Caron Gentry's primary contribution to theorizing about international relations in this book is to take the concept of hospitality, as developed in both the Christian tradition and by contemporary postmodern thinkers, and consider how it both challenges and adds to approaches in international relations such as Christian Realism, pacifism, and Just War doctrine. Aiming to engage Christians in the United States in their thinking about power and war, Offering Hospitality is a concise and provocative work.

The first half of the book develops the concept of hospitality as it might relate to foreign affairs: “Expanding hospitality in IR means searching for ways to (better) provide for the welfare of all people” (12). Christian thinking about international politics, Gentry argues, must move beyond wars between states and consider intrastate conflict and failed states. Contemporary gender theory and feminist studies have challenged traditional conceptions of power, and people of faith must consider more dimensions of power and, in particular, the place of the powerless in today's world. This expanded view of power reflects the realities of today's international concerns. The customary Christian conceptions of Just War doctrine and pacifism are suited to a world in which state actors are engaged in conflict. Gentry thus argues for a view of engagement that begins with people and not with states; it doesn't exclude states while also not privileging them.

For Gentry, the Christian tradition has privileged males over females and “hard security over human security,” leading to what she calls a “hegemonic Christianity” based on and supporting hierarchies of men over women, believers over non-believers, and the powerful over the powerless (16), leading to positions that are primarily about advancing United States power in the world. Gentry argues that Just War advocates and Christian Realists are complicit in the marginalization of the powerless and that a concern for the marginalized must be added to all conceptions of international power.

Gentry then offers a chapter entitled “Marginal Wars,” which considers international concerns that fall outside of interstate conflict. Gentry draws attention to the growing literature on contemporary international conflict, such as Mary Kaldor's New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era as well as works from Michael Ignatieff and Amy Chua. Gentry calls for concern for human security, not just state (or hard) security. To illustrate such concern, Gentry considers Colombia — with its long history of violence, which the United States has long either exacerbated or ignored — as a case study. Gentry then turns to focus on the meaning of hospitality, drawing on Jacques Derrida's Of Hospitality and its consideration of Plato's Sophist as well as the New Testament and Christian theologians. From Derrida, hospitality means welcoming the stranger; from Christianity, hospitality is the practice of agape as a form of love without self-interest that “accepts that all children are our children” (60). True hospitality, Gentry asserts, would lead individuals not to identify others as either friends or enemies, and “could enable greater security” (60). This security would come from better relationships and greater understanding between states. Such a prediction seems grounded on great optimism.

The second half of the book has chapters devoted to how hospitality would change the ways in which Christians understand political realism, pacifism, and just war doctrine. Gentry chooses an important representative of each of those approaches and considers how hospitality would change and enhance that approach. Gentry uses Reinhold Niebuhr as the emblematic Christian political realist and sees significant connections between Niebuhr and other realists, such as Hans Morgenthau and Kenneth Waltz. The discussion of Niebuhr on international affairs provides a succinct overview of the main themes in his work. Gentry cites recent political figures who state admiration for Reinhold Niebuhr, but his significance in terms of current influence is not demonstrated. That is, Niebuhr's articulation of Christian realism does not easily apply to the problems of a Post-Cold War world; it is state-centric and thus not open to the vulnerability that comes with hospitality. Niebuhr's strong affirmation of deterrence also privileges states and their desire for hard security over human security.

Gentry then considers pacifism, and the ways in which embracing hospitality might modify it. Pacifism, Gentry rightly notes, is not prevalent in the international relations literature, although there is some examination of the concept in peace studies. There is, however, a significant strand of pacifism within the Christian tradition. Gentry uses the work of Stanley Hauerwas and, in particular, considers Hauerwas' Christianity, Democracy and the Radical Ordinary. The problem of pacifism, according to Gentry, seems to be its acceptance of the horrors of this world. She characterizes Hauerwas' work as emphasizing the spiritual over the physical and the Church instead of the world. Pacifism, Gentry argues, should be supplemented with an active concern for those at the margins.

The final position that Gentry addresses is Just War doctrine. She notes internal conflict among proponents of Just War doctrine. Rather than engage foundational thinkers, such as Thomas Aquinas or Francisco de Vitoria, Gentry uses Jean Bethke Elshtain and her work, Just War Against Terror as a point of departure. While there are several elements of Just War doctrine, Gentry focuses on the concept of war as a last resort. For Gentry, hospitality should push to consider additional measures before accepting war as a last resort. Elshtain, according to Gentry, ignores the true demands of agape love, presents a distorted view of Islam, and provides a “loaded discourse [which] weakens any worthy argument in the book” (125). Part of that “loaded discourse” is an unmeasured response to the events of September 11, 2001. For Gentry, the proponents of Just War doctrine have to do much more in terms of engaging with their enemies before they can assert that all options besides war have been exhausted.

This book can certainly enlarge the ways in which Christians seek to engage in foreign policy and consider international affairs. Gentry does not seek to entirely discredit Christian Realism, Pacifism, and Just War doctrine; instead, she finds limitations in these approaches, especially in light of changing world conditions where intrastate conflict, human development, and non-state actors play such significant roles. Theorists of international relations, particularly those within the Christian tradition, would benefit from insights and critiques offered by Gentry. It could certainly lead to richer considerations of international concerns by Christians.