Brooks 1

When I mention hospitality to some of my more fundamentalist friends, I am often met

the question “Why does hospitality matter”? I think the greater task of the theological study of

hospitality is to find ways to explain hospitality as an integral part of the greater story of God’s

salvation of mankind. This means reaching beyond the bible stories and moving towards a deep

understanding of the key praxes of the Christian church. Another theological conversation that is

growing today is a fuller understanding of eschatology, moving away from the 19th and 20th

centuries reliance on pre-millennial dispensationalism. An eschatological understanding of

hospitality accomplishes both of these current theological goals. The future vision and proleptic

view that is part of eschatology focuses around the larger biblical themes of hospitality, those of

host, hope and restoration.

Hospitality is also a radical, subversive act in which the church stands against a world

that it knows exists outside of the boundaries of the intention of God. The church developed this

hermeneutic of hospitality out of a canonical understanding that God is progressively revealing

himself to us. The hospitality of God is part of His very being, one that shapes his creating,

saving and sanctifying graces. The church also understands our status as travelers and aliens

as Gods teaching that we are but sojourners in this world. 1 Radical hospitality is both the actions

of God towards his people, and their response of care in this world and also their eschatological

hope towards the world to come.

1 The language of 1st Peter is key towards the Churches understanding of this reality and will be dealt with further
in the paper.
 Brooks 2

The Biblical Witness of Hospitality

Part of understanding how hospitality as a key piece in and of the formation of God’s

people is a working knowledge of the narrative of hospitality. Hospitality is not something that

simply cropped up in response towards those in need, but it is a part of the “chord of

redemption” that has resonated since the beginning of time. It sometimes takes a primary role,

and at other times functions as a harmonic that enhances the larger movement of God. Both the

Old and New Testament witness to the complicated and progressing role that hospitality has

served.

The Old Testament Witness

One of the first places that many people start to understand the wider importance of

hospitality is within the stories of the biblical patriarchs. The ancient world understood

hospitality as a cultural duty. It was part of the preservation of a civil society. It was not a simple

courtesy but an act of obedience to a larger social code of hospitality.2 This was a complicated,

unwritten law, that was necessary due to the dangers of travel. These rules governed how the

host would address the needs of the guest while still protecting his 3 family.

It would be simple for us to see the patriarchs as just practitioners of this code. The story

of Abraham and his three visitors (Gen 18) gives us reasons to look for a deeper reason.

Abraham himself was a stranger in this land. While he was a wealthy man, he was a traveler

himself, taking on the role of the host and showing goodness. This will be an important theme

2“Hospitality” in Ryken, Leland, Jim Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman, eds. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.
Accordance electronic ed., version 1.1. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998.
3While there are biblical evidences of women being primary hosts (1 Kings 17:10, 2 Kings 4:8-10,Luke 8:2-3,John
12:1-3, and Acts 16:13-15), the male head of household was usually responsible.
 Brooks 3

throughout our look at hospitality. Genesis 18:1 tells us first that “The LORD appeared to

Abraham by the oaks of Mamre”, and leaves us with many exegetical questions regarding

Abraham's identification of these visitors. But what Abraham shows throughout his hospitality

(as well as the rest of the patriarchal stories) was that he understood an embodiment of these

values. It wasn’t simply a cultural mandate, but Abraham understood his relationship of the alien

as part of his relationship with God. This first entry into our study of hospitality shows that

God’s “first” people understood their duty of service as part of their identification with God.

This theme becomes part of covenant command with the Israelite people. God told his

chosen people that the actions of hospitality were to be part of their agreement with him.4 They

understood their caring for others represented the times in which God cared from them. While

they were no longer traveling in the desert and existing within a space that was foreign, Israel

identified with a God who had made them no longer strangers.5 Israel had a responsibility to be

hospitable because they served and were in covenant with a God who was hospitable; hospitality

was in their character. Failing to provide care had dire consequences and the consequence of

Israels failure can be seen in Amos 5. Israel had forgotten that hospitality was part of their

devotion and worship of God.

The New Testament Witness

The New Testament witness shows us two sides of the coin; how God himself was

hospitable through the person of Jesus Christ and the way that the Church furthered the actions

4 Deut 10:17,19, 26:5-9. Ex 22:21, and Lev 19:33-34 are just a few references.
5 “Hospitality” in The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
 Brooks 4

of hospitality after His resurrection. The progressive revelation through the vein of hospitality

now becomes deeper inside of salvific history.

