Aliens in Your Native Land
1 Peter and the Formation of Christian Identity
Foreword by Stephen V. Sprinkle
Imprint: Pickwick Publications
Living as an alien in one's native land is a familiar reality to marginalized communities. Cultural, economic, and political shifts can cause people to become alienated by a system of greed, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and media manipulation.
How can Christians persist under a sustained threat within a social order diametrically opposed to them? This question drives Warner Bailey's investigation of 1 Peter. The mature Christology of 1 Peter yields a profile of Christian identity. This picture is funded by texts from the Book of the Twelve (Hosea-Malachi) and is counter-intuitive, in that it is able to create new initiatives for behavior that offer hope for redemption in the midst of oppression.
Bailey explores how 1 Peter has been used in shaping the life of modern "aliens," such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, living in his own country under the oppression of Nazism, and feminist, black, immigrant, and LGBTQIA+ readers. Placing 1 Peter within the crisis in U.S. political and economic life opens up fresh implications for faithful ecclesiastical practice and personal witness.
Warner M. Bailey is Director of Presbyterian Studies at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University. He is the author of Living in the Language of God: Wise Speaking in the Book of the Twelve (2017) and The Self-Shaming God Who Reconciles: A Pastoral Response to Abandonment Within the Christian Canon. (2013)
“What does it mean to live as an alien in your own country? In fresh, creative ways, Bailey wields up-to-date critical intertextual biblical exegesis, sophisticated theological analysis in conversation with Bonhoeffer and recent contemporary voices, and concrete pastoral care insights to allow First Peter’s voice to ring forth anew, encouraging the church, empowered by Christ’s cross, resurrection, and promised return, to embrace its call to face ‘fiery trials’ with hope and joy. A splendid achievement!”
—David J. Gouwens, Professor Emeritus of Theology, Brite Divinity School
“First Peter’s promise that Christ’s redemptive power is at work in times of alienation is not wishful thinking, says Dr. Bailey. It is a transformative force in our lives and the world. He reframes redemptive suffering as active rather than passive with exciting new research on Bonhoeffer’s use of 1 Peter to inform his resistance to Nazism. Aliens in Your Native Land provides hope in God’s faithfulness in this time of nationwide alienation.”
—Fritz Ritsch, Senior Pastor, St. Stephen Presbyterian Church, Fort Worth, Texas
“Warner Bailey wrestles with the important issue of living Christian identity as an alien in one’s own native land in suffering and duress. He finds 1 Peter to offer consolation and comfort in the faithfulness of God. Bailey’s mix is rich and diverse; some of the arguments are controversial, yet the conversation is insightful and engaged with significant, contemporary challenges.”
—Warren Carter, Meinders Professor of New Testament, Phillips Theological Seminary
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