URBANCONSULTATIONJUNE2012 BELIEVINGINTHECITY

Dr.WesWhite
CentreCoordinator,Neopolis:TheScottishCentrefor TheologyandMinistryinanUrbanWorld

TheologyoftheCities,bytheCities,forthe Cities

Wes White
Introduction

Theology of the Cities, by the Cities, for the Cities

In the interest of not only an interdisciplinary focus to our rather specialized gathering...that will occupy us through today and tomorrow...but also with an explicit international goal as well...I want to plea my own unique heritage...as an African-American...(having been raised through all of my youth...until university age...in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo...the very heart of Africa...but with parents who were born and bred in the distinctively American urban context...a place of civil rights legacy and tragedy...none other than the city of Detroit...in the USA. And within this framework...I want to draw more on the American side of my international schizophrenia...by resorting to that famed address by the American President...Abraham Lincoln...rendered on the Gettysburg Battlefield...(surrounded by 51,000 human casualties)...in which he concluded with the resounding words...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. In theological evaluation, these three prepositions...OF...BY...and FOR...that are clearly the genius of this momentous closing statement...suggest...once again...the urgent need for a high level of Contextual Awareness...that is essential to any serious endeavor in scholarship and applicable learning...but preeminently so...(I contend)...in that field of study that we call...theology. Stephen Bevans urged this...similarly...as far back as the 90s...writing that the addition of culture and social change to the traditional loci of scripture and tradition already marks a revolution in theological method over against traditional ways of doing theology. Likewise, Robert Schreiter...even as early as the 80s...puts it in terms of an unequivocal and humble listening posture. There must be a clear commitment to listening, he says, as a point of departure for constructing local theologies, and a commitment to continue to listen. In more contemporary terms...and in the light of particularly Christian theology...we are confronted...then...with what is more plainly and simply...the relationship between the Bible and the Global-Urban Phenomena...that is clearly THE Context...of the 21st century world. And...it is not with any sort of spirit of begrudging...but rather more a sense of immense privilege and challenge...that we are called to wrestle with at least three contingencies...coming out of the contextualized notions inherent in Theology that is OF...BY...and FOR...the Cities.

Theology OF the City

The trio of the historical, the social and the political (minimally...that is at least those three) all converge in what is contextually inescapably...not just the growth of urban localities...but the reality of an urbanizing world. It gives both sum and substance to the OF...that describes a global context...that is only increasingly shaped, influenced, and, to a certain degree, controlled by cities. A healthier theological response...that is not hesitant to embrace the nomenclature of...theology OF the city...not only is quick to recognize the urban world...but correspondingly reinvigorates a neglected awareness of the Urbanisim that is so prominent throughout the Bible.

Urban Consultation June 2012 - Believing in the City

Wes White

Wes White

Theology of the Cities, by the Cities, for the Cities

Such a robust theology, therefore, eagerly takes aboard Andrew Daveys contention that...Being urban will be the challenge of the 21st century. Pure statistical analysis, of course, supports this...with evidence that in 1700 fewer than 2% of the worlds population was urban...and by 1900 this figure had risen to 15%...and is now estimated at between 50% and 60%. It is of such magnitude that David Clark contends that the present movement toward cities constitutes the largest shift in location of a population ever recorded. Furthermore, it is already well-understood that urban developments across the global south and burgeoning centres in Asia generally and in China in particular will be the watchword for the future. Already, early as it is in this 21st century, more than half of Africas population is urban...and the move toward cities continues unabated. And Chongqing exemplifies China...a city with much lower profile in the West...yet according to some estimates it is the fastest growing conurbation in the world...with a staggering 31 million people. Without question, contemporary urban theory must give serious attention to the lessons that will more and more come...Out of China...especially when we consider that an urbanized nation like Britain has five cities with populations exceeding one million people...while China has ninety such conurbations. Giving due attention to a respectful theological agenda which reinvigorates an awareness of the Urbanism ubiquitous throughout the Christian Scriptures is, therefore, (in my opinion) long overdue. We might turn to any one of many and varied Biblical portions to discover this, but perhaps none does so as flagrantly and deliberately as the Prophet Isaiah...whom Alec Motyer...(down at Trinity College, Bristol)...calls ...the chief propagandist of this city-based royal eschatology. He goes further to suggest that, The Isaianic literature could accurately be described as the book of the city. As we study the texts of Isaiah in detail, it soon becomes apparent that the Prophet resorts to the language of...Jerusalem, Zion, Mount and Mountain, and City...as broadly interchangeable terms...all of which reinforce the centrality of The City in the divine thought and plan. Isaiah, in fact, invokes the city motif in what we might call a tale of two cities...one which assumes a communal order without God...and the other...(that is not eschatologically distant...but in fact is contemporaneous)...with God himself at the centre...bearing the fruit of justice, righteousness and peace....which impacts the whole cosmos. Similarly, we cannot read the Gospel accounts of Jesus without running headlong into EmpireDominated Urban Constructs that are virtually all subservient to Roman ideology...in which a vision of the Hellenistic-Polis assumes control of all life and behaviour and social and political interchange. Susan Alcock, for example, in a captivating work titled, Graecia Capta: the Landscapes of Roman Greece, demonstrates how civil autonomy in the Greek independent city-states was soon relegated to the glorious past with the arrival of the Roman legions....in spite of their adoption of the better aspects of Greek social life. It is in this particular social milieu, in fact, that the New Testament concept of church...deliberately termed ...the assembly...is unapologetically political...and gives all the more rigor to the stated intent of Jesus...pronounced (so Matthew tells us) only after he has entered the district of Caesarea Philippi ...(Empire allusions abounding and fully intended)...when Jesus declares...I will build my church...( )...and the gates...(the gates...a city/urban metaphor)...of Hades will not overpower it. (Mt.16:18)

