{"id":20829,"date":"2009-05-05T16:42:22","date_gmt":"2009-05-05T16:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/amos-yong-hospitality-and-the-other\/"},"modified":"2009-05-05T16:42:22","modified_gmt":"2009-05-05T16:42:22","slug":"amos-yong-hospitality-and-the-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/amos-yong-hospitality-and-the-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Amos Yong: Hospitality and the Other"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Amos Yong, Hospitality & the Other: Pentecost, Christian Practices, and the Neighbor<\/i><\/a>, Faith Meets Faith Series (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008), xvii + 169, ISBN 9781570757723.<\/b><\/p>\n

The theology and literature of hospitality is a hot topic. Over the last decade a plethora of theses, dissertations, monographs, books, and articles, whether scholarly or popular, sacred or secular, have filled our bookstores. In light of these innumerable publications, one might wonder why another work on “hospitality,” “neighbors,” and “strangers.” But would-be readers be assured; you will not be disappointed. In Hospitality & the Other<\/i>, Amos Yong opens the door to a new world of interreligious possibilities. While economists appraise the value of the hospitality industry, Yong locates this motif at the heart of God’s economy. Yong proposes an innovative paradigm for theology of religious encounter, interreligious dialogue, and contemporary missionary practices. He revisits questions surrounding a biblical theology of hospitality and recommends that contemporary practices be transferable to new faith, national, or ethnic contexts.<\/p>\n

Yong introduces his work with a moving narrative of three case studies, namely, Christian-Buddhist relations in Sri Lanka, Christian-Islamic tensions in Nigeria, and multi-cultural and interreligious contexts in the United States. Yong provides his readers a look at different social, political, and interreligious contexts as a practical point of departure – substantive examples of positive Christian relationships forged though hospitality, dialogue, and mutuality among people of different faith contexts.<\/p>\n

Yong follows this engaging global introduction with thematic analysis well-suited for Pentecostals (to be sure, Yong does not write for Pentecostals only, but his Pentecostal worldview permeates his work). He returns to the first century church to recapture the interrelationship between Christian thought and praxis. He sets early Christian belief not in “the book” as in a catalogue of beliefs, but as encounter with the living Jesus, the paradigm for the Spirit-empowered life of Christian discipleship. Yong suggests that the early community in the Lukan narratives supplies the example for a contemporary “performative theology” (39); the church faithfully improvises the story of Jesus (Luke 1-24) and the disciples (Acts 1-28) through ongoing performance of Acts 29. In other words, contemporary followers of Jesus continue the open-ended gospel story one act at a time. Pentecostals well acquainted with evangelistic passion and experience in different and ever new contexts should resonate with this foundational thesis. In short, Yong enlarges the degree to which evangelistic creativity and pragmatic novelty might be an extension of the canonical script (55).<\/p>\n

After reviewing the traditional categories of exclusivism, inclusivism , and pluralism, Yong suggests that these narrow and cautious platforms are no longer useful in a complex world and require more robust and systematic scrutiny. He constructs a platform for the Christian doctrine of hospitality by recommending that followers of Jesus counter interreligious violence, war, and terrorism with the spirit of Pentecost. Yong zeroes in on the Lukan story and envisions a new kind of interreligious encounter where the diverse tongues of Pentecost open up a way to imaginative Christian practices in a pluralistic world. With Pentecost as the foundation for God’s hospitable embrace, Yong returns to the Third Gospel and the Lukan Jesus as the embodiment of God’s hospitality. First, Jesus serves as an exemplary recipient of hospitality. His lowly birth in a manger and final burial in the private tomb of Joseph of Arimathea bracket a life that relies on the goodwill of many. Jesus lives his life as the consummate guest in numerous homes. Second, in ironic fashion, Jesus the “homeless” guest becomes Jesus the host, the agent of God’s redemptive hospitality. Jesus often breaks with convention by entering into suspect homes, failing to wash, and rebuking hosts in order to embrace outsiders, the oppressed and marginalized of the ancient world. In a further twist, accusers generally fail to understand and\/or receive Jesus’ acts of hospitality and in so doing reject the hospitality of God. Finally, Yong finds in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan a principal lesson for interreligious hospitality. Yong establishes Jesus’ teaching relating to Jewish and Samaritan tension as an illustration of mutual encounter of the “other” first century religion. Once again, Yong recommends contemporary application. Twenty-first Christians must imagine fresh possibilities for performative encounters with those of current world religions.<\/p>\n

