Refugees from the violence of wars and the brutality of famished lives have knocked on other people's doors since the beginning of time. For the people behind the doors, these uninvited guests were always strangers, and strangers tend to generate fear and anxiety precisely because they are unknown. Today we find ourselves confronted with an extreme form of this historical dynamic, as our TV screens and newspapers are filled with accounts of a 'migration crisis', ostensibly overwhelming Europe and portending the collapse of our way of life. This anxious debate has given rise to a veritable 'moral panic' - a feeling of fear spreading among a large number of people that some evil threatens the well-being of society. In this short book Zygmunt Bauman analyses the origins, contours and impact of this moral panic - he dissects, in short, the present-day migration panic. He shows how politicians have exploited fears and anxieties that have become widespread, especially among those who have already lost so much - the disinherited and the poor. But he argues that the policy of mutual separation, of building walls rather than bridges, is misguided. It may bring some short-term reassurance but it is doomed to fail in the long run. We are faced with a crisis of humanity, and the only exit from this crisis is to recognize our growing interdependence as a species and to find new ways to live together in solidarity and cooperation, amidst strangers who may hold opinions and preferences different from our own.

Christians in the West are living among some of the least-reached people groups in the world and have the unprecedented opportunity to share the gospel with them. Here J. D. Payne introduces the phenomenon of human migration to the West and discusses how the Western church ought to respond.

When a man appears at the door of her home in the Sonoran desert lost and half-dead, Peg Bowden must examine her personal values, which aren't currently aligned with the politics of her homeland. This true story of shared humanity explores the significance of the borders in all our lives, and the fear and xenophobia that keep them standing.

Jesus Told Us Where to Find Him. Just Look for an Outcast. His first followers knew that Jesus could be found with the fatherless, the widows, and the hungry and homeless. He said that he himself was a stranger, and commended those who welcomed him. If he really meant these things, what would happen if you opened your door to every person who came with a need? Jonathan and Leah Wilson-Hartgrove decided to find out. The author and his wife moved to the Walltown neighborhood in Durham, North Carolina, where they have been answering the door to anyone who knocks. When they began, they had little idea what might happen, but they counted on God to show up. In Strangers at My Door, Wilson-Hartgrove tells of risks and occasional disappointments. But far more often there is joy, surprise, and excitement as strangers become friends, mentors, and helpers. Immerse yourself in these inspiring, eye-opening accounts of people who arrive with real needs, but ask only for an invitation to come in. You will never view Jesus and the people he cares about the same way again.

When fires are set and street signs get knocked down in the community, newcomer Rocky thinks that it may have something to do with him and his family while another newcomer, Alex, wonders why Rocky and his family would ever generate such acts of violence. Reprint.

Winner of the Ruth Benedict Prize The story of a small town’s fight over LGBTQ+ rights that reveals how the far right weaponizes social issues to declare whose lives are valuable—and whose are expendable A new preface bridges the past and the present in Arlene Stein’s award-winning work of narrative sociology, The Stranger Next Door, contextualizing the so-called “culture wars” as they have evolved since the post-Reagan years. With deep on-the-ground research and vivid storytelling, Stein explores how the right mobilizes fear and uncertainty to shift blame onto “strangers” and how these symbolic struggles undermine democracy. Faced with globalization and automation, the working-class citizens of the Pacific Northwest’s “Timbertown” felt left behind, fearing job loss and the hollowing out of their small town. Religious conservatives convinced many local citizens that queer people were to blame. A bitter battle to deny the civil liberties of sexual minorities ensued. Though set in the 1990s, The Stranger Next Door is a story that echoes loudly today. Stein looks at how local conflicts over LGTBQ+ rights and other social issues paved the way for the contemporary right-wing populist resurgence. The Stranger Next Door positions today’s battles over transgender rights and critical race theory in a long-running struggle to define America, offering a razor-sharp examination of how the right manufactures local culture wars to divide and conquer.

The Balkans have been so troubled by violence and misunderstanding that we have the verb “balkanize,” meaning to break up into smaller, warring components. While some of the region’s artists and thinkers have invariably fallen into nationalistic tendencies, the twenty-two prominent authors represented here, from the erstwhile Yugoslavia and its neighbors Albania and Bulgaria, have chosen to attempt to bridge these divides. The essays, biographical sketches, and stories in The Stranger Next Door form a project of understanding that picks up where politics fail. The English-language translation joins editions of the book that appeared concurrently in all of the participating countries.