A THEOLOGY

OF CITIES
TIMOTHY KELLER

So the city is Gods invention and design, not just a

sociological phenomenon or invention of humankind.

B. WHY CITIES DEVELOP CULTURE

The city is not to be regarded as an evil invention
of ungodly fallen man... The ultimate goal set before
humanity at the very beginning was that human-
culture should take city-form... there should be an
urban structuring of human historical existence...
The cultural mandate given at creation was a
As more and more people become city-dwellers it is mandate to build the city. Now, after the fall, the
imperative that the church understands how to reach city is still a benefit, serving humankind as refuge
out to the expanding cities of the 21st century. Here from the howling wilderness condition into which
Tim Keller shares some biblical insights. the fallen human race, exiled from paradise, has
been driven... The common grace city has remedial
benefits even in a fallen world. It becomes the
THE MEANING OF THE CITY drawing together of resources, strength and talent no
God designed the city with the power to draw out the longer just for mutual complementation in the task
resources of creation (of the natural order and the of developing the resources of the created world, but
human soul) and thus to build civilisation. now a pooling of power for defence against attack,
and as an administrative community of welfare for
the relief of those destitute by reason of the cursing of
A. GODS INVENTION
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the ground (Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue).

A TH EO LO GY O F CI TI E S

Gods future redeemed world and universe is depicted

as a city. Abraham sought the city whose builder It is widely understood that when God tells Adam
and maker is God (Hebrews 11.10). Revelation 21 and Eve to have dominion and fill the earth he is
describes and depicts the apex of Gods redemption, directing them to build a God-honouring civilisation.
as a city! His redemption is building us a city - the new They are to bring forth the riches that God put into
Jerusalem. creation by developing science, art, architecture,
human society. Kline reveals, however, that since
In fact, when we look at the New Jerusalem, we Revelation reveals that the end of creation (the
discover something strange. In the midst of the city climax of the work of the Second Adam Jesus Christ)
is a crystal river, and on each side of the river is the is a city - that therefore God was calling Adam and
Tree of Life, bearing fruit and leaves which heal the Eve to be city builders. City building is an ordinance
nations of all their wounds and the effects of the of God just like work and marriage. And indeed, cities
divine covenant curse. This city is the Garden of Eden, draw together human talent and resources and tap the
remade. The City is the fulfilment of the purposes of human potential for cultural development as nothing
the Eden of God. We began in a garden but will end else does.
in a city; Gods purpose for humanity is urban! Why?
 There is no absolute way to define a city. A human Practical note: The city, then, has a powerful
settlement becomes more urban as it becomes more magnifying glass effect. Since God invented it as a
a) dense and b) diverse in its population. God made cultural mine, it brings out whatever is in the human
the city to be a developmental tool, a form of cultural heart. Why? The density and therefore diversity of
gardening, designed to draw out the riches he put the city brings out the best (and the worst - see below)
into the earth, nature and the human soul at creation. in the human heart. How does it do so? The divinely-
Even after the fall, cities are places of common grace given ability of the city to do culture-making can
though each factor also now can be used (and is!) for be discerned at the most practical level by the urban
evil purposes. resident.

* The city puts me together with unique numbers of

C. HOW IT DOES IT people unlike me.
1. First, the city (as the Garden) is a place of refuge and
safety. It has always been a place where people come * The city attracts the minorities of any society who
who are too weak to live in other places. In the earliest can band together for mutual support. Thus the city is
days, cities provided refuge from wild animals and deeply merciful to those with less power, creating safe
marauding tribes and criminals. When Israel moved enclaves for singles vs. families, the poor (and even
into the promised land, the first cities were built by the rich!) vs. the bourgeois, immigrants vs. longer-
Gods direction as cities of refuge, where the accused term residents, racial minorities vs. majorities. Thus
person could flee for safety and civil justice. Thus the city will always be the most diverse human-life
God invented cities to be a sign of divine, not self, structure.
protection. Even today, people like the homeless, or
new immigrants, or the poor, or people with deviant * Because I am put together (by its density) with
lifestyles, must live in the city. The city is always a unique numbers of diverse people, all my thinking
more merciful place for minorities of all kinds. Why? and views are radically challenged. I am confronted
The density of the city creates the possibility of strong with creative new ways to think about things, and
minority communities. Density creates diversity. The I must abandon my traditional ways or become far
dominant majorities often dislike cities, but the weak more knowledgeable and committed to them than
and powerless need them. They cannot survive in the I was before. Thus I become vastly more creative,
suburbs and small towns. Cain built his cities for self- committed, skilful in all I am or do.
protection from God and the vengeance of others. So
the refuge of the city can be misused, as when people * Sin takes this divine-strength - the diversity of the
with sinful lifestyles find refuge in the city from the city - and turns it into a place of conflict and strife.
disapproval of the broader culture. The gospel is needed to resist the dark side of this gift.

