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How will your family celebrate this season?

Consider a Commitment to the Christian Value of Hospitality

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

Kara Eidson. This photo is from her video series that accompanies her new book, Stay Awhile, and is used with permission.

When I scheduled an interview with author Kara Eidson along with my daughter, the Rev. Megan Walther, a United Methodist pastor in Michigan—none of us could imagine what would erupt a few days later. We knew that the FBI was reporting religious and ethnic hate crimes at an all-time high across the U.S., but we had no idea that a horrific war would break out in the Middle East, driving hate crimes to even higher levels across the U.S.

Since then, our writers and authors have been working overtime trying to helpfully respond to the painful and often dangerous tensions in our communities, universities and workplaces. One example is this recent story by Howard Brown. Our many Jewish writers and readers already are talking about how their traditionally minor festival of Hanukkah will take on a much deeper resonance this year. In fact, as Editor of this magazine and publishing house, I have received scores of emails and other messages from our writers and readers around the world wondering how they can hope to bridge gaps among friends and neighbors ever again.

They will, of course. Hope and resilience that celebrates our religious and cultural diversity is the theme that has run through all 847 weekly issues of our online magazine. Collectively, our community of writers are specialists in resilience and hospitality. We know better times will come again.

But right now?

Right now, we’re all struggling every day to envision what hospitality looks like in our world.

As the Nativity season begins on November 15—

Now, as the “Christmas season” begins for the world’s 2.4-billion Christians—Kara’s focus on the timeless value of hospitality seems absolutely prophetic. This year’s season begins with the first day of the Eastern Orthodox Nativity Fast on November 15, 2023, and Western Christian Advent begins for the majority of Americans with the first Sunday in Advent on December 3, 2023.

I had invited Megan to join in the interview with Kara, who is the pastor of two churches in rural Kansas, so that Megan would add the perspective of grassroots ministry to our discussion of Kara’s new book, Stay Awhile—Advent Lessons in Divine Hospitality. In addition to her local pastoral ministry, Kara’s website illustrates her ongoing work as an author and educator.

So, how well will this new book appeal to everyday readers wanting a fresh source for individual reflection and group discussion in Advent? In our Zoom conversation, Megan served as our expert on that question. Megan told Kara:

“This is an intentionally pastoral book—and, by that, I mean you really know how to write in a way that draws people in. You tell stories we want to keep reading—and you lead us to just the right questions we should be asking. When I finished reading the book, as a pastor myself, I thought: I appreciate how practical this book is for Advent. I could hand this without fear to pretty much any parishioner and have them engage in a discussion about this book—and feel confident that it will go well and be helpful. You’ve set that up in the way you’ve so carefully organized everything in this book—even the accompanying videos. I appreciated those videos in particular. Today, I know people in congregations really enjoy having a video component to accompany their reading.”

At the end of this Cover Story, you can watch the first YouTube video in a series produced by Westminster John Knox (WJK Press) to accompany the various parts of Kara’s book.

Whatever your faith, hospitality also is a timeless American value

Kara appreciated our enthusiasm for her book and kept bringing our conversation back to her central theme: Hospitality.

And in emphasizing this value, she broadens her appeal beyond its religious tradition. She encourages all Americans to remember that hospitality is truly a heartland value. Even if you’re starting your Christmas season from a secular American cultural approach to life, Kara wants you to know:

Hospitality is as American as apple pie.

In that first video (below), Kara begins by telling us:

“I spent most of my childhood years living in the state of Kansas and I am a Midwestern girl through and through. And when you come to visit someone in a Midwestern home, or even in their office, and they want to chat with you, they say: ‘Pull up a chair and stay a while.’ That’s where we get the title for this book and the theme of this study. While there is a ton of worry and activity in the season leading up to Christmas day … the best part of Christmas isn’t all of the presents, not all of the wrappings, not all of the stuff—the best part of Christmas is when we gather together with people we love and we celebrate that love simply by staying awhile with one another.”

That’s also what Kara expressed in our three-way interview. On the day we talked, we had no idea what was about to erupt in our world. But, in hindsight, it’s crystal clear that Kara’s book points toward the perfect, timely theme for this holiday season: Coming together again as families and communities.

What’s in this book?

Stemming from values held deeply in the ancient world and translated through Jewish and Christian traditions, the timeless value of hospitality rests on the notion that there is divine purpose in welcoming people into our homes and communities. In religious traditions across various faiths, we are encouraged to recognize the divine spark in others. When welcoming a stranger, so the tradition goes, we might be welcoming a visitation of the divine. Jesus himself taught (look at Matthew 25) that when we welcome “the least of my brothers and sisters,” we are welcoming Jesus.

