Hospitality and Angels

It's quite simple, really. One cannot embrace or practice authentic Christian hospitality if one has heartburn about angels. The Genesis 18 account of the visitation of Abraham by three angelic strangers became the paradigmatic hospitality ethic in Jewish culture, and this ethic is upheld and reinforced by Hebrews 13.2 which draws from this very episode. Hospitality in the Bible is like everything else in the Bible, in that it is a topic that assumes the existence of the supernatural and its involvement in the natural world and its creatures.

For evangelicals who take their Bible seriously, this linking of hospitality to the angelic realm does not present a problem. While we must be careful to distinguish between the biblical presentation of angels vs. many contemporary New Ageish views of the angelic, Scripture is absolutely clear about their existence and periodic visitations. Again, for evangelicals, this shouldn't present a problem.

But for those who feel compelled to desupernaturalize the Bible and the Christian faith more generally, the linking of hospitality to the supernatural creates a problem. This problem is especially relevant given that 'hospitality' has become something of a flavor of the month notion in more liberal circles of the church. But the problem is that at least in the 20th century, it was also the more liberal circles of the church who were most inclined to downplay or explain away the supernaturalism of Scripture to try and make the faith more palatable to scientistic worldviews. My point is that these two strains, embracing 'hospitality' while shunning the supernatural, are altogether incompatible if one is aiming for Christian hospitality. If the angelic and supernatural realm are marginalized, then by definition, one cannot be committed to Christian hospitality that bears any resemblance to how the hospitality theme is presented cover to cover in Scripture. Those who claim to embrace 'hospitality' must also embrace the supernatural with equal fervor, lest they culturalize both.

I suppose this may sound somewhat absolutist, and I suppose that because I'm an evangelical, such a position can be written off by non-evangelicals by considering the source. But the problem is that even Karl Barth recognized this basic irresolvable dynamic in his Church Dogmatics. After spending some time assessing recent (for him) trends in theological liberalism regarding angels, Barth says this:

The consensus of all these modern dogmaticians, both among themselves and with their master Schleiermacher, is overwhelming...These modern thinkers are not prepared to take angels seriously. It does not give them the slightest joy to think of them. They are plainly rather peevish and impatient at having to handle the subject. And if we are told in Hebrews 13.2 not to be neglectful of hospitality, since some have entertained angels unawares, these theologians are almost anxiously concerned to refuse the angels a lodging in their dogmatics, and think that...they should warn others against extending hospitality to them. III.3.415

Hospitality and the supernatural - you can't have one without the other.