The reviews of the 2008 release of Steve Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh’s Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement were enthusiastic:
“This volume is a stunning feat of orchestration that defies the neat, tidy boundaries of genres and disciplines …. It is nothing short of a compressed, winsome articulation of the gospel.” James K.A. Smith, Theological Studies
Beyond Homelessness is one of the most engaging, auspicious, and important texts to be published in the Christian community in a long, long time.”
Keith Martel, Christian Scholar’s Review
“Wow! Never have I been more surprised by a book. Expecting a fairly typical essay on the many causes and struggles of homelessness in our culture, I was blown away by the very insightful – and most importantly, Scriptural – treatment of the subject. My definition and view of homelessness has been shattered as a result of reading this book. It feels like someone has flung open all the doors and windows in my understanding of ‘home’.”
Laretta Benjamin, Engelwood Review of Books
Fifteen years later, the crisis of homelessness,
has only intensified.
From the countless thousands living on the streets,
in shelters, and squats under bridges,
to an international socio-economic, geo-political
and climate refugee crisis,
to the literal burning up of our creational home
in wildfires and temperatures that border upon uninhabitability,
displacement and homelessness
has become the socio-economic, ecological, cultural
and spiritual reality of our times.
So it seemed appropriate to release a 15th anniversary edition of Beyond Homelessness.
Bringing the book up to date
with an extensive Postscript
that dives more deeply into homelessness,
the barriers to homecoming,
the nature of homefulness,
and the shaping of character for homemaking,
this edition attempts to address our crisis
with biblical depth, lived experience,
comprehensive vision, and radical hope.
The book will be released on September 12
and there will be a number of launch events
in the weeks that follow.
Here are a few of them.
We begin with a launch at Hope College in Holland, Michigan
where Steve Bouma-Prediger is a Professor of Religion on Friday, September 15.
All of these events are parties,
so, of course, there will be food,
a couple of speeches,
and book signing.
Then we take the party down the road to Grand Rapids,
on Saturday, September 16
and are hosted by the good folks at New City Farm.
Our friends from the incredibly creative Huss Project
down the road
in Three Rivers, Michigan,
will provide some music for the journey home at the event.
Next on the tour is Austin, Texas.
We are incredibly excited
to launch the book at
Community First! Village.
On Tuesday, September 26,
the book will be launched in conjunction
with their Symposium for Goodness Sake.
We feature this amazing
community development
project in the Postscript of the book,
and are humbled that these good people
found inspiration in our book
when it first came out in 2008.
It only made sense that we would return
to this community to launch
the 15th anniversary edition.
You can see the invite for this launch here.
Much of this book,
at least the sections that Brian wrote,
were formed in the context
of the experiences of
home, homelessness
and homefulness
in the city of Toronto.
So we are excited to be
launching the book
on Friday September 29
at Sanctuary
in Toronto.
We are hoping that
many of our friends
from urban ministries in Toronto,
the Wine Before Breakfast Community,
the Church of the Redeemer,
and so many more,
will join us to celebrate homefulness together.
The Divine Deb Whalen-Blaize and friends
will play some tunes.
Our friends at Sanctuary
will cater the event.
There will be some endorsements,
and, of course, books to sell and sign.
Here’s what Sanctuary’s Greg Paul has written
about this 15th Anniversary edition:
“If it feels beyond you to imagine a way out of the morass of problems and barriers facing those who want to create housing for homeless people, you must read this book. Herein is energizing vision aplenty, starting wth the fundamental idea that creating homes, not merely housing, is what we must aim for.”
Won’t you come and join us at one of these launch events?
And spread the word!
