Revd Dr David Nixon - Stories from the Street: A Theology of Homelessness

STORIES FROM THE STREET

Stories from the Street is a theological exploration of interviews with men and women who have experienced homelessness at some stage in their lives. Framed within a theology of story and a theology of liberation, Nixon suggests that story is not only a vehicle for creating human transformation but it is one of Gods chosen means of effecting change. Short biographies of twelve characters are examined under themes including: crises in health and relationships, self-harm and suicide, anger and pain, God and the Bible.

Expanding the existing literature of contextual theology, this book provides an alternative focus to a church-shaped mission by advocating with, and for, a very marginal group; suggesting that their experiences have much to teach the church. Churches are perceived as being active in terms of pastoral work, but reluctant to ask more profound questions about why homelessness exists at all. A theology of homelessness suggests not just a God of the homeless, but a homeless God, who shares stories and provides hope. Engaging with contemporary political and cultural debates about poverty, housing and public spending, Nixon presents a unique theological exploration of homeless people, suffering, hope and the human condition.

For any person, homelessness is complex and never a single issue. David Nixon has listened and analysed peoples stories and made good sense from them. His wise and insightful use of their stories and his analysis is the best sort of Practical Theology from which we can all learn. It will help Christians meet and respond to the needs of homeless people.

Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury, UK

This is a fascinating and important study. It is an exercise in listening to the voices of those who are rarely heard. Written with clarity and elegance, it is a life-changing exploration of the narratives of faith and the journey of life. This is a pioneering text, which will interest American scholars who are seeking to connect a liberationist perspective with the journeys of those who struggle in a prosperous nation. There is nothing quite like this remarkable book.

Very Revd Dr Ian Markham, Virginia Theological Seminary, USA

What sense can Christians make of the experience of homelessness? Listening to homeless peoples stories David Nixon invites us to understand them in the light of Scripture and of the ongoing Christian call for social justice. What emerges is a chapter in British liberation theology which calls us not simply to empathise but to change the way we think about homelessness.

Professor Tim Gorringe, University of Exeter, UK

Stories from the Street not only provides a fascinating insight into the lives of people who are often overlooked, but understands that they also have a contribution to make. The theological reflections should remind the Church about where its real focus lies not just in caring for the dispossessed but in questioning why they are dispossessed in the first place.

Ben Bradshaw, MP

A Theology of Homelessness

DAVID NIXON
University of Exeter, UK

ASHGATE

David Nixon 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

David Nixon has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Nixon, David.

Stories from the street : a theology of homelessness.
1. Homelessness--Religious aspects--Christianity. 2. Homeless persons--Case studies. 3. God (Christianity)--Will. 4. Christianity and culture. 5. Church work with the homeless.
I. Title
261.832592-dc23

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Nixon, David.

Stories from the street : a theology of homelessness / By David Nixon.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-3745-1 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-3746-8 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-3747-5 (ebook) 1. Home--Religious aspects--Christianity. 2. Homelessness--Religious aspects--Christianity. 3. Poverty--Religious aspects--Christianity. 4. Church work with the homeless. 5. Church work with the poor. 6. Homelessness. 7. Storytelling--Religious aspects--Christianity. 8. Autobiography.
I. Title.
BR115.H56N59 2013

261.832592--dc23

2012028961

ISBN 9781409437451 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409437468 (pbk)
ISBN 9781409437475 (ebk-PDF)
ISBN 9781409474548 (ebk-ePUB)

Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group, UK.

To my parents, John and Elizabeth

This book has taken me back repeatedly to a conversation several years ago with the then Director of Shelter, the UK Homelessness charity that runs a housing helpline, has a network of housing aid centres, and works with a range of other agencies to respond to the needs of the homeless. He spoke of his increasing consciousness of, and consequent unease with, the lack of the voice and the presence of a homeless person at the table of the board of Trustees, where decisions affecting homeless people were made. This was not merely in order to have a better understanding of their needs, but to be informed and corrected by the perspective of reality only to be found from the viewpoint of the hostel or the street.

He has sent me to bring good news to the poor. So begins the Gospel of Jesus. But if this is the case then why is it that the Church, in which the Gospel is to be embodied, seems so little to engage the faith and imagination of many of the urban poor and the itinerant homeless?

In this book, David Nixon, drawing on his own experience of urban ministry, has set out to construct a framework in which this question might be answered, and at the same time to bring the religious reflections and spiritual insights of those whom he has met to the table of theology and mission.

Much that follows in these pages is verbatim narrative from the lips of the homeless themselves. Their stories are then placed alongside, and allowed to interact with, the narrative of the Gospel in a dialogue of mutual illumination and critique.

In this way, listening to the voices of homeless men and women is to be pointed towards an exploration and understanding of a larger paradigm which provides a frame of reference for listening to the experience of a wide range of people in many different contexts who increasingly have a sense of their lives being shaped by a space, or spaces, which they have to occupy, but to which they do not belong. In this way the issues of homelessness come to be set in a wider societal context, with a theological critique of globalisation (characterised by privatisation, the freedom of the market, and deregulation) and its impact on individual lives, especially those who are vulnerable and inhabit what society regards as its margins. One result of this process is that individuals become inappropriately perceived as a homogenous, and distanced, mass invisible as persons and even dehumanised.