Keeping House

Beschreibung

Keeping House is a wide-ranging and witty exploration of the spiritual gifts that are gained when we take the time to care for hearth and home. With a fresh perspective, mother, wife, and teacher Margaret Kim Peterson examines the activities and attitudes of keeping house and making a home. Debunking the commonly held notion that keeping house is a waste of time or at best a hobby, Peterson uncovers the broader cultural and theological factors that make housekeeping an interesting and worthwhile discipline. She reveals how the seemingly ordinary tasks of folding laundry, buying groceries, cooking, making beds, and offering hospitality can be seen as spiritual practices that embody and express concrete and positive ways of living out Christian faith in relationship to others at home, in the church and in the world.

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Margaret Kim Peterson

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Christian Spirituality, Christian Living Christliche Spiritualität, christliches Leben Religion & Theology Religion u. Theologie

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In this deeply theological, welcome book, Peterson (Sing Me to Heaven) argues in favor of the idea--no longer fashionable--that Christian service and spiritual growth are inherent in the acts of keeping people fed, clean, housed and comfortable. Housekeeping, she says, is akin to a litany, a long public prayer to announce needs and requests. A litany is repetitive and focused on the basics: food, health, shelter. Similarly, housework is ongoing and incarnational, teaching us about Jesus' earthiness and decision to live among us; it requires perpetual tending, much like God's active sustaining of the world. "All the more is this so when our homes are not all we might wish them to be," Peterson points out. "God's world is not as he wishes it to be, either." Addressing such topics as laundry, cleaning, shopping and cooking, Peterson offers persuasive biblical interpretations and incisive theological and cultural commentary. The two chapters on food and its preparation are especially groundbreaking, with Peterson enumerating helpful criteria for how Christians in a food-obsessed culture might determine whether a particular food is worthy of eating. At times, her domestic opinions have the whiff of superiority, as when she speaks disapprovingly about microwaves and dishwashers, but these moments are far outweighed by the book's well-researched and generous approach to domesticity. (Apr.) (Publishers Weekly, February 12, 2007)"Keeping House is ground-breaking and breath-taking--theformer because there is nothing quite like a 'theology ofhousekeeping' that is both theologically sophisticated andexperientially based. It is breath-taking because of the depth andprofundity of Margaret Kim Peterson's insights . . . . Myskepticism of the topic gave way, within two pages, to admiration.Every pastor needs to preach the theology of this book and everyhousekeeper will find daily gold." --Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in ReligiousStudies, North Park University; and author, The Real Maryand The Jesus Creed. "Mom taught us how to keep house; Margaret Kim Petersontells us why. Without glorifying menial tasks or patronizingthose who do them, Peterson sets housework in a biblical andtheological framework that reveals the eternal significance offeeding, clothing, and sheltering others." --LaVonne Neff, author, 2007: A Book of Grace-FilledDays "For many years I have appreciated Margaret's insights andreflections about theology and life. In this book she brings herheart and mind to bear on the subject of housekeeping. The resultis a practical and loving look at a routine and demanding practicethat can lead--believe it or not--to contemplation of God." --Adele Calhoun, pastor of spiritual formation, Christ Churchof Oak Brook, Oak Brook, Illinois; and author SpiritualDisciplines Handbook
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