Practical note: It is hard for middle-class families to * The city puts me together with unique numbers of
live in the cities, and thus the cities are seen as hostile people like me.
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places. But for anyone who is not part of the dominant

A T HEO LO GY O F CIT IES

culture (singles, the poor, ethnic minorities, etc.) the * The city also attracts the strongest as well as the
city has great advantages over non-urban areas. weakest (see above). The challenge of the city attracts
the most talented, ambitious (and restless, see below).
2. Second, the city as a cultural mining/development Thus, whoever you are, when you come to the city you
centre. Even the description of the wicked city of are confronted by far more people who are far better
Babylon shows the power of the city to draw out the than you at whatever you do.
resources of creation - of the physical world and the
human soul. In Revelation 18 we see that the city is * Because I am put together with unique numbers of
a place of 1) music and the arts (v.22a), 2) crafts and like-but-extremely-skilled people in my field, I am
works of all arts and manufacturing (v.22b), 3) trade radically challenged to reach down deep and do my
and retailing (v.23c), 4) technological advance (v.23a), very best. More than that, I feel driven and pressed by
5) family building (v.23b). This is what the city was the intensity of the density to realise every ounce of
designed by God to do, as an instrument of glorifying my potential.
him by mining the riches of creation and building a
God-honouring civilisation. * Sin takes this divine strength - the culture-forming
 intensity - and turns it into a place (also) of both * Why? The reason for ministry in cities mirrors what
deadly hubris and burn-out. The gospel is needed to weve seen about the nature of cities.
resist the dark side of this gift.
* Cultural cruciality. In the village, you might win the
Cities draw and gather together human resources one or two lawyers to Christ, but if you wanted to win
and tap their potential for cultural development as no the legal profession, you need to go to the city where
other human-life organisation structure can. you have the law schools, the law journals published,
etc.
It is quite wrong to see the city as intrinsically evil! It
was designed by God to draw out and to mine what * Global cruciality. In the village, you can win only the
God made. We should appreciate the power of the city single people group that is there, but if you want to
and realise that the tremendous evil has been brought spread the gospel into 10-20 new national groups and
to it by us! languages at once, you go to the city where they can all
be reached through the lingua franca of the place.
3. Third, the city as the place to meet God. Ancient
cities were religious institutions. They were usually * Personal cruciality. In the village little changes
built around a ziggurat - the original skyscrapers! and people live in very stable environments. Thus
They were temples where a particular god was they are suspicious of any major change. Because of
thought to come down. The cities were seen to be the the diversity and intensity of the cities, urbanites
royal residences of the god, and the city was dedicated are much more open to radically new ideas - like the
to him/her. The city was where the cultus for that gospel! Because they are surrounded by so many
god was centred, and where you went if you wanted people like and unlike themselves (see above), and so
to serve him or her. All of this was probably a twisted much more mobile and subject to change, urbanites
memory trace of the original design of God, that the are far more open to change/conversion than any
Edenic city, the new Jerusalem, would be the place other kind of resident. They may have moved to the
where people would meet him, where his temple/ city out of a searching restlessness. But even if not,
presence would be. once they get to the city, the pressure and diversity
makes even the most traditional and hostile people
After Eden was lost to us (temporarily) through sin, open to the gospel.
God creates a new city in the desert, by dwelling
among his people in the tabernacle, and around his * Result? By year 300 AD, 50% of the urban
Tent is a city of tents. The city of God will be his populations of the Roman empire were Christian,
dwelling place. Later, the earthly city of Jerusalem while over 90% of the countryside was still pagan.
becomes a symbol and sign to the future city of God. (Note: Some believe that the very word pagan comes
In the earthly Jerusalem, Gods dwelling place, the from the Greek paganus meaning a farmer or man of
temple, stands as the central integrating point of the the country.) Because Christianity captured the cities,
citys architecture and as apex of its art and science it eventually captured the society, as must always be
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and technology. As a result, Jerusalem is the joy of the the case. What captivates the cities also captivates the
A THEO LO GY O F CIT I ES

