A Theology of Homelessness

Andy Odle

My research comes from my work in the inner-city of Atlanta with the homeless.  I was working for a para-church organization that would meet essential needs of the homeless while trying to get the local church to take responsiblity.  It rarely happened that the local church was interested.  Out of my frustration I found that most of the churches did not have a strong or rigorous enough ecclesiology or theology of mission to sustain them within their own community.  (Neither did we as a "para-church" organization.) Most of the churches in the inner-city where I was working tended to be independent or loosely affiliated "American-born" evangelical churches without a "sophisticated" theology or sense of theological history.  So I decided to undertake the task of working toward that end.
I am using Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a main guide and dialogue partner along this journey.  Through him and others I am trying to develop an ecclesiology that can support and sustain ministry with the homeless. This includes a theological and social understanding of both the church and the homeless.  I am inentionally including in the dialogue voices from the tradition that I come from and that my para-church work comes from (Wesleyan/Holiness) to make the connection with Bonhoeffer and the rich theological tradition that he draws from.

Contact: div403@abdn.ac.uk