Safeguarding the Stranger: An Abrahamic Theology and Ethic of Protective Hospitality

A theological exploration of protective hospitality in the three Abrahamic faiths and the lessons that can be learned for conflict resolution.

In our troubled world, protective hospitality is tragically necessary and requires informed shared action and belief on behalf of the threatened other. In Safeguarding the Stranger, Jayme R. Reaves argues that protective hospitality and its faith-based foundations, as seen in the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, merit greater theological attention. Reaves shows that the practice of protective hospitality in Christianity can be enhanced by a better understanding of Jewish and Muslim practices of hospitality, as well as of their codes and etiquettes related to honour. Safeguarding the Stranger draws on a contextual and political theological approach, informed by liberation and feminist theologies as viewed through the lens of a co-operative and complementary theological view, which is influenced by inter-religious, Abrahamic, and hospitable approaches to dialogue, forecasting the positive role that religions can play in resolving conflicts.

Dr Jayme R. Reaves is a public theologian based in the United Kingdom. Originally from the American South, she has worked in post-conflict former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland and focuses on bridging the gap between theology, peacemaking, and reconciliation. She has a MDiv from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Virginia, an MPhil in Reconciliation and a PhD in Theology from Trinity College, University of Dublin.