The person of Jesus Christ practiced a multi-layered example of hospitality. First, Jesus

is a great teacher of hospitality. His ministry was an example of a lived hospitality. Jesus

accepts hospitality, and even in His acceptance he is subversive. One group that Jesus

continually receives hospitality from is women. His relationship with Mary and Martha is just

one example (Lk 10:38-42 and Jn 11, 12 show the deep relationship that he had with their

family). It is through the practice of receiving hospitality from the woman at the well (John 4)

that Christ transforms a life while depending on someone else. This is an echo of the Old

Testament action of divine favor being show upon those who give to God without knowing.

Christ sends his disciples out knowing they will need hospitality to survive (Mt 10:9–14; Mk

6:7–10; Lk 9:1–4).

Second, Christ embodies hospitality by the people he chooses to associate with. It is not

the elite or righteous that Christ chooses to engage with, but the “unclean” or the people that are

living in the margins of society. Christ is engaging in a fragmented society that is yearning for

“relationships, identity and meaning”.6 His teaching on the kingdom is about the ultimate

hospitality of God on earth and in heaven. It is a fulfillment designed to bring humanity what it

truly desires at the depths of need.

Third, failure to bring hospitality is deadly, just as it was to the nation of Israel. When

people failed to bring hospitality to Christ, it sealed their fate (Mt 10:14–15; Mk 6:11; Lk 9:5).

Denying Christ meant denying God. It “de-identified” someone as part of God’s people. The

6Pohl, Christine D. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1999.  pg.33
 Brooks 5

extreme level of this threat is made most evident in Matthew 25. The greater narrative of

provision and the failure to provide for those is summed up in verses 40 and 41

And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these
brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that
has been prepared for the devil and his angels! 7

Those who refuse to show care towards others will be condemned in the end. The practice of

hospitality is a marker of living in the kingdom, on this earth and in the next. Jesus came as the

“advanced warning” towards what God desired in the kingdom. We understand God’s revelation

of hospitality as part of the divine essence, and our actions show our identification with God and

his eschatological, hospitable kingdom. God graciously welcomes us, so we should graciously

welcome others.8

Besides the testimony of Jesus, there is the apostolic witness to hospitality. The early

church understood that the shared practice of meals was an eschatological reality, prefiguring the

banquet to come. The summary passages in Acts (2:42-47, 4:32-37 and 5:12-16) show the

Jerusalem communities understood that hospitality was not simply something the Church

participated in, but was a key marker of an apostolic community of God.

Perhaps the best language of the New Testament in understanding this reconfigured

community is in 1st Peter. The book is addressed to those “Residing as Aliens”( 1:1 NASB), and

later in the book these exiles are identified as a people in whose identification is wrapped up

inside of their relationship with God and his community. (2:9-10). Using the language of the

7 From the NET bible.http://bible.org/article/preface-net-bible-first-edition

8Pohl, Christine D. “Hospitality” in Alexander, T. Desmond and Brian S. Rosner, eds. New Dictionary of Biblical
Theology. Accordance electronic ed., version 1.1. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000.
 Brooks 6

exile from the Old Testament, Christian community is formed not through social ties, or ethnic

origins, but by a relationship with God. Hospitality is subversive in the fact that it situates itself

within the radical hospitality of divine grace. The call to be aliens in this world is calling us to

look towards our eschatological dwelling, a dwelling of fulfillment. 9

The Early Church and Hospitality

The early Church mirrored hospitality in a variety of ways, but primarily continued by

creating spaces of care to those who needed it. What is profound, is how they developed a

theology of hospitality. Two key points developed that could be taken towards most

contemporary arguments against hospitality.

First, they weren’t concerned with the moral status of the recipient. Many churches

choose not help people because they do not fit to the standards that current religious societies

measure themselves by. This could be because of marital status, sexual orientation , or problems

with substance abuse. A decision as to the recipients “worthiness” is not to be made by the

Church.10 It is not befitting of the idea that by serving the poor we are serving Christ, when we

are will to examine an entire person life for the sake of something as simple as food or shelter.11

Second, when we serve others we are serving them because they are God’s creatures.

