Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement [Paperback]

Steven Bouma-Prediger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2008

From literature and art to advertising and the movies, from scholarly works to the popular press, the themes of home, homelessness, and homecoming are pervasive in contemporary culture. Moreover, say Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian J. Walsh, these motifs profoundly illuminate much of what is often called the postmodern age. In Beyond Homelessness the authors illustrate and analyze various forms of homelessness - socio-economic, ecological, and psycho-spiritual. They then demonstrate how the Christian faith and the biblical story address the hurts of contemporary homelessness. On one level the book is an extended conversation concerning modernity and postmodernity, offering an articulation of a third way distinct from both positions. It is also an extended analysis and critique of contemporary North American society and culture. Perhaps most strikingly, however, Beyond Homelessness is a sustained engagement with and reading of Scripture in terms of home, homelessness, and homecoming, offering both challenge and hope to todays Christians.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steven Bouma-Prediger is professor of religion at Hope College, Holland, Michigan. His other books include The Greening of Theology and For the Beauty of the Earth.

Brian J. Walsh is a campus minister at the University of Toronto and adjunct professor of theology of culture at Wycliffe College. He is also the coauthor of Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be.

Product Details

• Paperback: 377 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802846920
• ISBN-13: 978-0802846921
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Acclaim for Beyond Homelessness, August 1, 2008

By 

krmartel "krm" (Beaver Falls, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement (Paperback)

"The nineteenth century found its essential mythological resources in the second principle of thermaldynamics- The present epoch will perhaps be above all the epoch of space," "Of Other Spaces," Michel Foucault, 1967.

We have found, I believe, Foucault to be right. We have entered an age in which "place studies" have emerged as the hot field in philosophy, architecture, geography, economics, etc. In this milieu of increasing proliferation of texts on the study of place, Bouma-Prediger and Walsh have published the book that I have been eagerly awaiting since their 2003 article: "Education for Homelessness or Homemaking?". Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement is all that I expected and quite a bit more.

The book, in an accessible way, gives entrance into the larger conversation of place, works to define "Home" and its significance through a succinct explanation of phenomenology, then moves to discuss socio-economic and ecological homelessness and homemaking through structural analyses and well-told stories. Finally, BP and W pull the pieces together in Chapter 7, giving us the root of the problem--that is the fact that we live in an age marked by homelessness, a homelessness that is often even valorized. The entire book is woven together in the tapestry of the grand-narrative of the scriptures, framed within the movements of the creation, fall, redemption, and consummation story in a way that doesn't feel forced or manipulated.

Overall the book is outstanding. Most notable are two things: first its breadth is outstanding. Not only is it topically broad, but BP and W's review of literature is simply stunning (which their nearly 20 page bibliography speaks to). They utilize, with integrity, works spanning from Martin Heidegger to Ivan Illich, Walter Brueggeman to Bob Goudzewaard, from Wendell Berry to Yi-Fu Tuan. All of these scholars are handled with respect and care.

Secondly: the piece is accessible to a wide audience. My wife asked me, "is this book written for you or for me." Translation: "is this book for people who spend time with the works of stuffy philosophers writing particularly on the concept of place which necessitates a decoder ring to read. Or is it for someone who loves thoughtful literature which explores the world which God made?" The answer is yes! Beyond Homelessness is for the scholar, the armchair theologian, the layperson, the Sabbath School class, those curious about the Christian story, the undergraduate classroom, and many others.

My one critique of the text would be regarding the Biblical Interludes. I understand the intention of these pieces, yet at times they feel a bit forced and out of place.

I highly recommend Beyond Homelessness and encourage almost anyone to put it high on their must-read list.