Book Review : Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition : Christine D. Pohl (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999)

A desire for hospitality to form the ethos and regular practice of the Church is Pohl’s motivation behind this detailed exposition of its Scriptural mandate and historic practice within Christianity. Her exposition is informed by her personal engagement with intentional Christian communities that practice hospitality, and this gives a richness and realism to her creative exploration of opportunities for a broader recovery of hospitality within the Western Church.

Pohl draws hospitality as central in Israel’s history. Grounded in self-conception as dependant aliens living in the land which belonged to God, high value was placed on provision for strangers. Pohl traces numerous Old Testament accounts which highlight a positive view of temporary provision to those in need, which connect such hospitality with moral behaviour and blessing.

Pohl contends that there is a distinctive change in the emphasis of hospitality in Jesus’ teaching, elucidated in New Testament teaching and the early church. Here the welcoming of strangers became transformational, prefiguring the Kingdom of God. It birthed the idea of welcoming Christ in the act of welcoming particularly marginal and disadvantaged people, thus ‘hospitality both participated in and anticipated God’s hospitality'.[1] However, Pohl sketches a sad decline in the practice of Christian hospitality from the fourth century, where the location of hospitality was relocated from the household to the institutional settings of hostels, hospitals and monasteries, and in doing so lost its transformational power.

In seeking to reimagine Christian hospitality in a contemporary setting, Pohl helpfully identifies and explores some key challenges, namely meeting need whilst also respecting dignity; overcoming the anonymity of strangers and associated anxiety; and practicing hospitality from a position of weakness or marginality. Pohl finally proposes some practical and radical responses to her exploration. Firstly, places need to be deliberately created that are public and non-coercive, to act as a threshold for more intimate exchange. Secondly, a change of priorities that enables more physical presence in the home is required for the home to become a place of hospitality. And thirdly, churches should seek to welcome strangers into their worship, not just be providers of services. In all of these, whilst there will undoubtedly be ambiguity and uncertainty, the desire should be to create places which both foster relationship and meet need.

It may seem counterintuitive to consider hospitality during a period where widespread lockdown measures are in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the social turbulence caused by such an event perhaps allows contemplation of some of the more radical of Pohl’s proposals. Greater use of outdoor spaces and increased interaction with neighbours have created places that can function as thresholds. Perhaps, as lockdown measures are lifted, these should continue to be valued? Changing work practices, with more working from home, have created homes that are occupied more continuously. Perhaps prioritising the continuation of these practices would enable a greater practice of hospitality? Many church activities have ceased over several months. Perhaps the resuming of activity can be accompanied by a reconsideration of how strangers are offered welcome and valued within a community of transformation, as the welcome of God is experienced? This book raises valuable questions and offers consideration of crucial challenges in seeking to be hospitable in the practice of Christian faith.

Notes:
[1] Christine Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), p.33