When others are cast aside, and are willing to see their humanity decline, we are then willing to

see the creation of God be cast aside.12 The Churches mission in hospitality is that of restoration

9 Ibid
10Oden, Amy G. And You Welcomed Me: A Sourcebook on Hospitality in Early Christianity. ABNDP - Abingdon
Press, 2001. pg. 88
11 ibid pg. 65
12 Lacitanius via Oden pg.57
 Brooks 7

and renewal, because that is of the character of God and his actions toward the world. We have a

duty to restore humanity to the place of original design, of fulfillment within the hands of God.

The early Church understood the idea that in the “here and now”, while waiting for the

eschatological reign of God, their business was to do Gods work in the way that He himself did

in the person of Christ. It is bigger than just feeding and clothing. It is a proleptic view of the

future, drawing what will happen down into the present. Part of eschatological vision is a

response to God’s hospitality and bringing it to life on earth.

The Hospitality of God

The overarching plan of scripture shows “a huge rescue plan”, and the task of getting

“Adam back into the Garden”.13 While we often debate over soteriology using legal language,

the theme of scripture shows the quest of God to extend Himself in His fullness towards man in

relationship. This took a pattern of progressive revelation, in which man had to recognize that

God was bigger than a holy courtroom. We use our own ideas to try to encompass who the

Triune Godhead is, and just by that attempt we draw the divine into the ineptitudes of human

language.

Hans Boersma14 describes what he calls a “eschatological hospitality” a future that “

ensures the restoration and maturation of human beings created in the image of God”. Gods

entire plan for eternity is act act of reaching and providing. This is a revelatory act, stretching

from Old Testament to New Testament, from Genesis to Revelation. Boersma builds much of his

theory on the writings of St. Irenaeus of Lyons, a 2nd century Christian bishop. Irenaeus view of

13 Richter, Sandra L. The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. IVP Academic, 2008. pg. 129
14Boersma, Hans 2002. "Redemptive hospitality in Irenaeus: a model for ecumenicity in a violent world." Pro
Ecclesia 11, no. 2: 207-226. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed December 15,
2009).
 Brooks 8

Christ as the fullest revelation also understands that God has extended his eternal and

eschatological hospitality “proleptically through Christ”.15 Faith in Christ equates to faith in

what the Father has promised regarding the future. By understanding and accepting this future,

the hospitality of God implies the churchs role and status as sojourner. A key part of Irenaeus’s

theology is that of deification. He views it as the act of gradual maturity of the believer towards

the fullest experience as being created in Gods image. So not only does God extend eternal

provision and care, but He extends his likeness towards us. This is a careful line to tread, to

avoid the theological view of humanity gradually becoming divine. The Wesleyan language of

sanctification explains this same gradual process. Irenaeus believed in a restoration model, in

which God is restoring humanity to the place in which they were designed to be. It is the

hospitality (through salvation) of God that allows us to be restored. The fall of humankind now

becomes the opportunity for God to show his grace. James Torrance describes16 Duns Scotus

view of the necessity of the incarnation. 17 Christ was sent to redeem and restore, but the

hospitable nature of God was preexistent. This attribute is completely shown in the divine

persona of Jesus Christ. His human action of hospitality are showing the extant abilities of the

capabilities of man, when individuals recognize and accept Gods gracious offerings of salvation.

A longer quote from Boersma further explains this.

“...This means that the incarnation of the word is not the mere consequence of sin...The entire

economy, from creation to consummation, is viewed in the light of the saving character of the

15 Ibid pg. 208

16 Torrance, James B. Worship, Community & the Triune God of Grace. InterVarsity Press, 1997.  pg.73

17 Scotus has been accused of heresy regarding this statement. By saying that God “had to” do something, weakness
is being implied. A better way of saying this might be that the incarnation was “fitting” to the person of Christ.
 Brooks 9

word; the Word was present throughout the Law and the Prophets; he walked and talked with

Adam in the garden. His saving character-God’s “redemptive hospitality”-stems from

eternity.”18

Since God is salvific, the need for salvation was not surprising. In order to fully extend grace,

the Incarnation would naturally happen. Grace is the key action of God towards man. God’s

hospitality was fully acted out when he came to our world and submitted himself to human

particularities. Salvation is a response to this hospitality, because true hospitality involves a

reciprocal relationship. Miroslav Volf writes that we must understand that reciprocity isn’t

sharing in the amount of gift giving, but the shared identity of presence. 19

There are tensions towards these ideas, and Boersma engages Jacques Derrida’s

conception of “pure hospitality”.20 Derrida accuses the church of not being able to combat the

violence in our world, and that an eschatological community of “pure shalom” can not happen

