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A Work of Hospitality: The Open Door Reader, 1982-2002
370 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2002
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May 18, 2020
This is a collection of articles that first appeared in the radical Christian newspaper Hospitality, published by the Open Door community (which is modeled after the Catholic Worker houses of hospitality).
While I always enjoy reading about the experiences of those living and working with the poor, and attempting to faithfully live out a love for Jesus, I definitely do not agree with some of the beliefs the writers put forth.
- God is referred to as She instead of He.
- Evolutionary theory (and a belief in a millions of years old earth) is referenced as fact.
- One of the authors mocks the belief that the whole Bible is true, fully inspired, and "as authoritative for science as for doctrine." He also specifically states that the account of Adam and Eve is just a story.
- Many times throughout the book, a belief is asserted that only white people can be racist, and that all people of European descent are racists.
- At one point, an author stated that Americans are jealous of the homeless and that's why we hate them… this was a huge miss in understanding the hearts and motives of others.
- Certain passages of Scripture were misinterpreted and/or misapplied. (For instance, one article stated that God must have been "impressed" with Moses after he killed an Egyptian, because after he did so, "God gave him gifts.")
It also seemed to me that the community erred on the side of worshipping poverty. While the Open Door community claims to love Christ's Church, their words pointed to a love for only the poor members of the Church.
The community's leaders are very liberal, leaning toward socialism as the answer to poverty. It is very important to them that the United States government fix the problems of inequality. I thought it was interesting that they wrote from a very political stance instead of focusing more on Jesus and the Biblical mandates for the Church. They seemed to have a special hatred for Republicans, calling out many by name, something they didn't do for members of other political parties.
Aside from all that, there were specific stories that were repeated several times, nearly word for word. This just got old.
While there were a few thoughts here and there that I appreciated, I wouldn't recommend this book (or the newspaper) to others. It certainly requires a lot of discernment for those who do read it.
While I always enjoy reading about the experiences of those living and working with the poor, and attempting to faithfully live out a love for Jesus, I definitely do not agree with some of the beliefs the writers put forth.
- God is referred to as She instead of He.
- Evolutionary theory (and a belief in a millions of years old earth) is referenced as fact.
- One of the authors mocks the belief that the whole Bible is true, fully inspired, and "as authoritative for science as for doctrine." He also specifically states that the account of Adam and Eve is just a story.
- Many times throughout the book, a belief is asserted that only white people can be racist, and that all people of European descent are racists.
- At one point, an author stated that Americans are jealous of the homeless and that's why we hate them… this was a huge miss in understanding the hearts and motives of others.
- Certain passages of Scripture were misinterpreted and/or misapplied. (For instance, one article stated that God must have been "impressed" with Moses after he killed an Egyptian, because after he did so, "God gave him gifts.")
It also seemed to me that the community erred on the side of worshipping poverty. While the Open Door community claims to love Christ's Church, their words pointed to a love for only the poor members of the Church.
The community's leaders are very liberal, leaning toward socialism as the answer to poverty. It is very important to them that the United States government fix the problems of inequality. I thought it was interesting that they wrote from a very political stance instead of focusing more on Jesus and the Biblical mandates for the Church. They seemed to have a special hatred for Republicans, calling out many by name, something they didn't do for members of other political parties.
Aside from all that, there were specific stories that were repeated several times, nearly word for word. This just got old.
While there were a few thoughts here and there that I appreciated, I wouldn't recommend this book (or the newspaper) to others. It certainly requires a lot of discernment for those who do read it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review