For some people, hospitality wears a corporate face: the hospitality industry. For others, it evokes images of “tea parties, bland conversation, and a general atmosphere of coziness” (Nouwen in Pohl 3). Some are surprised to discover that hospitality has deep roots in the Jewish and Christian traditions. The Jewish people were called on to offer hospitality to strangers precisely because they were strangers in the land of Egypt. The New Testament picks up this theme:

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. (1 Peter 2:11 NLT)

If we are “temporary residents and foreigners,” how much more should we offer hospitality to others?  Christians have another reason to offer hospitality: God became flesh and relied on the hospitality of his creation! When we offer love to the stranger, we’re offering love to God. (In Greek the word “hospitality” is xenophilia: literally, “stranger-love.”)

Pohl’s book is a theological and historical look at hospitality in the Christian tradition. She doesn’t shy away from difficult topics like the limits of hospitality and personal safety. In fact, she provides a helpful corrective: “People for whom hospitality is a disposition and a habit are less afraid of the risks associated with caring for strangers than they are of the possibility of cutting themselves off from the needs of strangers” (176). Hospitality is harder for some personality types than for others, but it is a virtue all Christians are called to practice.

I’ve read a number of books and articles on Christian hospitality and one thing has become clear: Making Room is the landmark resource on this topic. It’s the book that other books cite to make their case. If you’re only going to read one book on the topic, this is it.

Pohl, Christine D. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.