Kara’s book was written as a reminder of that rich tradition, which holds so much potential for healing communities especially in this era of intense polarization across America. One antidote to extreme division is relying on the timeless principles of wholehearted hospitality.

While that’s the core theme in Kara’s book, she divides her text into larger weekly and shorter daily reflections that readers can follow during Advent. If you are interested in exploring this season’s potential for building bridges with friends, neighbors and strangers in your community—then this book could be an inspiring companion on that journey.

Kara begins each week with readings from both the Hebrew scriptures, reaching into the Jewish roots of concern for our communities, and also from the Gospel stories of Jesus’s life. All along the way, she poses questions for personal reflection or small-group discussion.

So many practical ideas for your congregation

If readers are involved in the life of a congregation, Kara has included a section at the end of her book describing some of the creative ideas she has used during Advent worship services. Those resources include prayers adults can share with children—as well as prayers that can be used during the Christian custom of lighting “Advent candles” in the weeks before Christmas.

One idea that struck Megan as especially inviting is asking people in the community to bring in something from their home—perhaps an actual table setting—to be placed on a collective community table that will expand throughout Advent. More than simply showing off a table setting, Kara invites people to think of meaningful family stories they can share that are associated with these objects from their home.

“That’s one of the ideas in the Worship Arts section of your book that really interested me,” Megan said. “I can see that idea working well in small churches and also it could be adapted for larger churches like ours. That’s an idea I may borrow from your book. Can you tell me more about how you developed that idea?”

“This idea comes from some times in the past when I’ve invited people to bring objects from home into the church, along with the stories that accompany those objects—to share as part of sermon sermon series I’ve done,” Kara said. “I remember one series we did in which people brought in tabletop clocks, along with their stories. I’ve also had people bring in crafts they are making, while those crafts are still in progress, then people took them home—and brought them back the next week. Looking at those crafts, over time, we could those pieces grow and transform as people completed them. It was a powerful illustration of transformation over time. Then, for Advent, I like the idea of bringing in a table setting, or perhaps a serving piece, like a bowl, that’s been in their family. Together, these pieces could be arranged along a table—a table that illustrates hospitality.”

“I like that,” Megan said, “and especially the stories that come with those pieces.”

“Right,” Kara said. “There are so many ways to share those stories. You can put them in a weekly newsletter. You can print them on paper or in a booklet. People can tell their stories in a program.”

“And, I have to say: That’s just one of so many ideas in this book that I want to remember and borrow in the future,” Megan said.

So, this short book is both a toolbox of useful reflections, questions and prayers for your journey through Advent—and also a reminder that one of the truly divine values in the Christian tradition is hospitality.

Now more than ever, our world would be a better place if more of us who are involved in Christian communities remembered and embraced that timeless call to welcome and care for the whole world.

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Scholars critical of Donald Trump target the ‘Christian Nationalist’ movement supporting him

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

The reason many historians, sociologists and now Christian ethicist Dr. David Gushee are weighing in with dire warnings about the 2024 presidential campaign is that their research shows the re-election of Donald Trump would dramatically alter the course of American democracy. The urgency shared by these scholars who are critical of Trump is palpable and is poised to timely effect.

Gushee’s new book Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies launches this week, just three months before the January 15, 2024, Iowa caucuses.

“I don’t think that—in the United States today—there is any other single figure who poses as big a threat to democracy and who has anything like the hold on people’s loyalty that we see in Donald Trump,” said Gushee in an interview this week about his new book. “Donald Trump will be a threat to American democracy for as long as he is alive. I think at this point he could be sent to prison and, even in his jail cell, millions of his followers would continue to support him.”

Historians fired a collective shot in 2021 with an open letter describing Trump as “a clear and present danger to democracy.” The 1,432 historians signing the letter include Pulitzer Prize winners Ron Chernow, Garry Wills, Stacy Schiff and Taylor Branch, plus American Book Award winner Michael Eric Dyson and even Teddy Roosevelt’s great-great grandson Kermit Roosevelt, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

Still, Trump ranks as the leading Republican candidate and that’s why the stack of new books warning Americans about threats posed by Trump and his followers is growing—and it’s why scholars from other disciplines are joining historians in raising the alarm.

