From the Garden to the City

Book Cover

It's funny how things converge sometimes. A couple of months ago I was intrigued by a handful of reviews in the Christian Research Journal on books that address the issue of how modern technology relates to matters of faith. The book I chose was "From the Garden to the City" by John Dyer. I don't recall why I chose this particular book but I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with the title. I'm only up to Chapter 3 in the book but it's very good. Dyer discusses how our fascination with technology and advances in technology are a kind of story where we use our imagination to think through how technology might help us do something better. He gives the basic example of a shovel. We can dig the dirt with our hands, but then using a shovel helps us do it better, quicker and more effectively. I'd never thought of technology in those terms but it makes sense. He also talks about how technology changes us. I'm early in the book yet so I'm not totally sure where he's going with this, but sitting here tapping away on my Bluetooth keyboard connected to my iPad which will wirelessly beam this blog onto the Wordl Wide Web... yeah, I can appreciate that technology has changed me!

Last weekend, I went to an interesting conference in Kansas City called CG2013, where the "CG" is for "Common Good," which, I'm told, is a concept of social justice that Pope Leo XIII addressed in his Rerum Novadum. The general idea is that Christians should be engaged in activities which promote the common good of all. Very interesting. One of the main speakers at the conference was Andy Crouch and he did a talk entitled "From the Garden to the City" (uncanny, huh?) where he talked about the fact that many Christians miss the first 2 and last 2 chapters of the Bible. They start from the description of our rebellion against God in Genesis 3 and end with Revelation 20 which describes judgement day. However, backing up to Genesis 1 & 2, there is a picture of creation in which God says "it is good" over and over and then He creates humans which he says are "very good." Then there is a description of a garden and in that garden humanity is told to work it - note all this is before the rebellion against God which means that work in itself can be a good thing. The Judeo-Christian account of creation is much more positive than the accounts in other faiths where the universe comes about through some kind of conflict or strife. Flipping to the end of the Bible and Revelation 21 & 22 we see a City. Yup, the new heaven and new earth is focussed on a massive City. Not rolling green hills. Not a bunch of people sitting on a cloud playing harps. A massive City. I'd heard this before from a book by Mark Driscoll but now at the CG2013 conference this idea has legs for me and is becoming less of an esoteric musing and something I need to think about more seriously. I guess I've also been influenced by some ideas I've seen on developing sustainable cities. I've seen presentations on ideas for Perth, WA and more recently for the Singapore International Water Week (water is a very big deal for that City). I'm still early on the learning curve but am intrigued to know more.

So, where does leave me in pondering "From the Garden to the City" and how do these two experiences shape my thinking? I guess the main thing is figuring out how to embrace technology and cities in a positive way - seeking God's redemption in both - rather than being a naysayer that sees evil in everything new. New stuff can be good. It can be very good. I see this in technology and I guess I need to start seeing this in cities too. At the same time we should not be niaive to think that all new things are good. I see plenty that's bad in many cities and there are uses of technology that are very bad (nukes for instance). Plenty to ponder!

Posted with Blogsy