Beyond Homelessness
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More About This Title Beyond Homelessness

English

This book goes far beyond covering the subject of homelessness as the social problem we all recognize in our cities. Mass emigrations, displaced families, and human alienation from the earth all mark our times. In critiquing contemporary North American culture, Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh discuss various forms of homelessness -- socioeconomic, ecological, and psycho-spiritual -- and creatively show how biblical attentiveness and Christian faith can heal the profound dislocations in our society.

Ending each of their chapters with a moving biblical meditation, the authors also interact throughout with characters and themes from current literature and popular culture -- from Salman Rushdie to Barbara Kingsolver, from the Wizard of Oz to Bruce Cockburn.

English

Steven Bouma-Prediger is professor of religion at HopeCollege, Holland, Michigan, and the author of For theBeauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for CreationCare."

English

Shane Claiborne
— author, activist, fellow pilgrim (www.thesimpleway.org)
"A daring exploration of one of the most primitive longings in all of us — home. Whether we are in the lonely suburbs or the lonely slums, whether we are cultural refugees or undocumented immigrants, here is good news. In these pages is a call to community, to live deeper, to discover that if we have the eyes to see and the imagination to dream it, there is another world at hand where every alien and orphan and estranged executive has a home and family, for there is a kinship that runs deeper than culture or class or biology or nation. There is a family born from a Creator who breathes life into the very dirt, a God who tabernacles with a nomadic group of slaves looking for a land of promise, a Savior who enters the world as a refugee in the middle of a genocide, a homeless rabbi who is leading us home." Mark R. Gornik
— author of To Live in Peace
"Beyond Homelessness is a passionate call to move from being tourists in the world to active agents of God's shalom. Bouma-Prediger and Walsh point out that the housing crisis for the most vulnerable among us is also a cultural crisis. The solution to both is a recovery of the God of hope and overflowing love. Pastors, students, theologians, and Christians in every vocation should readBeyond Homelessness — a truly visionary book for our times." Marva J. Dawn
— author of Truly the Community
"This astutely timely book deserves an extensive audience — environmentalists, pastors, low-income housing advocates, students, those who forecast doom, good citizens eager to make changes, all Christians! Just to whet your appetite, you'll learn such things as nine kinds of homelessness, eight characteristics of ‘home,' many imaginative ways to ponder Scripture, ten drivers of environmental deterioration, and one colossal hope. Broadly researched and splendidly written, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants truly to comprehend and mend our culture!" Greg Paul
— author of God in the Alley and The Twenty-Piece Shuffle
"First-world homelessness is as jarringly incongruous as an iceberg in the Caribbean. Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh dive deep below a surface made murky by politics and emotion to reveal the true mass of a global problem that has been shaped by elitist philosophy and our own meager, myopic theology. Thankfully, they also offer a correspondingly large and brilliant — and truly healing! — vision of genuinely Christian response." Bill McKibben
— author of The Bill McKibben Reader and Deep Economy
"This book brought me back to my years running a small homeless shelter in the basement of my church — and it brought me forward to the madly globalizing world we live in now. A brilliant use of metaphor that makes clear why the world leaves us feeling so uneasy!"

— Tom Wright,  The Daily Telegraph
“It is because of Jesus that Christians have hope. But the hope is, by definition, not for Christians alone. God is not only interested in rescuing some people from his beautiful but battered world; according to the New Testament, God is intent on rescuing that world itself. And because this rescue operation was decisively launched in Jesus, we don’t have to sit on our hands or shrug our shoulders. Yes, hope remains forward-looking until the last day, but it always has the capacity to turn into present reality, for communities and individuals alike. Beyond Homelessness does more than simply expound this vision. It embodies it, combing shrewd analysis of our multi-faceted culture with lyrical meditations on key scriptural texts and themes.”

Religious Studies Review
“This volume provides a comprehensive vision, which unites society in a common problem, and a common solution.”
 
Christian Scholar’s Review
“A work such as this has yet to be offered to the Christian community and it is time for the church to listen. . . . Beyond Homelessness is one of the most engaging, auspicious, and important texts to be published in the Christian community in a long, long time.”
 
Scottish Journal of Theology
“A remarkable, important and timely book.”
 
Theological Studies
“This volume is a stunning feat of orchestration that defies the neat, tidy boundaries of genres and disciplines. . . . It is nothing short of a compressed, winsome articulation of the gospel. . . . The book is indispensable reading.”
 
Perspectives
“Readers will find here a wealth of information and analysis presented in a clear and engaging manner. Beyond Homelessness is a feast for those who want to understand in a Christian manner the rudiments and the responsibilities of one of humanity’s most fundamental requirements: the need to make and be at home in the world.”
 
Missionalia
Beyond Homelessness is a broadly researched, penetrating study of a global problem that has been shaped by elitist post-Christian ideologies. . . . Recommended.”
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