(although it is desired). Modernity has limited hospitality because the actions required to enact

hospitality would in and of themselves be controlling and not radical enough,21Part of this view

is that every contemporary religions eschatology has a strong violent leaning when it comes to

apocolypticism. The end event towards which we are hurtling towards is categorized not by

fulfillment, but more violence and pain. The end will be filled with what humanity is trying to

escape, and a crucial piece is that vengeance will be exacted on those who do not conform.

18 Boersma Redemptive Hospitality pg. 214

19Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation.
Abingdon Press, 1996. pg. 143

Boersma, Hans. 2003. "Irenaeus, Derrida And Hospitality: On The Eschatological Overcoming Of Violence."
20

Modern Theology 19, no. 2: 163-180. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed December 15, 2009).
21 Ibid pg. 164
 Brooks 10

While I think this is a correct assessment that Derrida is making, I critique it in the same

manner as Boersma. What needs to happen is for a fuller understanding of creation theology

inside of God, especially in relation to eschatology. Instead of proclaiming hope, while

simultaneously burying our heads in despair and languish, we need to learn how our story ends.

We are certain of the beginning, but are narratively unaware of how it finishes. Our apophatic

language cannot contain the words to describe what we are hopeful about. Irenaeus has a view

of eschatology that “is based on divine transcendence and divine hospitality, and assumes a

future point at which this absolute eschatological hospitality will be realized.”22 (emphasis mine).

As humans, we long for this divine hospitality. In response to the violence that we know

is not part of His kingdom, we look for the hospitality of God for final peace. We leave room for

the divine mysteries and understand that our worldly systems will not be able to solve all of the

problems. This is where the complicated theological discussion must change and instead become

part of the vernacular language of the Church. Just as the early Church understood the power of

shared meals (normal and sacramental) this embodiment must take place again.

The Eschatological Hospitality of God’s People

Fred Bahnson writes about the essential nature of Gods people understanding their

cruciform status, that ”...the cross must determine the shape of our own lives as well”.23 Our

lives are judged and regulated by the image of the cross. The sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth is the

plumb-line towards measuring hospitality. What Christ provided was a new structure of civil

22 Ibid pg. 172

23Bahnson, Fred “Mark 11: Peacemaking in the Midst of Violence and Conflict Resolution Along the Lines of
Matthew 18” in School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism. ed. The Rutba House Wipf & Stock
Publishers, 2005.
 Brooks 11

organization that exists at the same time as our secular civil societies. Taking on the garb of the

sojourner, the people of God are enlisted in His mission.

Simply living in the language of the exile and 1st Peter is an eschatological task. The call

to “sojourning”is to an eschatological dwelling place. God graciously welcoming us to a

kingdom feast should cause us to welcome others in not just physical care, but the emotional and

spiritual rescue that is so greatly needed. This is not just a momentary rescue, but is us taking on

the role of Christ. Salvation is the release from a life that has become broken and frustrating. It

is reckless and does not discriminate.24

The Subversive Nature of Hospitality

The New Testament word for hospitality is subversive. filoxeni÷a is constructed by

combining the words for familial relationships and the word for stranger. The true, holy act of

hospitality is extending welcome, comfort and protection openly to those who have no clear ties

to the relational unit. This goes against everything that our culture has taught us regarding

societal rules.

One of the roles of subversion in hospitality is the act of shared meals. This dates back to

the patriarchal themes, but as Christians we primarily practice it in the Eucharistic feast and the

promised eschatological glory. Our Eucharist “maintains the social shape of salvation”25 . When

sharing common meals, we are enacting the feast of nations that is promised in the scriptures.

This is us breaking the roles that the world says we should accept. Even in Christendom, this is

24Peterson, Eugene H. Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination. HarperOne, 1991.  
pg 153

25 Ibid pg.166
 Brooks 12

an action of defying the violent ideas of “to destroy or rule over their world”. Us is the new

common denominator, not we and them.