Urban Consultation June 2012 - Believing in the City

Wes White

Wes White

Theology of the Cities, by the Cities, for the Cities

And overarching it all...is the grand design of nothing less than...Gods Shalom Purposes for the World...and indeed for the Whole of the Cosmos...which take us back to a number of hallmark passages in Isaiah...and points ahead to what now is indeed an eschatological city...a truly new urbanism...called The New Jerusalem...envisioned by John at the end of the Revelation.

And for this I happily defer to my friend and colleague, Dr David Smith...(from whom you will hear tomorrow morning)...and his excellent way of putting it...in his book that we highly recommend to us all...Seeking a City with Foundations: Theology for an Urban World. David understands the critique of Jerusalem, which had been the burden of Isaiahs preaching, as pointing ahead to a time when the people are humbled, healed and renewed...becoming Yahwehs witnesses among the nations, discovering new energies with which to begin rebuilding the ancient ruins and renewing the ruined cities. (Is.61:14) So great would be the transformation in the eschatological city that the sound of weeping would never be heard in it again, no infant would die prematurely, and an old person who lives to a hundred will be thought a mere youth. (65:20) The marginalized and voiceless are singled out with the promise that they will be safe and cherished in the city of God...and the natural world, red in tooth and claw, will be transformed so that species no longer prey on each other, but eat together and have their share in Gods great shalom. (65:25) (I have taken more time on this critical contextualizing nature of a theological appraisal our urban world...so now I will be forced to be...much more brief.)

Theology BY the City

I have already mentioned the political language with which the Bible as a whole is very comfortable...and the New Testament particularly so. Indeed, Richard Bauckham (now retired, but formerly at St. Andrews University) is one of a few biblical scholars who fully appreciates the specifically urban constraints with which so much of New Testament political engagement is laden. Thus, he contends with what he describes as the fallen city, with reference to none other than Rome itself, under whose guise the Book of Revelation can be understood to be one of the most effective pieces of political resistance literature to be found in all the annals of history. Such an understanding, I think, attests to the critical need of an honest appraisal (that is to say, a scholarly one) of what we mean by such an audacious claim... when we purport to suggest...a theology BY the city. For the very concept of the polis...which virtually defines both the nature and structures of urban realities...is...of course...necessarily full of political imaginings of all sorts and varieties. In light of this even contemporary reality, it is all the more incumbent upon us to read St. Johns apocalyptic rendering of what he unsparingly calls the whore of Babylon (Rev.17-15) with both the specific and the paradigmatic, inclusive qualities (as Bauckham, once again, urges) of this kind of Biblical literature in clearly mind. The proper theological stance is, then, a humble one, which, while providing a necessary grid, nevertheless welcomes the vigorous contributions of outside (that is to say, interdisciplinary) expertise in the form of political and economic analysis. It is in this setting, in fact, that issues of justice become all the more pronounced and we are minimally required to render a theological critique of capitalism gone awry when it deteriorates into what some are calling ruthless Darwinian competition. Mike Davis, for example, questions whether this is behind the current trend in which increasing numbers of poor people compete for the same

Urban Consultation June 2012 - Believing in the City

Wes White

Wes White

Theology of the Cities, by the Cities, for the Cities

informal scraps ensuring self-consuming communal violence as yet the highest form of urban involution. In the past, and even the more recent past, specious theological contributions have had little more to offer in response...than a truly despicable form of Pentecostal pandering (a distortion to be sure) which does nothing more than assure justice as a future, post-mortem hope...which can be bought and secured in the form of faith-seed money handed over to the better performers in the latest stage-show of charismatic preachers. It is time for the voice of the Prophets to be heard once again...with both the specific and the paradigmatic, inclusive qualities that Bauckham pleads for...as hermeneutically faithful. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps, is the cry of Amos. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:23-24) Learn to do good; Seek justice, says Isaiah. Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. (Is.1:17) I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level, says the Lord. (Is.28:17) Thus says the Lord, according to Jeremiah, Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of the oppressor. Do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. (Jer.22:3)

