Safeguarding the Stranger

What are the resources and teachings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that take hospitality--and its call to provide protective hospitality--seriously enough to inform shared action and belief on behalf of the threatened other? This book argues that protective hospitality and its faith-based foundations as seen in the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam merit greater theological attention and that the practice of protective hospitality in Christianity can be enhanced by better understandings of Judaism's and Islam's practices of hospitality, namely their codes and etiquettes related to honor. Safeguarding the Stranger draws especially on two currents in contemporary Christian theologies: (1) a contextual and political theological approach informed by liberation and feminist theologies, and (2) a cooperative and complementary theological approach informed by interreligious, Abrahamic, and hospitable approaches to dialogue. This book is unique in that it seeks to contribute to academic debates within theology and religious dialogue as well as to discussions within the fields of peace studies and conflict resolution on the positive role that religions might play in contexts of conflict. ""Safeguarding the Stranger is an immensely important addition to the literature on hospitality, notably protective hospitality as practiced in the Abrahamic faith traditions. The work reflects extraordinarily deep research and years of interfaith and cross-cultural experience, as well as time logged in some of our world's most conflicted regions. The author combines fluency in feminist and liberationist Christian thought with competence in Hebrew Bible and Quranic studies--and more than a bit of continental philosophy as well. A major contribution by an important new voice, both in its substance and in its method. Highly recommended."" --David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics; Director, Center for Theology & Public Life, Mercer University; Vice President, American Academy of Religion; Columnist, Religion News Service; President-Elect, Society of Christian Ethics Jayme R. Reaves is a public theologian based in the United Kingdom. Originally from the American South, she has worked in post-conflict Former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland and focuses on bridging the gap between theology, peacemaking, and reconciliation. She has a M.Div. from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (Virginia, USA) and an M.Phil. in Reconciliation and Ph.D. in Theology from Trinity College, University of Dublin.