The Common Vocabulary of Hospitality and Eschatology

These two theological topics at first seem to be drastically different, mainly because of

apocalyptic presuppositions regarding eschatology. But they both often convey the same final

vocabulary of rescue, generosity, inclusion and hope. Hope is the language that wraps both

topics together. Both topics can be dangerous when they are imply interpreted as “passive”

issues. When the gospel momentum of both are driven out, we see opposite sites of the Christian

spectrum. Passive hospitality is described as justice and is the banner of the liberal left who are

able to use a Christian vocabulary to move forward pressing social concerns. Eschatology

without the gospel has turned into a right-wing apocalyptic agenda with exclusion as it’s focus.

The main issue at hand is the shared relationship of hope. Hope is the advent expectation

of the Church, looking towards the second coming and the peace, fulfillment and kingdom that it

will bring. Hospitality uses the idea of anamnesis 26 to use exilic language to remember that God

has chosen a people and through his divine hospitality has given them a meaning. Our hope is in

the eschatological boundaries of God’s people. The eternal kingdom is the ultimate hospitality.

Hope inspires imagination. Hope drives the “left-out” to “rediscover themselves not as

isolated, unreachable and beyond all help but as belonging to a larger community of care.”27

This type of hope is subversive. It goes underneath the monotony of despair that traps our

current society. Anyone who has worked around generational poverty knows what is like to deal

with a complete lack of hope. The very best life imagined is consumed with simply keeping

26 An active remembrance that takes the past and thrusts it into the present.
27 Kelly, Anthony. Eschatology And Hope. Orbis Books, 2006. pg 8
 Brooks 13

your and your families heads above the water. By the church taking an active role in the final

hope, and understanding its mission of offering divine hospitality, these cycles can be broken.

The Hospitality of the Alternative City

“For the ancient church, the walls of the place of Eucharist, whether these were the walls

of a basement or of the Hagia Sophia or of an imaginary circle in the desert, enclosed a world.

And the great drama of the Eucharist was the narrative life of that world”.28 Robert Jenson

writes about the action of the Eucharist being the embodiment of a different world. The shared

meal; in which Christ offers himself as a devoured sacrifice. We are consuming the very

sacrificial nature of God in this holy act. While this description may seem horrific, we have to

come to terms with the imagery. How ironic, that it is in the context of a communal meal that

this takes place. The supper table is the sacrament of celebrating the “reconciliation and

relationship available to us because of his sacrifice and through his hospitality”29 while also

pointing us towards the eschatological feast.

The sacraments are just part of the vehicular enterprise that is the kingdom of God. There

are other ways that we proclaim our alien status, but the Eucharist is our fuel. As the Church, we

must enact the gospel that we profess. In this postmodern world, of chaos and meaningless

status, the church takes on the narrative of hospitality. From God making a world for our race to

thrive in, to explaining the fall, Israel, Jesus Christ and the eschatological future the language of

graciousness and a caring host provides mooring. This means we offer a living version of the

narrative, not just a food bag with a gasoline voucher.

28Jenson, Robert W. “How the World Lost Its Story” in The New Religious Humanists. ed Gregory Wolfe, Free
press, 1997. pg 143
29 Pohl Making Room pg.30
 Brooks 14

The drastic evangelism that we see in the book of Acts takes place because the church

understood her mission of devotion, community and generous hospitality to all. This was

encompassed inside the eschatological promise of the second coming of Christ. Just like then,

we live in a world that needs for the church to see the radical hospitality that is believed in and

lived out. The hope for the future is what caused the church to have an open arm approach, and

to love others because they were loved first. Barry Harvey writes “The mission of the church was

not merely to communicate information about him to anyone who would listen, but to put the

bodies of its members on the line between the two ages on behalf of him who live and died for the

sake of the world.”.30

The church community lives in drastic contrast to the world, and creates a place where

every member is not only cared for, but encouraged and allowed to thrive.31 This was the early

churches view, and they understood how to operate as the society of God while living in the

society of man. The goal of all hospitality is to have those in need flourish, not so they can

contribute, but so they can live out their humanness. Christ came as the perfect man to live the

fullest human live that is possible. In his death, he handed us over the ability to be completely

human. Our permanent dwelling is in the alternative city of God.

Conclusion
The biblical narrative is full of stories of how God desires his people to be hospitable.

