Embedding Human Sociality: A Theological Sketch

It is the contention of this essay that a theological response to the reported epidemic of isolation and social disconnection in the United States, Australia, and elsewhere involves an account of the spatial and embedded character of human life. What follows is a sketch of a geographical imagination that is informed by a theological account of embeddedness and develops Sam Wells’s theology of “being with” at the location of the land, sky, and waterways. Such an imagination promotes a kind of theologically informed sociality that is nurtured and practiced through attending to how Indigenous peoples relate and understand their lands. Engaging the work of trawloolway theologian Garry Worete Deverell, the mutual indwelling implicit in “being in Country” provides a vision of how being with and in Christ can be experienced anew. It will be argued that for settler peoples, especially Christians, learning to be in Country is the beginning of relearning sociality.