part of the turn

The Theology of the Hammer
By Millard Fuller

In 1976, Millard and Linda Fuller founded Habitat for Humanity. Since then, Habitat has built over 225,000 homes for over 1,000,000 people in need. With a goal to eliminate substandard housing around the world, Habitat is an organization that is committed to radical social transformation. Millard coined the phrase, “theology of the hammer” to describe the theological convictions he held that led to the formation of this organization. In his words, the theology of he hammer is the conviction that, 

“Christian faith mandates that we do more then just talk about faith and sing about love. We must put faith and love into action to make them real, to make them come alive for people. Faith must be incarnated; that is to say, it must become more then a verbal proclamation or an intellectual assent. True faith must be acted out.” (Fuller 7)    

The book itself is 143 pages of Millard’s personal history and theological underpinning for his work with Habitat for Humanity. The stories Millard tells and the passion that he tells them should be more enough to get even coldest heart excited about the work of Habitat for Humanity.My main criticism of this book is that, at times, the book feels a bit like a drawn out wedding speech that the bride and groom feel the need to thank each person at the wedding by name for their help and contribution to their lives.A truly inspiring story in the books, comes from the city of Dumaguete City in the Philippines. Two Habitat projects were built on opposite sides of the city garbage dump. The two developments contained over 180 homes and many of the families living in the homes had moved directly from living in the garbage dump to their new Habitat homes. Millard describes entering this community for the first time:

“As we and scores of happy mamas and papas and their equally happy children walked through the cleans streets – with neat Habitat houses on both sides, surrounded by a great profusion of flowers and lush vegetable gardens in several places – I realized that we were probably seeing the best Habitat project in the world. It was absolutely like walking through a story book.” (Millard 132)    

It’s stories like these that inspire and remind me that the gospel is more then something that simply takes root inside of me, the gospel is meant to be good news in the lives of people of every ethnic, religious, and economic background in every corner of the planet. It’s for this reason that I recommend this book, and more importantly, I encourage you to check out and get involved with the fine work that Habitat for Humanity is doing around the world.