The Gospel Comes With A House Key - A Critical Review: Unveiling Its Postmodern Philosophy and Feminist Theology

This book is for Christians who love God’s word and care deeply how words are used. Diaz has soaked his thoughtful analysis with Scripture and pastoral admonition. He quotes Butterfield’s words at length and carefully to establish his critique. His analysis shows the language and foundational ideas of Housekey hospitality originated with postmodern and feminist God-hating philosophers. This is truly a discerning and urgent read.

I read the critical review before I read Butterfield's book. I found the critique to be very shallow and simply a rehash over and over again about some of the initial statements written by Butterfield, that supposedly "exposes" her philosophy.Perhaps I'm a little biased, but Butterfield's husband was a seminary classmate of mine, and Pastor Ken Smith was the pastor that baptized me (as an adult) over forty years ago. So I know from personal experience, not just Butterfield's writings, how theologically sound her Christian upbringing was.

Rosaria Butterfield is considered by many to be the most biblically faithful voice among Christian circles concerning all things same sex attracted. However, a more careful analyses will reveal that she never actually left her dangerous, post modern, feminist roots behind, she has simply repackaged them.Dr. Rosaria Butterfield is a very skilled word smith, yet Hiram Diaz has managed to untangle her many, tightly woven deceptions and exposes them to the light of scripture. This particular book is for those who love truth and understand that savage wolves will come in not sparing the flock. The church must be warned, it is an extremely important read!

I bought this by mistake as the cover was designed to imitate Butterfield's book. Whie it is important to point out error the author needlessly discusses the errors of Presbyterian theology while claiming to be a "Reformed Baptist"...whatever that means.Not worth buying.

I'll give this a "three" if you're reading it for academic purposes to observe relevant criticism and filter it, but it gets a "one" for actual intellectual rigor. The author does successfully make the case that Butterfield's book and language are a reflection of her academic and cultural pedigree, but he fails to either interact with her meaning in its own context or convincingly make an antithetical case from Scripture. From the author's use of Scripture, one might conclude that we should all join Christian convents and cloister ourselves away; never interacting with the obvious objections that EVERYONE Jesus interacts with, in Scripture and through the Holy Spirit throughout history is, at that time of initial contact, a non-Christian. One would wonder how the author would treat Paul's clear injunction from 1 Cor. 5:11-13 against such cloistering, secluding practices.While I happen to agree with his criticism that I wouldn't imply to my guests any particular benefit of coming and singing Psalms with me (and it might in fact make them a Pharisee), if we follow the author's prescribed implication to its logical conclusion, we're going to have to start clearing out a LOT of pews, because in the Western Church, those pews are rife with false-converts signing hymns every Sunday, and considering themselves to be "saved" by or for it sans "Fruit of the Spirit".At the end this author filters Butterfield through Derrida, not Butterfield through the Bible in toto through a Pastoral Theology derived from a Biblical Theology derived from Exegetical Systematic Theology. In my opinion, if you buy this book, you'll learn more about post-modern philosophy than you will about Rosaria Butterfield's books or her theology - which as a Christian I take at face value based on what she says it means to her, not whether or not she ever misuses a word that I am not comfortable with (e.g. "violence") borrowed from her past. And this book fails to make any Biblical case for or against anything. The flow of this post is: Butterfield uses some of the same words as post-modern, Godless philosophers, and, despite the fact that she is usually careful in context to point out how her understanding of those terms derives from Scripture, she is therefore heterodox. While this may prove true over time, this author fails to establish it either from observation or from the Scripture. It's a weak paper. If I were giving it an academic grade, it would get an "F", but it's worth reading just to avoid living in an echo chamber.

0 stars… If you read the Gospel comes with a house key and take it’s principles and stories into consideration for yourself, you can easily see biblical hospitality and loving our neighbors to be the prevailing message. This review is nothing but a slanderous overstep of judgment and Pharisitical assumptions. No where in her book does she condone or even hint at supporting the lgbtq+ addenda nor a domineering feminist theology. On the contrary, she explicitly states that a married woman should let her husband lead and be the head of the household, and that we should be neighbors to our lgbtq neighbors just like we would be to our other sinful neighbors (and each other!).

A perfect example of the huge issues that tend to permeate the ultra reformed circles. Instead of sharing the Gospel and being the hands and feet of Christ, there is a much bigger zeal for nit-picking theology of others who are actually living the Great Commission. An absolute mis-representation of everything Rosaria Butterfield and the Gospel espouses.

It is ridiculous for Christians to publish books that criticize a woman for writing a book that told her story of how she ministers to her neighbors. If you don't like the book, then move on. I have found very few books, outside of the Bible, that I completely agree with. A petty argument for a book that helps people reach their community.

Hiram Diaz' short book examining Rosaria Butterfield's book of the same name is a worthy read for any who have read Butterfield's work or who would ascertain its dangers.Diaz examines aspects of Butterfield's writing such as her focus on hospitality, her inclusion and embrace of postmodern ideas, and her indiscriminate equating of the 'poor' with the Lord Jesus Christ. Diaz demonstrates that Butterfield's attempt to blur the boundaries between the church and the world, the saved and the lost, the strangers to God and the family of God, is a deadly tactic which she subsequently uses to chip away at the church's condemnation of homosexual conduct.Butterfield's insidious use of words seeks to entrap true believers in a web where they no longer have liberty to resolutely condemn sin. By creating an artificial distinction between 'acceptance' and 'approval' and simultaneously accusing Christians of 'idolatry' for (believe it or not) keeping unrepentant sinners out of the fellowship of the church, Butterfield demonstrates that she brings not a new perspective but simply heretical teaching. Diaz clearly shows up Butterfield's errors by judiciously quoting from her work.Diaz' 5th and 6th chapters provide a useful summary of and warning against Butterfield. He pulls no punches: 'whereas Christian hospitality is derived from a proper exegesis of the Scriptures, Butterfieldian hospitality is derived from postmodernism, feminism and feminist theology'. Diaz faithfully warns the church that the dangers in reading Butterfield might not be immediately apparent but should be carefully noted: 'while The Gospel Comes With a House Key is not devoid of explicit statements of orthodox Christian belief, those expressions of orthodoxy are not the source material from which Butterfield has derived her doctrine of hospitality'. Diaz' observation here is noteworthy and simply marks out Butterfield as a writer to avoid and pass by - no matter which 'Christian' bookshops might promote her books.Butterfield is not alone as a writer who, as Diaz notes 'subtly introduces a means whereby biblically constituted orthodox walls around the church may be slowly broken down under the guise of showing hospitality' (p. 45) - Sam Allberry is an Anglican priest who has the same mission and whose work I refute in my own book 'The Hedonism and Homosexuality of John Piper and Sam Allberry' (Burke Publishing).Diaz has done the church a service in this book - my only suggestion is that he now write a larger and fuller critique. Christians, awake!

The author takes pains to quote Butterfield from several of her works so as not to misrepresent what she says. His comparison of what she teaches vs the Scriptures is examined and her writings are found to be wanting. Mr Diaz gives a convincing account that Butterfield’s writings are heavily influenced by secular philosophies which she embraced before she professed to be a Christian. I found this little book helpful as a warning to always compare what an author says with the whole Bible, even if the author quotes the Bible to try and prove their point.