I picked up this book based on the title and its general alignment with areas I'm thinking about right now, but it ended up being far more fascinating and helpful than I could have possibly imagined. What Matthew Vos does here is take the theme of "the stranger" as both a sociological theme and a biblical-theological theme (ger) and explores not only who the stranger is, but who we are and how our identities as human beings are formed in part by our status as the opposite of the out-group. That is to say that the very things that give our selves form and shape are the groups we're part of (family, friends, work, church, neighborhood, city, country, etc.) as well as the groups we're not part of (foreigners, the other political team, a different race, higher-class people than ourselves, etc.). Human beings are then often prone to taking those out-groups and forming scapegoats out of them. Chattel slavery is a pretty obvious example: forcing all people with black skin to literally bear the burdens of building your society. But we can make scapegoats out of anyone, and we often do in order to shore up the ways in which our positive identities feel fragile (think of the middle school bully who beats up an easy target just to assure himself that he's enough).

Now all of that is pretty standard sociological fare, but it's at least a compelling, reflective, and thoughtful presentation of it. Vos has a great deal of self-awareness about the fact that at least among some folks today, "sociology" is kind of a bad word, and he's pretty good-natured about that fact. What takes the book from merely interesting to genuinely helpful, in my opinion, is that Vos then takes this stranger/scapegoat concept and looks at the Bible through that lens to construct a theology of the stranger. He also applies it to many questions of interest in our current cultural conversation, such as opportunities for girls, carving out space for intersex persons, and hospitality for immigrants. He then broadens the lens really wide to look at the stranger-making dynamics of mass incarceration as well as the scapegoats that our globalized economy is built upon. Lastly, he proposes that the gospel radically reorients us not only toward God but also toward one another such that we no longer need to form our identities in opposition to out-groups. We can act in hospitality toward the other in the same way that God has acted in hospitality toward us.

I have often felt despair at how hopelessly big the world feels with all its many tragedies, crimes, and problems. It almost feels like a curse to be aware of the injustices of our modern world, because many are so broad and systemic and ingrained that it seems like basically nothing can be done about them. So as a result, it feels like we talk about justice more than we actually do justice... because where do we even start? In response to this hopelessness, Vos offers this incredibly helpful counsel:

"We, the people of God, need to move beyond simplistic universal proclamations about justice to careful thinking about who has responsibility to distribute the mercy that God requires of people. Standing up for universal human rights is a good thing, but it’s also quite meaningless if no one actually attends to such rights. 'Be well-fed and clothed' means little to people if they’re being pushed back to the impoverished side of the wall."

Instead of trying to boil the ocean, he recommends that we, the readers, try to pick just one thing to focus on. It may feel pointless or ineffectual to boycott Nike (his example) and yet the symbolic action of standing up against a broken system actually has real, important effects. I found this book immensely thought-provoking and it gave me useful handles for these problems that often feel too big to manage. I commend it highly!

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of a fair, unbiased review.

The Book is divided into two (2) parts, with the first part focused on identifying the stranger in terms of in groups and out groups (were I typically use the terms self and other). A lot of effort goes into explaining how the poor treatment of out groups is a mechanism for preserving group boundaries; however, the analysis was not convincing at times; his anecdotal evidence just didn’t match my anecdotal experience (which tended to be a lot more nuanced and less an argument of absolutes). For example … in discussing a lynching of a black man in TN, the author makes this curious statement: “ Of course, their actions showed little concern for the traumatized African Americans among them.” My own conclusion is the exact opposite … the whole reason the mob lynched the man was because of the impact they believed that would have on the “African Americans among them.” The author is looking at the desired effect for the “in-group” where I see a desired effect on the “out-group” … while the net may be the same (preserving group boundaries), the difference in motivational assignment (group cohesion vs power security) makes it difficult to fully accept the author’s over all point.

Unfortunately this is not an isolated example … making the book a more difficult read than I had hoped because of the generated dissonance with my own [admittedly amateur] understanding of social interactions … and while I may not be professional educated in the subject, I have enough personal experience and self-directed study in the field to have pre-existing and well formed opinions on just about everything the book covered. Before too long, I kept hearing Inigo Montoya’s voice in my head saying “I don’t think it means what you think it means.” Ultimately I do understand the message the author is trying to convey (and which I generally agree with), I just had to work harder at it than I was hoping for. As with many discussions/arguments, it is such easier to saw where we disagree than where we agree (since we only critically examine the former). That is not to say that I could not find a few hidden gems here … such as the rather poignant observation that “in American culture we accept violence as legitimate, exciting, and necessary.”

Major props for taking a stab at unpacking how our society creates and treats strangers with respect to social ills; however, there were too many points that just didn’t seem to work in my head and there wasn’t much there to change my mind on most of those. Unfortunately, the book diverged even further from my own perspectives when it turned to the criminal justice system with a claim that “crime” is actually necessary for group boundary definitions … I am fairly sure that is completely backwards … crime exists because of group boundaries (and studies have indicated social limits to group sizes, so boundaries will always exist). Again … I have a fair amount of direct experience from multiple perspectives with the US Justice System here … In the end, I just didn’t get what I was looking for here. I had hoped to get more specifics on the psychology of how and why we demonize others … and while I got the how … the why was mostly missing. This understanding is key in countering our human nature here … instead the book appears to rely on simply showing how terrible this activity is and relying heavily on [biblical inspired] guilt to promote change (which I believe is not a viable solution to this particular problem). Still … given my own belief that this is a very important topic and the fact that the author has bravely introduced much needed talking points on the subject … I am rounding up to 4*

Introduction: Strangers Among Us

Part 1: Strangers and Scapegoats in Sociological Perspective
1. Constructing Identity: The Self, the Social, and the Stranger
2. A Stranger World: In-groups, Out-group, and the Space Between
3. No More Scapegoats: A Stranger Theology

Part 2: Strangers in the Margins
4. Strangers in the Pew: Girls and Symbolic Exclusion
5. From Stranger to Neighbor: Intersex Persons and the Church
6. Strangers at the Borders: Immigrants and the Heart of the Gospel Message
7. Strangers Behind Bars: Examining the System of Mass Incarceration
8. Competing in Cedar: Nike, Superstar Athletes, and the Unseen Strangers Who Make Our Shoes

Part 3: Inviting Strangers
9. Challenging the Normal: The Strange(r) Reality of the Gospel
10. Pursuing the Common Good: Three Stories of the Neighbor

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#StrangersAndScapegoats #NetGalley.