No Home Like Place: A Christian Theology of Place

"The sense of being lost, displaced, and homeless is pervasive in contemporary culture. The yearning to belong somewhere, to be in a safe place, is a deep and moving pursuit. Loss of place and yearning for place are dominant images..." (Brueggemann, The Land) Fragmentation, mobility, dualism--these forces work against our belonging, and work against our richly dwelling in the places we live. Add to these the rise of "virtual" place and relationships, and our sense of displacement only increases. It has been difficult to embrace a call to life as mission in this world under these conditions, and equally difficult to embrace a call to place. Are there "sacred" places? If every place is sacred, does the word lose its meaning? What is it that God loves about place? Can architecture contribute to our ability to engage in a place? How do experiential human questions like "belonging" intersect with a theological lens? Does a biblical view of place imply an ecology and an ethic? How do pilgrimage and place relate? How can the arts assist us in place-making? This book addresses these questions and more, in a lively dialogue between theology and culture.

Len Hjalmarson lives with his wife Betty on the shores of lake Superior in Thunder Bay, Ontario where they help to lead a faith community on a journey in mission. Len is co-author of Missional Spirituality (IVP, 2011), the author of The Missional Church Fieldbook (Urban Loft, 2012) and editor of Text & Context (Urban Loft, 2014). Len is a member of the Parish Collective, and an adjunct professor at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago, at Tyndale Seminary, Toronto and George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland. He loves good music, good books, and good cooking.