Some of the most compelling new books with such warnings are coming from sociologists who specialize in the interplay between religion and American life. Like Gushee, they are zeroing in on Trump’s millions of self-identified Christian followers, especially those like the January 6 rioters in Washington D.C. who wove prayer and other Christian invocations into their attack on the U.S. Capitol. These scholars are targeting this major backbone of Trump’s campaign and are labeling it “Christian Nationalism” or as Gushee prefers to describe it: “Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity.”

That fine-tuning of the terminology used to describe this danger is one of the major points in Gushee’s new book that is intended to further develop warnings found in books by sociologists of religion that include:

• Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States by sociologists Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry
• American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church by Whitehead
• The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy by sociologist Philip S. Gorski with Perry as co-author.

“What they are describing in these books is the dangerous idea, which we see among some of the groups out there today, that this is a Christian nation that should be under the leadership of white, straight, native-born, heterosexual, Christian men,” Gushee said in our interview. “You have to keep in mind that this area of research is developing right now. In our work, we are trying to answer questions like: Who are these people who want to build exclusively white Christian nations? Does the term Christian Nationalism clearly describe these individuals and groups that are surfacing here and in other countries? One book suggests we use the term Christian Nation-ism to describe this.”

Gushee proposes new terms to describe these movements.

“The category I pioneer in my new book is ‘Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity,’” Gushee said. “I realize that this term may not be as useful in newspaper or magazine headlines as the simpler Christian Nationalism. And I do respect the usefulness of this term Christian Nationalism to get a national conversation going that is much needed right now. But, I think there is more we need to think about, to study and to discuss, if we hope to understand these movements that are raising really ugly forms of hatred and are threatening violence.

“Adding the word ‘reactionary’ to our description is a very important way to name what is often articulated on the Right: These people are reacting to changes in culture that they believe are wrong—which makes them reactionary. And the word ‘authoritarian’ names this desire we are now seeing for the election of a Christian-leaning strongman who will demand or decree the recovery of a world that has been lost. There’s a really troubling loss of confidence in this movement in the democratic process itself to solve the problems they think that only a strongman could address. So, we get this desire to elect someone who will act as a defender of what some people think of as Christian civilization through traditional values—and through opposing modern liberalizing and pluralizing trends. That’s why we we often hear people sum up this appeal as: ‘Taking back our country back.’

“It’s a fierce negative reaction that goes all the way back at least to the Supreme Court’s prayer in schools decision in 1962, to the Civil Rights movement, to the feminist movement, to the sexual revolution, to Roe vs. Wade, to immigration liberalization in the mid 1960s, to the protests against the Vietnam War, to the gay rights movement, to the trans movement—and even that list leaves out a half dozen other movements that have fueled this fierce reaction.

“The reactionary part of this movement isn’t new. We saw it way back with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, but they tried their best to cozy up to the Republican Party in a more traditional strategy of getting people elected. They supported and were working through the democratic process. What we’re seeing in the last few years is a radicalizing that has moved beyond a democratic process. We’re now seeing some of these groups supporting political violence, militia violence—and even trying to set aside an entire national election because you don’t like the results. That’s a dangerous new development and that really is what has motivated me to write my book.

“So those are some reasons I prefer this new phrase I’m using in this book. The other usefulness of this term of ‘Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity’ is that this category applies to what is happening in a number of other countries around the world.”

What’s actually in this new book?

Click the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

The first thing that may surprise readers is that there’s relatively little analysis of Trump’s staunchest Christian allies. Gushee does quote, at length, an astonishingly violent prayer from one of the pastors supporting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. It’s a vivid example of the passionate and almost apocalyptic appeal for a Christian strongman to take over America. While Gushee identifies that pastor as an example, he does not address most of Trump’s Christian stalwarts by name—nor does he offer a detailed description of what they have done and said in recent years.

That’s because Gushee has a different purpose in this book. It’s intended to find a home in small-group discussions in thousands of congregations nationwide, which is why Gushee includes a detailed discussion guide in the final pages.

Half of the book—about 100 pages—is valuable background about the meaning of “democracy” and its complicated relationship with religious movements down through the centuries. For readers eager for a writer to rip into specific political enemies—this is not the book you want to buy.

In fact, Gushee explains that on the first page. He promises to:

“Offer descriptive accounts of relevant Christian political movements and historical movements in different countries, mainly involving examples of Christians drifting into authoritarianism and reactionary politics that undercut democracy.” And, he writes, he will “offer a diagnosis of why many Christians are tempted toward or explicitly prefer authoritarian reactionary politics to democracy as part of their negative reaction to modern cultural developments.”

