The Good yet Missing Innkeeper and the Possibility of Open Ecclesiology

Abstract

This article discusses the significant roles of the innkeeper and the inn (pandocheion) in the parable of the Good Samaritan and how contemporary Christians can use the story to construct an open ecclesiology in the midst of global fear of others. The idea of open ecclesiology requires a rethinking of the classical marks of the church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic in the light of the new marks: diverse, vulnerable, concrete, and friendly. By tracing the root of pondok in Indonesian language back to the Arabic word funduq and the Greek word pandocheion in the Gospel of Luke, the author demonstrates rich intercultural and interreligious negotiations that encourage Indonesian Christians to reclaim their heritage from their Muslim counterparts. The article concludes with the story of GKI Yasmin as a diaclesial and open church that passes-through or crosses-over boundaries amidst violence.