The Kingdom of the Poor - by Charles Strobel (Hardcover)

About the Book

A final message from Father Charles Strobel, founder of Nashville's Room In The Inn

Book Synopsis

As Charles Strobel, beloved Nashville priest and champion of the unhoused, reached the end of his life in 2023, he began to contemplate the last message he wanted to leave his family, friends, and community. With the help of his niece, Katie Seigenthaler, and his colleague, Amy Frogge, Strobel began to dictate The Kingdom of the Poor. He wrote, "Mark Twain, the great American folk hero and writer, has said, 'The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.' The following pages help to explain why I was born."

The "why" of Charlie Strobel's life, which was devoted to helping those without support systems and homes to call their own, was a simple belief that we are all poor and we are all worthy of love.

The Kingdom of the Poor is the story of the people and experiences that led him to this understanding and inspired him to live his life accordingly.

Review Quotes

"Funny. Tender. Bursting with compassion and insight. But I'd be careful if I were you. This little book might change your life."
--Kate Bowler, author of Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved

"Indeed, Love is God's religion and Charlie Strobel teaches us its practice. 'Blessed are, ' in its original language, means 'You're in the right place, if...' Charlie stood in the right place and pointed us beyond himself, to stand there too. This tender book invites us all to a larger love and a flourishing joy. It will leave you with the breathless longing to stand at the margins so that they get erased. Charlie Strobel was the shape of God's heart."
--Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries

"If we're lucky, we'll meet someone who truly opens our eyes to the suffering of others, and so our hearts to the healing power of forgiveness, compassion, and simple kindness. That someone for me was Charlie--our Charlie full of Grace."
--Emmylou Harris, singer-songwriter and activist

"A saintly man, Charles Strobel took to heart the words too many of us hear but do not heed: 'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' In this moving meditation on service and sacrifice, heartbreak and home, he has left us an enduring testament to the power of good works--and a reminder that all of us have the capacity to bend the arc of the moral universe a bit closer to justice."
--Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian

"In this fractured, furious world, it's all too easy to forget that forgiveness is the path to wholeness, that service to others is the passageway to peace. In The Kingdom of the Poor, Charlie Strobel reminds us again and again what true light looks like in even the most unbearable darkness. It looks like communion. It looks like mercy. It looks like love."
--Margaret Renkl, author of The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

"How shall we live in this broken, beautiful world? Here is an answer, pure and profound, that comes in the form of a life well lived, a life serving the poor, loving the homeless, and defending the powerless. Seeing Christ in all of us, Charles Strobel has given us one final blessing: a beatitudes for our time and a blueprint for joy and wholeness."
--Matthew Desmond, author of Poverty, by America

About the Author

Charles Strobel (1943-2023) was the founding director of Room In The Inn, a continuum of care for unhoused people living on the streets of Nashville and beyond. A Catholic priest, Strobel was known for his innovative advocacy on behalf of human rights and economic equity, his ecumenism, and his opposition to the death penalty. He is the author of Room In The Inn: Ways Your Congregation Can Help Homeless People. He played in amateur baseball leagues into his seventies and was a passionate New York Yankees fan.

Katie Seigenthaler, the niece of Charles Strobel, is the coauthor with Dr. Alex Jahangir of Hot Spot: A Doctor's Diary from the Pandemic, published in 2022 by Vanderbilt University Press. She is a managing partner with FINN Partners and a former journalist with the Chicago Tribune.

Amy Frogge is a long-term volunteer for Room In The Inn. She is an attorney, grant writer, former member of the Metro Nashville school board, and current member of the Nashville Symphony Choir.