Going towards a city
Today, I am inspired by a post on Rob Dreher’s blog about faith, families, and cities. There is, I think, a romantic notion about returning to the land, and small town life as a way to secure values that seem to be fading. Many people want a place were everybody shares their values. The fundamental reason given is children. As parents try to raise children to be decent human beings the city seems threatening. Cities allow people to live autonomous and monotonous lives cut off from others and nature. What kind of human being does that produce? Is it sustainable?
Wendell Berry has done much to makes us think about the land, and humanity’s relationship to it. His writings have inspired many to head off to a farm to till the soil and bake bread, at least in their imagination. I love Berry’s writing. Nevertheless, cities are here to stay and what we need is a Wendell Berry of cities. It’s curious that the bible narrative starts in a garden and ends in a city. Maybe there is some lesson for us here. Cities are easy to bash and rural life easy to idealize. It’s not easy to articulate a redemptive vision of the city. How might we organize our lives in the city in a way that make us more human? Next on my re-reading list is The Meaning of the City, by 20th century French sociologist, Jacques Ellul. Who knows I might even re-read Augustine’s City of God.