Theology FOR the City

And finally, to entertain a theology FOR the city looks, of course, to the hope of an urban future. It is, in other words, not the least bit hesitant to address that question which is at once both eschatologically fundamental and existentially necessary: What is the destiny of cities? Why, for example, following centuries of periodic depopulation and neglect, are Rome and Athens once again capitals, while Leptis Magna and Ephesusonce thriving imperial powerhouses on the coasts of Libya and Turkey, respectivelyare long deserted? Was it climate, or location, or a larger cultural tradition of resilience that eventually brought Rome and Athens back in a way that didnt happen with the other two cities? Mexico City, the ancestral capital of the Aztec kingdom, continues to thrive, its sprawl now teeming with well over 10 million residents and approximately 28 million in fuller conurbation. Apparently, the citys central administrative location, rich surrounding farmland, and room to expand remained constant enticements over the successive tenures of the Aztec, Spanish, and Mexican governments. On the other hand, few in 1920 would have thought that booming Detroit would shrink to a mere 400,000 residents by the first decade of this century, with large swaths reverting to urban prairie land. But the citys favoured proximity with Canada, its access to the Great Lakes, and its nearness to Midwestern steelmaking proved no match for rising crime, taxes, and racial unrest. Various urban studies academics (Victor Hanson) suggest that the destiny of cities, historically, inciting either growth and vibrancy or decay and decline, can be traced and rehearsed and finally attributable to the combined effect of natural calamity, foreign invasion and conquest, and changing demography and commerce. But, we honestly ask ourselves, is that really the full story? Others in the field (Edward Glaeser) argue that, with the concurrent phenomena of globalization, cities with any lasting future of any sort will need to become Smart Cities, where approaching knowledge as a commodity is fostered and entrepreneurship is highly valued and even economically rewarded. But again, as noble and progressive as that sounds, I suggest that many of us are still

Urban Consultation June 2012 - Believing in the City

Wes White

Wes White

Theology of the Cities, by the Cities, for the Cities

uncomfortable with such easy deconstructionism and values that so easily cater to the elite, and we cannot help but come back to the question, once again, is that really the full story? Here, I suggest, a theology FOR the city is absolutely germane and critical and even potent...as it suggests an urban future that is both hopeful and realistic. It is utterly hopeful as it is based on an eschatological vision that is premised on the sure promises of God...that foresees...not a Mega Church...nor a Culturally-Based Empire...but a New Jersusalem...an Urban Communal Model...that demonstrates the richness of Renewed Heaven and Renewed Earth...in which every tear is wiped away...and there will no longer be any death...and there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. (Rev.21:1-4) A city context that is fully equitable in every single manner and form that accords with the grand design of Shalom. And at the heart of this city there is, once again, the standard (measurer of all things) that assures the promotion of human and environmental and cosmic flourishing, the tree of life that has become, now, the means for the healing of the nations. (Rev.22:2) And yet it is, at the same time, realistic, for it understands that the demands of an urban future that is alluring is precisely...a journey into hope. It is obvious that that the urban challenge is a huge one and it would be easy to find ourselves overwhelmed by this daunting challenge. But the better sides Christian theology have always encouraged such journeying...as people of hope...inspired by the vision of New Jerusalem and determined to share with all that picture of the city of God to shape our perceptions of what our urban world might become. Perhaps, in fact, the most potent expression of urban hopefulness is the fundamental Christian discipline of prayer. Eldin Villefane suggests the need for a true urban spirituality that knows the critical importance of prayer; it know that the struggle requires the nurturing and caring of the soul. Spiritual power encounters are indeed present in the polis. Equipped with the while armour of God, we go out to confront the principalities and powers. Conclusion In what is likely the most recent publication of all...in both the academic and prosaic world of urban specialists...(published in May, 2012...just one month ago)...P.D. Smith concludes his significant study...numbering ___ pages...with these quite telling words: Today more than over before we need successful cities --- cities that are sustainable, that allow their inhabitants to live fulfilling and prosperous lives in inspiring yet liveable environments, and that bring people together rather than dividing them. For the environmental and social challenges of the twenty-first century will be won or lost in the city. I could not agree more. And so I suggest the place of theology as a humble, yet critically important contributor to the vitality of an urban future. And all the more so...when it is deliberately a theology OF...BY...and FOR...the city.

Urban Consultation June 2012 - Believing in the City

Wes White

Wes White
Sources:

Theology of the Cities, by the Cities, for the Cities

Steven B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology [Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 1992], 16). Robert J. Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies [Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 1985], 40). Andrew Davey, Urban Christianity and Global Order: Theological Resources for an Urban Future (Edinburgh: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002), 27. David Clark, Urban World/Global City (London: Routledge, 2003), 4. Susan Alcock, Graecia Capta: the Landscapes of Roman Greece (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 18-19. David Smith, Seeking a city with Foundations: Theology for an Urban World (Nottingham: InterVarsity Press, 2011), 165. Richard Bauckham, The Bible in Politics: How to Read the Bible Politically (London: SPCK, 1989), 85. Mike Davis, Planet of Slums, New Left Review, 26, March-April, 2004. Victor Hanson, The Destiny of Cities, City Journal, Issue 31, October, 2010. Edward Glaeser, Triumph of the City (London: Macmillan, 2011), 231. Eldin Villefane, Seek the Peace of the City: Reflections on Urban Ministry (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 3. P.D. Smith, City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012), 338.

Urban Consultation June 2012 - Believing in the City

Wes White