favour of using the phenomenon of climate change-induced migration as an occasion to ask: what does it mean to be human in the context of climate change?