And You Welcomed Me is a massive project. Amy G. Oden has scoured Christian texts from the first eight centuries to assemble an anthology of passages on hospitality. Reading these texts brings you back into the life of the early church.

Oden’s work is organized by theme. She begins by examining how Christians understood themselves and the stranger before exploring the spiritual dynamics and practices of hospitality. Ours is not the only age to struggle with the practical issues associated with radical hospitality! She wraps up the book with texts on the institutionalization of hospitality and how Christians should model hospitality.

Gems abound in this book. Take, for example, Sadalberga the Frankish aristocrat of the seventh century. Imagine her dismay when the beer spoiled just as a visiting Abbot arrived. Fortunately the same God that changed water into wine made “the short draft grow larger. Returning speedily, God’s handmaid humbly told the holy mother of the miracle and she gave thanks to the highest Creator of all things, Jesus Christ” (130).

This book isn’t perfect. The thematic structure of the anthology invites some repetition. Chrysostom, in particular, is almost overrepresented. That said, there’s no better resource for exploring the mindset and practice of the early church toward the stranger.

Oden, Amy G., ed. And You Welcomed Me: A Sourcebook on Hospitality in Early Christianity. Nashville: Abingdon, 2001.