Finally, he will “offer an argument for today’s Christians to support a particular vision of democratic politics, and traditional Christian resources to undergird that vision.”

Significant sections of this book look at the dangers of these authoritarian reactionary Christian movements in Germany that helped fuel the Third Reich, as well as in France before and during World War II, Poland in recent years, Orbán’s Hungary, Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Putin’s Russia.

What about those “traditional Christian resources” that he promises to provide?

Two of the best chapters in this book are titled, “The Baptist Democratic Tadition” and “The Black Christian Democratic Tradition in the United States.” Those will be truly eye-opening chapters for contemporary readers who aren’t aware of the long history of Baptist and Black Christian relationships with democracy in the U.S.

We are highly recommending this new book, because we know that many of our ReadTheSpirit readers are progressive supporters of religious diversity and are worried by the rise of Christian exclusivist movements.

What Gushee—who is one of the most respected scholars at Mercer University—has given us is a book that’s perfectly pitched for small group discussion in congregations. This is an “educational” book in the best sense of that term. What is “democracy”? You’ll know a lot more after reading this book. Why have many religious groups been justified in raising skeptical questions about democracies down through the centuries? What grievances are real and morally justified? And what political grievances amount to a malignant yearning to wield exclusive power over others?

By the end of this book, you’ll see how this problem is not only a crisis in the U.S. today—especially at a time when hate crimes against non-Christians are rising to record rates nationwide. These faith-based movements now circle the globe. One example ripped from daily headlines: Authoritarian reactionary Christianity has become a major pillar in Vladimir Putin’s attempt to convince Russians of the righteousness of his attacks on Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church is providing a nostalgic Christian tap root as Putin tries to sell his campaign to his people.

A savvy strategy to persuade Christians who may be ‘flirting with’ extremism

Gushee’s strategy in organizing and writing this book is savvy. What we need right now are books like this that small groups in congregations might choose to discuss. Gushee’s expectation is not that he will suddenly win a war of words with extremist leaders—but that he might convince Christians who he describes as “flirting with” extremism to turn away.

“We really need to talk about this, as a people,” Gushee said at the end of our interview. “There is definitely a shift in the furthest right precincts of American Christianity today. We’re hearing more ethno-nationalist and make-America-white-again voices. There’s a more open and unabashed racism, plus really ugly forms of patriarchy and misogyny, and resurgent forms of contempt for LGBTQ people—even open articulation of abandoning the American tradition of separation of church and state.

“Right now there are Christians who are flirting with setting aside their support for democracy because of their despair. In doing so, they are abandoning the lessons learned by Christians over hundreds of years: the warnings about authoritarian power, the demands for human rights, the demands for the rule of law, and the protection of individual and religious liberties that go back centuries.

“We need to retrieve aspects of our own best history as Christians. We need to remind Americans of these centuries-old lessons. We need to remind people of the idea of a community founded around a covenant of shared commitment to the common good. And we must not forget the magnificent witness of the Black Christian democratic tradition in the United States.”

As we drew to a close, I said to Gushee: “You’re saying that this danger is far larger than the danger posed right now by Donald Trump, specifically.”

“That’s right,” he said. “We are seeing today—especially among some of the really, really conservative Christian groups and some ultra-traditional forms of Catholic groups—that it’s time for radical challenges to the American way of separating church and state. Some of these groups are wide open to reversing the First Amendment and establishing something like an officially Christian nation. Those dangers are real and will outlast Donald Trump. And that’s why I wrote this book—to help readers understand these movements and the Christian alternatives that for centuries have supported democracies.”

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Care to learn more?

LEARN FROM DR. DAVID GUSHEE—David Gushee is the best-selling author of many books about Christian ethics, including Changing Our Mind and Introducing Christian Ethics. His book on ethics is his magnum opus on the entire field of ethics, including those issues explored in this new book about democracy—plus, Introducing Christian Ethics includes free links to videos and audio of Dr. Gushee delivering these thought-provoking talks that are printed in the book.

Want to connect with Dr. Gushee? He is sought after as a speaker by groups, universities and seminaries around the world. You can learn more about connecting with Gushee via his website. 

LEARN FROM GEORGE A. MASON—Dr. Gushee is not alone in raising this kind of alarm as the 2024 elections loom. The famous Baptist preacher, writer and theologian George A. Mason recently weighed in with a national newsletter on the same theme. You can learn more about George’s work by visiting his Faith Commons website—and by ordering a copy of his new book, The Word Made Fresh.