whole earth (Psalm 48.2). But she is only a sign of the arts, media, scholarship and the professions. Cities
city of God which is heavenly and which is to come. are the culture-forming wombs of the society, made
All true believers even now have as their mother, the by God to be so.
Jerusalem that is above, is free (Galatians 4.26).

Why are cities always religious hotbeds where people D. HOW SIN BREAKS THE CITY
are spiritually seeking and restless? The density and 1. The diversity of the city under sin creates a place of
diversity of the city - the same dynamics that produce racism, classism, and violence. Also the city becomes
cultural development - also keep people spiritually a refuge, not from the wilderness or persecution, but
off balance and restless. Cities, therefore, are the key from God and his law.
to evangelism in any area. Pauls missionary journeys
essentially ignored the countryside. When he entered For example, people have gone to the cities to engage
a new region, he planted churches in the biggest city, in sexual practices that are proscribed by many places
and then left! in society, but the natural tolerance of diversity that
cities inherently have is twisted into a place where
 anything goes. People go to the city to create their potentialities of creation (physical nature and human
own moralities. spirit) would have been untainted and thus the city
would be glorious. Today, however, art and science
Second, while cities still do attract and sustain and technology and education serve to both bring
enormous race and cultural diversity, human sin out the best and worst. We can all feel it. Nothing
makes cities places of constant racial strife, class challenges and presses you to excellence like the city.
warfare, crime and violence. This can be seen But nothing drives you to reach down deep and do
perfectly in Genesis 11 and Babel. The Babel-builders well. In sin that all becomes tainted and idolatrous
specifically sought to build a city that would gather and exhausting, of course. The purpose of the City of
people for their own glory (see below). (Many scholars Rebellion is to make a name for ourselves. This is still
believe that, since Genesis 9 and 10 indicates God a deep drive and engine in the building of any human
wanted human spread and cultural differentiation, city. It is a spirituality of darkness of enormous force,
Babel may have actually been built in resistance to it is a motivation moving many or most people who
cultural diversity. See Vos.) In any case, the result move toward the city.
of the sin of Babel is confusion. People cannot
communicate. Any human effort at unity based on 3. The spiritual restlessness of the city under sin
common defiance of God resulted in fragmentation makes the city a hotbed of cults and false belief. Cities
and greater disunity. So today, cities built on human are always the hotbed of religious cults. They are
defiance of God and for making a name for the human inveterately religious. Every city is dedicated to a god
builders find enormous strife and confusion and - even if it is the secular religion. In cities, ordinarily,
violence between diverse groups of people. the Christian churches can be found with the best
ministries, theological resources, churches, etc. Until
Practical note: Many people hate cities because of the recently, that is. Protestant Christians abandoning
diversity of cultures, people not like us, but we see the city inevitably make it easier for the city to turn to
that God enjoys and wills the diversity of cultures as false gods. Because God invented cities to be religious
bringing forth the richness of his creation. Christians centres, human idolatries are enhanced in the city. It
should rejoice and enjoy diversity of cultures, is not surprising that cities were the places in which
recognising that they all stand judged by Gods Word. the new ideas of the Enlightenment first took place
and where irreligion first became rampant in Western
2. The cultural-development power of the city under sin society. Cities are always places that are ahead of the
creates a place of pride, arrogance, excess, over-work, curve. But it stands to reason that these would be the
and exhaustion. The quintessential City of Rebellion first places where secular people who are steeped in
is Babel. Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a the unbelief of their culture would be the most open
tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may to Christianity as a new idea. Cities would be the
make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over place where any new vision of Christianity would take
the face of the whole earth (Genesis 11.4). shape and begin to capture the cultures imagination
again.
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The first skyscraper is built in clear defiance of God.