This is something that the Church has never completely lost. It sometimes appears in glimpses

or cloaked under another name. It has been forgotten about or hijacked and used to power an

alternative agenda, but the church hasn’t “lost it”. We still teach it to our children through the

30Harvey, Barry. Can These Bones Live?: A Catholic Baptist Engagement with Ecclesiology, Hermeneutics, and
Social Theory. Brazos Press, 2008. pg. 90
31 Ibid pg. 91
 Brooks 15

biblical narrative. I think a first step in regaining the radical hospitality that is part of the church

is to develop the awareness that it is our identification as the people of God. Just as the Old

Testament covenant commanded it, and Jesus gave it an important place in his apocalyptic

message, hospitality is linked with our eschatological identification with God. I think it would

be hard to teach a Vacation Bible School lesson around this hard fact. Instead this is a message

best lived out in practice, until the point where people can not separate hospitality and gospel in

their own head.

Part of an eschatological faith is the knowledge of what will come in the future. But

another forgotten part is how the church lives out it’s promise and duty on earth. This to is not

best exemplified in children's stories, but through a worshipping body at multiple tables. It takes

pulling the vision of heaven down and incorporating it in daily life. While on earth, it means we

look to find ways to encourage humanity. If the end goal of God is to restore us to the fullest

extent, combined with the knowledge of a saving faith, it is our duty to find ways to bring out

humanity in those who need it most. Holy love is not satisfied with a temporary solution, but

strives towards thriving. This is done out of love for the person and not an agenda of social

practicality.

Ultimately, this is a love that doesn’t make sense. The church should again confound

society in the way that it loves. 1st Peter encourages the church to do so much good that no one

can say anything wrong about them. Mind-boggling hospitality only takes place when people

know where they are going when it is all finished. We are the sacramental new community,

serving as both the pattern and the way of grace.

 Brooks 16

Works Cited
Boersma, Hans. 2003. "Irenaeus, Derrida And Hospitality: On The Eschatological Overcoming
Of Violence." Modern Theology 19, no. 2: 163-180. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost
(accessed December 15, 2009).

-------------------- 2002. "Redemptive hospitality in Irenaeus: a model for ecumenicity in a violent

world." Pro Ecclesia 11, no. 2: 207-226. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials,
EBSCOhost (accessed December 15, 2009).

Bahnson, Fred “Mark 11: Peacemaking in the Midst of Violence and Conflict Resolution Along
the Lines of Matthew 18” in School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism. ed. The
Rutba House Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2005.

Harvey, Barry A. Another City: An Ecclesiological Primer for a Post-Christian World. 1st ed.
Trinity Press International, 1999.  

Harvey, Barry. Can These Bones Live?: A Catholic Baptist Engagement with Ecclesiology,
Hermeneutics, and Social Theory. Brazos Press, 2008.  

Hauerwas, Stanley. The Hauerwas Reader. Duke University Press, 2001.

Hultgren, Arland J. 1982. "The Johannine footwashing (Jn 13:1-11) as symbol of eschatological
hospitality." New Testament Studies 28, no. 4: 539-546. ATLA Religion Database with
ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed December 15, 2009).

Kelly, Anthony. Eschatology And Hope. Orbis Books, 2006.  

Oden, Amy G. And You Welcomed Me: A Sourcebook on Hospitality in Early Christianity.
ABNDP - Abingdon Press, 2001.  

Peterson, Eugene H. Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination.
HarperOne, 1991.  

Pohl, C.D. “Hospitality” in Alexander, T. Desmond and Brian S. Rosner, eds. New Dictionary of
Biblical Theology. Accordance electronic ed., version 1.1. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,
2000.

Pohl, Christine D. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition. Wm. B.

Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999.  

Richter, Sandra L. The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. IVP Academic,
2008.  

Ryken, Leland, Jim Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman, eds. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.
 Brooks 17

Accordance electronic ed., version 1.1. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998.

Torrance, James B. Worship, Community & the Triune God of Grace. InterVarsity Press, 1997.  

Travis, S.H. “Eschatology” in Ferguson, Sinclair B., David F. Wright, and J. I. Packer, eds. New
Dictionary of Theology. Accordance electronic ed., version 1.1. Downers Grove: InterVarsity
Press, 1988.

Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and
Reconciliation. Abingdon Press, 1996.