Safeguarding the Stranger: An Abrahamic Theology and Ethic of Protective Hospitality

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 Judaisms and Islams 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 worlds 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.