A T HEO LO GY O F CI T IES

The original mandate of God to humankind was to

be miners of all the riches of creation. They were to SUMMARY
turn to the natural resources of the physical universe * Reach the city to reach the culture. Protestant
and the personal resources of their own creation (evangelical) Christians are the least urban religious
in the image of God. They were thus to be culture group and thus have the least impact culturally. Three
builders, developing science and art and civic life, kinds of people here affect the future: a) elites, b) new
building civilisation that glorified God as its source immigrants, c) the poor. The single most effective way
and ground. Now we have a city dedicated to mining for Christians to reach the US would be for 25% of
cultural riches for human glorification and to show its them to move to two or three of the largest cities and
independence of God. stay there for three generations.

Since the human heart is made in the image of God * Reach the city to reach your region and the world. a)
and is totally depraved, therefore the city brings out Region. You cant reach the city from the suburbs, but
the very, very best and worst of human capabilities. can reach all the metro area from the city. b) World.
Adam would have developed a city of God and all the The return of the city-state. The cities of the world
 are now linked more to one another than to their own Models of urban ministry are then:
states and countries. Each major city is a portal to
the other major cities of the world. We despise the city. Church as fortress.
(Forgetting the city as Jerusalem).
* Reach the city to reach your own heart with the We are the city. Church as mirror. (Forgetting the
gospel. city as Babylon).
We use the city. Church as space capsule.
* In the city youll find a) people that seem hopeless (Forgetting the city as battleground).
spiritually, and b) people of other religions or no We love the city. Church as leaven. Jeremiah 29.
religion and of deeply non-Christian lifestyles that are
wiser, kinder, and deeper than you. This will shock you Any theological model of the city will fail if one or
out of your moralism and force you to either finally more of these three biblical themes of the city is
believe the gospel of sheer grace, or give it up altogether. neglected, omitted, or over-emphasised.
You may get top marks on justification by faith alone,
but functionally, believe salvation by works. The city
will show this to you as nothing else will. B. BASIC METHODS/MINISTRIES
WORD (Ezra). Ezra recovered the Word for the
* In the city you will find that the poor and the broken people. Preaching, discipling, teaching. evangelising
are often much, much more open to the idea of gospel in a way contextualised to the concerns and capacities
grace and much more dedicated to its practical of the people of the city.
outworkings than you are.
DEED (Nehemiah). Nehemiah made the city safe and
* You should eventually come to see that you need the functional. Mercy and Justice! Holistic ministry. Safe
city more than the city needs you. streets, good jobs, decent housing, good schools.

WORK (Esther). Esther rose high in a pagan society

HOW TO LIVE IN THE CITY but then used her position at great risk to work for
justice in society and for her people. A key part of city
A. MODELS OF LIFE IN THE CITY ministry is to equip Christians to work distinctively
In every earthly city, there are two kingdoms present, as Christians in their vocation.
two cities vying for control. They are the City of Baal
(or Satan or the god of this world) and the City of God. COMMUNITY (Jeremiah). Jeremiahs letter
(chapter 29) told the exiles to neither assimilate
* The city of Satan deifies power and wealth and nor separate but live out their lives as a community
human culture itself (making art, technology, business seeking the peace of the city. So we are not only to be
an end in itself instead of a way of glorifying God). witnesses by our individual lives, but by the beauty
of our communal life. a) Generosity with money and
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* The city of God is marked by God shalom (Jeru- simplicity of life, b) races and classes loving together
A TH EO LO GY O F CI TI E S

shalom) - his peace. His peace is a place where over barriers, c) sexual purity and respect shown by
stewardship of God, creation, justice, compassion and men/women to one another in relationships.
righteousness lead to harmony and family building
and cultural development under God.
C. GETTING THE POWER
* Christians are to see the earthly city as something to Jesus went down to the city, and was crucified outside
love and win. They are to win it by seeking its shalom the gate: sent into howling wilderness, the biblical
(Jeremiah 29) and seeking to spread the city of God metaphor for forsakenness - losing the city! Jesus lost
within it, and to battle the city of Satan within it. the city that was, so we can be citizens of the city to
come, making us salt and light in the city that is! Our
* We are to see that, though the fight between these citizenship in the City-to-come, by his grace, equips
two kingdoms happens everywhere in the world, us for the city that is.
earthly cities are the flashpoints on the battlelines, the
places where the fighting is most intense, where the Tim Keller is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church
war can be won. in Manhattan, New York.