In turning to Acts, Yong extends the life and teaching of the Lukan Jesus to the emerging Christian community. Like Jesus, early Christians are also recipients and conduits of God’s hospitality (Acts 1:1). Whether through household relationships and table fellowship or journeying and itinerancy, followers of the Way model reception and extension of the redemptive and pneumatological hospitality of God envisioned on the Day of Pentecost. In fact, Yong argues that Luke’s vision of pneumatological openness finds its roots in the wider arena of ancient Israelite practice of hospitality. Luke links Stephen’s story which culminates in the scattering of Christians (Acts 8:1-4) to the flight of a long line of displaced Hebrew figures including Abraham, Joseph, Moses, the prophets and Jesus. The early Christians, now scattered, displaced, and even persecuted, continue the Israelite story and become missionaries while aliens and strangers. The Israelites as perpetual sojourners accommodate strangers and aliens among them, a constant reminder of their own displacement. Furthermore, God calls Israel not only to responsible care for the poor, widows, orphans, slaves, and temporary residents but also to extend the blessings of YHWH with the rights and privileges of community to these same outsiders. In continuity with the Israelite story, Christians must also depend upon diasporic hospitality (Acts 8:1-4; 11:9-20; James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1); while aliens and strangers in this world, early Christians, as perpetual guests of God and others, imitate the Israelite posture when serving as hosts (124).<\/p>\n

By way of a powerful closing, Yong links exegesis of Luke-Acts (and the larger biblical story) to contemporary Christianity. As the early Christians improvised the reception and extension of Jesus’ hospitality, so also contemporary Christians must continue improvisation of the reception and extension of Jesus’ and early Christian’s hospitality. If Pentecost symbolizes the ever-available extent of God’s abundant hospitality “for all who are far off” (Acts 2:39) and if gifts of the Spirit provide innovative power for God’s people as guests and hosts, sometimes simultaneously, then missio dei must center not only on mere enlargement of the church, but the kingdom of God (126-7). Christians must discern the Spirit’s presence and “perform” appropriate practices in concert with the hospitable God. They must embody Christ’s incarnational vulnerability and open up theological and relational “free space” not only to serve as hosts for the gospel but also risk being guests of others (132). While Yong offers few specifics, he calls for an artistic ecclesiology marked by congregational hospitality. He implores individual Christians and institutional Christianity to begin with orthopraxis, that is, basic accommodations, a welcoming public face, a dialogical posture, and a commitment to public service. His work challenges pastors, scholars, college\/seminary students and informed Christians to link attentive theology to innovative praxis. Readers embarking upon research\/study preparation in Luke-Acts, ecclesiology, pastoral theology, world religions, and missiology will surely benefit from this work. Finally, Pentecostal readers ever interested in the life of the Spirit should welcome Yong’s theological and practical extension of Pentecost and the narrative of Luke-Acts.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Martin Mittlestadt<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpt from the publisher: www.orbisbooks.com\/chapters\/978-1-57075-772-3.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amos Yong, Hospitality & the Other: Pentecost, Christian Practices, and the Neighbor, Faith Meets Faith Series (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008), xvii + 169, ISBN 9781570757723. The theology and literature of hospitality is a hot topic. Over the last decade a plethora of theses, dissertations, monographs, books, and articles, whether scholarly or popular, sacred or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2986,"featured_media":20830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,5675],"tags":[2676,5689,5690,3140,5681],"ppma_author":[4660],"class_list":["post-20829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry-2","category-spring-2009","tag-amos-yong","tag-christian-buddhist","tag-christian-islamic","tag-hospitality","tag-interreligious","author-martinmittelstadt"],"authors":[{"term_id":4660,"user_id":2986,"is_guest":0,"slug":"martinmittelstadt","display_name":"Martin Mittelstadt","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/MartinMittelstadt-150x150.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/MartinMittelstadt-150x150.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2986"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20829"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=20829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}